,transcriber's ,note3 ,minor typographical errors have been corrected without note4 ,irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed4 ,words printed in italics are noted with underscores3 italics4 ,the cover of this ebook was created by the transcriber and is hereby placed in the public domain4 ,,letters ,,from ,,an ,,old ,,railway ,,official ,,to ,,his ,,son1 ,a ,,division ,,superintendent ,,by ,,charles ,,delano ,,hine ,,with ,a ,,postscript ,,by ,,frank ,h4 ,,spearman ,,chicago ,,the ,,railway ,,age #aijd ,,copyright1 #aijd1 ,,by ,,charles ,,delano ,,hine ,to the railway officials and employes of ,america3 ,their intelligence is an inspiration2 their steadfastness1 a psalm4 ,,file ,,numbers4 ,,letter ,i4 ,a ,word of ,congratulation #a ,,letter ,,ii4 ,helping the ,train ,dispatchers #f ,,letter ,,iii4 ,handling a ,yard #ac ,,letter ,,iv4 ,distant ,signals on ,chief ,clerks #ah ,,letter ,v4 ,safety of ,trains in ,yards #bf ,,letter ,,vi4 ,standardizing ,administration #ca ,,letter ,,vii4 ,the ,new ,trainmaster and ,civil ,service #cf ,,letter ,,viii4 ,education of ,several ,kinds #dc ,,letter ,,ix4 ,correspondence and ,telegrams #di ,,letter ,x4 ,the ,bayonet ,precedes the ,gospel #ef ,,letter ,,xi4 ,preventing ,wrecks ,before ,they ,happen #fc ,,letter ,,xii4 ,the ,self-,made ,man ,who ,worships ,his ,maker #gj ,,letter ,,xiii4 ,the ,friend-,mile as a ,unit of ,measure #gi ,,letter ,,xiv4 ,the ,management that ,breeds from ,its ,own ,herd #hi ,,letter ,,xv4 ,more on ,civil ,service #ig ,,letter ,,xvi4 ,the ,supply ,train #ajd ,,letter ,,xvii4 ,what the ,big ,engine ,has ,cost #aad ,,letter ,,xviii4 ,be a ,superintendent--,not a ,nurse #aba ,,letter ,,xix4 ,the ,rack of the ,comparative ,statement #acj ,,letter ,,xx4 ,handling the ,pay-,roll #acg ,,letter ,,xxi4 ,military ,organization #ade ,,letter ,,xxii4 ,wrecks and ,block ,signals #aec ,,letter ,,xxiii4 ,unionism #afa ,,letter ,,xxiv4 ,the ,round-,up #afi ,,postscript4 ,by ,frank ,h4 ,spearman #agg ,letters ,from ,a ,railway ,official ,,letter ,i4 ,a ,,word ,,of ,,congratulation4 ,march #bj1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,the circular announcing your appointment as division superintendent has just been received1 and it brings up a flood of thoughts of former years4 ,i felt that you had made a mistake in leaving us to go with the new system1 but it has turned out all right4 ,i can appreciate the fact that you would rather work away from me1 so as to make people believe that you can go up the official hill without having a pusher behind you4 ,this should be one of the proudest periods of your life4 ,you are now in a position to do good to your company1 to your fellow man1 and incidentally to yourself4 ,no matter how highly organized a road may be1 the importance of the office of division superintendent is in direct proportion to the ability and earnestness of the incumbent4 ,the position is little or big1 restricted or untrammeled1 just as you make it4 ,many a superintendent has had to double the hill of a swelled knob1 and run as a last section into the next promotion terminal4 ,you have too much of your mother's good sense ever to cause anybody else to put up signals for you on this account4 ,therefore do not lose your democratic manner4 ,keep your heart warm and regard the wider field as an opportunity to get more friends on your staff4 ,try to call every employe in your territory by name1 as ,csar did his soldiers2 for all the traffic of goodwill must run in a direction toward you if you want maximum results1 as they call efficiency nowadays4 ,good old rule #aba of the standard code says3 ,when in doubt take the safe course and run no risks1 which1 in the case of acquaintance1 means if uncertain whether you know a man or not1 speak to him and give him the glad hand anyway4 ,you will have to discipline men1 but that can be done without parting company with your good manners4 ,remember that the much-abused word discipline comes from the same root as the word disciple1 a pupil1 a learner1 a follower4 ,it is always easier to lead men than to drive them4 ,when you go over the division do not try to see how many telegrams you can send1 but how few4 ,it is usually a pretty safe rule after writing a telegram on the hind end of a train to carry it by two or three stations to see if you would rather not take it back to the office yourself4 ,the dispatchers used to tell your old dad that they couldn't have told he was out on the line as far as his messages were an indication4 ,another thing1 do not try to plug your whistle and muffle your bell4 ,let everybody know you are coming4 ,the ,old ,sleuth stunt is for criminals1 not for honest employes4 ,be on hand so frequently that your coming is taken as a matter of course4 ,never hunt quail with a brass band1 but bear in mind that men1 unlike quail1 rather like to perch on a band wagon4 ,if you are tempted to wait behind box cars to see if the men on a night pony have gone in the hay1 do not yield1 but get out1 see that the switches are lined up1 and count the ties in front of the headlight until somebody gives her steam2 just as ,napoleon walked post for the sleeping sentinel4 ,then1 if you administer a polite jacking up it will be twice as effective1 even if the delay to the work that one time has continued4 ,remember that things are not as they should be1 and it is probably your own fault if1 under normal conditions1 a particular movement depends upon your personal efforts4 ,any routine action that you take should be calculated to help many trains1 or one train many times2 or to help many men1 not merely the trains or men in question4 ,it is all right1 in emergencies1 to jump in and do the work of a conductor1 of an engineman1 of a switch tender1 or of any other employe4 ,the great trouble is in discriminating between an emergency and a defect which can better be remedied in some other way4 ,the smaller the caliber of the official the more numerous the emergencies to his mind4 ,you should try to arrange your work so as to stay up all night at least once a week1 either in the office1 or better1 on the road or in the yards4 ,you will keep better in touch with the men and the things for which you1 asleep or awake1 are always responsible4 ,you remember when your sister ,lucy was little how we asked her why she said her prayers at night but usually omitted them in the morning4 ,her answer which so tickled you was1 ,i ask ,god to take care of me at night1 but ,i can take care of myself in the daytime4 ,it is much the same way with a railroad4 ,from your point of view it will take pretty fair care of itself as a daylight job1 but at night that proposition loses its rights4 ,the youngest dispatcher1 by virtue of being the senior representative awake1 is to a certain extent general manager4 ,the least experienced men are in the yards and roundhouses4 ,the ever-faithful sectionmen are off the right of way4 ,the car inspector's light and the engineman's torch are poor substitutes for the sun in locating defects4 ,the most active brains are dulled by the darkness just before dawn4 ,then it is that a brief hour may side-track or derail the good work of many days4 ,it is this responsibility1 this struggle with nature1 this helping ,god to work out the good in men1 that makes our profession noble and develops qualities of greatness in its members4 ,next time ,i shall try to tell you something about helping your train dispatchers4 ,with a father's blessing1 ever your own1 ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,ii4 ,,helping ,,the ,,train ,,dispatchers4 ,march #bg1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,i promised in my last to say something about helping your train dispatchers4 ,the way to help any man is first to encourage him and by showing that you appreciate his good qualities give him confidence in himself4 ,when you come in off the road tell the dispatcher1 if such be the case1 ,nice meeting point you made yesterday for #ae and #af2 ,i was there and they both kept moving almost like double track4 ,if your division has been badly handled1 the dispatcher1 unaccustomed to such appreciation1 will at first think this is a sarcastic prelude to having the harpoon thrown into him2 but your sincerity will soon disabuse his mind of such a notion4 ,sarcasm in official intercourse or toward one's subordinates should never be tolerated4 ,it is an expensive kind of extra that should never be run4 ,when you praise a man it will add to his good feeling if some one else happens to be present4 ,if you have to censure anyone1 whether directly or through the channels1 do it privately and spare the recipient all unnecessary humiliation4 ,the official who remembers to mention good work will find his rebukes and criticisms much more effective in remedying poor work than the official whose theory and practice are to take up failures and to let successes be taken for granted4 ,another way to help a man is to lead him away from the pitfalls that are peculiar to his path of work4 ,the official who is an old dispatcher has to fight in himself the temptation to be the whole cheese4 ,he has to learn to trust subordinates with details4 ,every position entails some inherent temptations4 ,the absolute1 unquestioned authority given a dispatcher in train movements breeds a temptation to be autocratic and unreasonable1 to put out too many orders1 to give too many instructions4 ,therefore1 try to get your dispatchers in touch with your crews4 ,if the former are in a skyscraper uptown1 get authority to build an office for them at the terminal where most of the crews live4 ,personal contact is much better than long-distance communication by wire4 ,there is enough of the latter from the very nature of the business without causing an unnecessary amount by artificial conditions4 ,the temptation of a legislator is to make too many laws2 of a doctor to prescribe too much medicine2 of an old man to give too much advice2 and of a train dispatcher1 once more1 to put out too many orders4 ,it used to be thought by some that the best dispatcher was the one who put out the most orders4 ,the later and better idea is that1 generally speaking1 the best dispatcher puts out the fewest orders4 ,it is always easier to give orders of any kind than it is to execute them4 ,it is a far cry from an ,o4,s4 on a train sheet to getting a heavy drag into a sidetrack and out again4 ,it often takes longer to stop a train and get an order signed and completed than the additional time given in the order amounts to4 ,even a judicious use of the beneficent nineteen order involves more or less delay4 ,one of the lessons a dispatcher has to learn is to know when he is up against it2 when he has figured badly2 and when not to make a bad matter worse by vainly trying to retrieve a hopeless delay4 ,a good dispatcher will know without being told that he has made a poor meeting point4 ,educate him to consider that as an error to be avoided under like conditions in the future2 not as a mistake to be made worse by putting out more orders that may fail to help the stabbed train enough1 and may result in having every fellow on the road delayed4 ,if any train must be delayed1 let it be one that is already late rather than one that is on time4 ,above all get the confidence of your dispatchers so that they will not try to cover up their own mistakes or those of others4 ,teach them that1 in the doubtful event of its becoming necessary1 the superintendent is able to do the covering up act for the whole division4 ,every superintendent and higher official should remember that if the same train order is given every day there must be something radically wrong with the time table4 ,all over this broad land1 day after day1 hundreds of unnecessary train orders are being sent because many time tables are constructed on the models of forty years ago4 ,at that time1 in fact as in name1 there were two classes of trains1 passenger and freight4 ,to-day there are in reality at least two distinct classes of passenger trains and two classes of freights1 or at least four in all4 ,on most of the roads in the country passenger trains of whatever nature or importance are all shown in one class1 the first4 ,as a result every limited train in the inferior direction on single track has to be given right by train order over opposing local passenger trains in the superior direction4 ,in other words1 the working time table1 by definition a general law1 has no more practical value1 as between such trains1 than an advertising folder4 ,a train order by its very nature is an exception to the general law1 the time table4 ,when the exception becomes the rule it is high time to head in or to put out a thinking flag4 ,some years ago your old dad after much persuasion induced his superiors to let him make four classes of trains on a pretty warm piece of single track4 ,the result directly and indirectly was to reduce the number of train orders by twenty or twenty-five per day4 ,every train order given increases the possibility of mistake and disaster2 the fewer the orders the safer the operation4 ,the change was made without even an approach to a mistake or the semblance of disaster4 ,the dispatchers being less occupied were able to give more attention to local freights1 and the general efficiency of the train service was greatly increased4 ,the wires could go down and the most important trains would keep moving4 ,it has stood the test of years and if the old method were resumed a grievance committee would probably wait on the management4 ,successful politicians and public speakers have long since learned not to disgust their hearers by trying to talk in language ridiculously simple and uncultured4 ,for us to say that the intelligent employes of to-day cannot keep in mind four or even five classes of trains is to confuse them with the comparatively illiterate men of a bygone generation4 ,the public school and the daily newspaper have made a part of our problem easier4 ,we are paying higher wages than ever before1 but is it not partly our own fault if we fail to get full value received8 ,therefore1 see if your time tables appeal to tradition or to reason2 if they belong to a period when women wore hoopskirts1 or to a time when women ride wheels and play golf4 ,in brief1 before you take the stylus to remove the dirt ballast from the dispatcher's eye1 be sure that there are no brakebeams stuck in your own headlight4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,iii4 ,,handling ,a ,,yard4 ,april #c1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,you have asked me to give you some pointers on handling a yard4 ,you will find that nearly all situations in a yard hark back to one simple rule1 which is3 ,when you get hold of a car move it as far as possible toward its final destination before you let go of it4 ,the training of a switchman is usually such that1 if let alone1 he will stick the car in the first convenient track and wait to make a delivery until he can pull every track in the yard and put with it all other cars with the same cards or marks4 ,by this time some other fellow with a similar honesty of purpose but differently applied will come along and bury the car or block the first man in so that one engine has to stand idle4 ,a yardmaster has to learn to keep his engines scattered and to hold each foreman responsible for the work of an engine4 ,a good yardmaster knows instinctively where to be at a certain time to minimize the delay incident to engines bunching4 ,the old switchman who becomes a yardmaster often proves a failure because he cannot overcome his inclination to follow one engine and take a hand in the switching himself4 ,by so doing he may perhaps increase the work accomplished by that one engine1 possibly five per cent2 but in the meantime the other engines1 for want of comprehensive1 intelligent instructions1 are getting in each other's way and the efficiency of the day's service is decreased maybe twenty per cent4 ,good yardmasters are even harder to discover or develop than good train dispatchers4 ,the exposure1 the irregular hours for the yardmaster's meals in even the best regulated yards make a good conductor leery about giving up a comfortable run to assume the increased responsibility of a yard4 ,the pay of a yardmaster is little more than that of a conductor and is sometimes less4 ,right here is a chance for some deep administrative thought4 ,it is so much easier to get good conductors than good yardmasters1 should we not make the latter position more attractive8 ,some roads have done this by making it one of the positions from which to promote trainmasters1 and seldom have such appointees fallen down4 ,however1 there are hardly enough promotion loaves and fishes to go around4 ,men get tired of living on skimmed milk on earth for the sake of promised cream in heaven4 ,every switch engine worked costs the company several hundred dollars per month1 and the yardmaster whose good figuring can save working even one engine is more than earning his salary4 ,the closer you can get your yardmasters to your official family the better your administration4 ,pick up a yardmaster occasionally and take him to headquarters with you so that he will keep acquainted with the dispatchers4 ,this will hold down friction and save the company's good money4 ,a dispatcher naturally wants to get all the trains he can into a terminal1 while a yardmaster is doing his level best to get trains out4 ,with such radically different points of professional view there is a big opportunity for the superintendent and the trainmaster to do the harmonizing act1 to keep pleasantly before employes the fact that all are working for the same company1 that all do business with the same paymaster4 ,blessed are the peacemakers doesn't mean necessarily there must first be trouble4 ,peace carried in stock is better than that manufactured on hurry-up shop orders4 ,if you are looking for talent to run a yard1 consider some ambitious dispatcher4 ,too few dispatchers have become yardmasters4 ,the same cool head1 the same quick judgment1 the same executive ability are needed in both positions4 ,the man who has successfully filled both is usually equipped to go against almost any old official job1 without having to back up and take a run for the hill4 ,the curse of modern civilization is over-specialization4 ,the world grows better and produces stronger1 better men all the while4 ,perhaps this is in spite of rather than on account of highly specialized organization4 ,no industry can afford to be without the old-fashioned all around man who is good anywhere you put him4 ,the work of the yardmaster is more spectacular than that of the dispatcher4 ,to come down to a congested yard among a lot of discouraged men blocked in without room to sidetrack a handcar is like sitting down to a train sheet with most of the trains tied up for orders4 ,in either case let the right man take hold and in a few minutes the men involved will tell you who it is has assumed charge4 ,without realizing it and without knowing why1 they redouble their efforts2 things begin to move1 and the incident goes down in the legends of the division to be the talk of the caboose and the roundhouse for years to come4 ,to the man whose cool head and earnestness are bringing it all about comes the almost unconscious exhilaration that there is in leading reinforcements to the firing line4 ,he feels with the ,count of ,monte ,cristo1 ,the world is mine1 ,i have the switches set to head it in4 ,get out of your head the young brakeman's idea that yard jobs are for old women and hasbeens4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,iv4 ,,distant ,,signals ,,on ,,chief ,,clerks4 ,april #aj1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,you write me that you have been kept very much in your office of late because the general superintendent has taken your chief clerk for the same position in his own office4 ,you hope that your friend1 the auditor1 may be able to furnish you a good man who has such a thorough knowledge of accounts that you will be able to give less attention to such matters and therefore be out on the road that much more4 ,you will pardon a father's severity1 but you are running on bad track1 and my interest prompts me to put out a slow order for you4 ,you have had the division a short time1 it is true1 but that is only a partial excuse for not having better organization than your letter unwittingly admits4 ,you have been there long enough to have sized up the men on the division1 and you should know where to put your hand on a man for practically any position4 ,a good organizer does not wait for a vacancy to occur or even come in sight before thinking of the next incumbent4 ,he is always into clear on such a proposition4 ,he has thought it all out beforehand4 ,he has in mind two or three available men for every possible vacancy that can occur1 for every job on the pike1 including his own4 ,wherever possible by judicious changing of men he not only has a man in mind1 but he has given him some preliminary training for1 perhaps some actual experience in1 the position to be permanently filled4 ,the tone of your letter is half complaining because the general superintendent has taken your good chief clerk4 ,away with such a feeling2 it is unworthy4 ,you should feel flattered that your division had a chance to fill the vacancy4 ,you should rejoice in the advancement of your faithful subordinate4 ,some divisions1 like some officials1 are known the country over as developers of talent4 ,youth is proverbially quick1 and ,i think sometimes that you youngsters are quicker at getting into a rut than are we old fogies4 ,why for a chief clerk must you necessarily have a man with office experience8 ,does it not occur to you that your office will be in better touch with its responsibilities if it is in charge of a man who has worked outside along the road8 ,why not look among your trainmen1 your yardmen1 your dispatchers1 your agents1 your operators1 or even among your section foremen8 ,experience is a great teacher1 but it can never entirely supply the place of native ability1 of natural adaptability4 ,brains and tact are the essentials and each is comparatively useless without the other4 ,both must be developed by training1 but such training does not necessarily have to take the same course for all men4 ,railroading as a business is only seventy-five years old1 and as a profession is much younger than that4 ,it is too early in the game to lay down iron-clad rules as to the best channels for training and advancement4 ,common sense demands that such avenues be broad and more or less definite4 ,the danger is that they will be only paths and so narrow that they will wear into ruts4 ,do not delude yourself into thinking that by going out on the road you can get away from the accounts4 ,they are a flagman that is never left behind to come in on a following section4 ,you can never get beyond watching the company's dollars and cents any more than a successful musician can omit practice4 ,some officials think that the way to examine a payroll or a voucher is to see that all the extensions are accurately made1 that the columns are correctly added4 ,this mechanical clerical work is about the last thing an official should have to do4 ,he should know how1 but his examination should be from a different viewpoint4 ,primarily he must look to see if the company is getting value received for money expended4 ,he must know that the rolls and vouchers are honestly made up1 that agreements involved1 if any1 are carried out to the letter4 ,the agreements may not be to his personal liking1 may not accord with his ideas of justice1 but the responsibility for that part is his superior's1 not his own4 ,there is a proper channel for him to follow in attempting to protect the company's interests1 but that channel is not the one of a petty ruling on a minor question involved in a voucher or a payroll4 ,overtime1 for example1 is not a spook but a business proposition4 ,if earned according to the schedule it should be allowed unhesitatingly4 ,before you jack up a yard-master for having so much overtime1 see if the cutting out of that overtime will mean the greater expense of working another engine4 ,the constant thought of every official is how to reduce expenses1 how to cut down payrolls4 ,this habit of mind1 commendable as it is1 has its dangers4 ,in any business we must spend money to get money4 ,the auditor's statements do not tell us why we lost certain traffic through relatively poor service4 ,their silence is not eloquent upon the subject of the business we failed to get4 ,figures must be fought with figures and many a good operating official has had to lie down in the face of the auditor's fire because1 from lack of intelligent study of statistics on his own part1 he had no ammunition with which to reload4 ,do not feel that if you happen to advocate an increase of expense you are necessarily a discredit to the profession1 a dishonor to the cloth4 ,there are few roads that would not save money in the long run by allowing each division say one hundred dollars per month for developing talent4 ,the expense distributed to oil for administrative machinery would express the idea4 ,it would then be up to the superintendent to work out original methods for spending this money to the best advantage4 ,a bright young fellow with the ear marks of a coming official could be given training in various positions4 ,while he is acting in a certain position1 the regular incumbent could be sent to observe methods elsewhere or be given training in some other department4 ,for example1 while your candidate is running a yard1 the yardmaster could be an understudy for a supervisor4 ,a station agent could take the place of a section foreman1 an operator the place of a chief clerk1 and so on indefinitely4 ,do not understand me as advocating a wholesale shakeup or the doing away with permanency of tenure4 ,the limitations of the majority of men are such that they are better left in one fixed groove4 ,we grow to be narrow in our methods because men are narrow4 ,what ,i want is for us to be broad enough in method to keep from dwarfing the exceptions in the ranks1 and at the same time keep the parts of our administrative machine interchangeable4 ,the original entry into the service is more or less a matter of accident as to department entered4 ,let us not leave a good man the creature of accident all his days4 ,the company is the loser as well as the man4 ,we complain because the trades unions advocate a closed shop1 a restricted output1 a limited number of apprentices4 ,is not their attitude a logical development of the example we have set8 ,like master1 like man4 ,let your new chief clerk understand that he is never to use your signature or initials to censure or reprimand any employe1 either directly or by implication4 ,that is a prerogative you cannot afford to delegate4 ,it is all right if a complaint comes in for the chief clerk to investigate by writing in your name and saying3 ,kindly advise concerning alleged failure to do so and so2 or1 ,we have a complaint that such and such happened and would like to have your statement2 but he should stop right there4 ,it is all wrong for him or for you to add1 ,we are astonished at your ignorance of the rules2 or1 ,you must understand that such conduct will not be tolerated4 ,wait until both sides of the case are heard4 ,then you alone must act4 ,the division will not go to pieces while such matters await your personal attention4 ,while you are learning that even a brakeman's unpaid board bill may be satisfactorily explained1 the brakemen are learning that even a superintendent can find the time to be fair and just4 ,a lack of development of the judicial quality in chief clerks and their superiors has cost the railroad stockholders of this country many a dollar4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,v4 ,,safety ,,of ,,trains ,,in ,,yards4 ,april #ag1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,i have yours saying that my letter on yard work omits mention of the most important feature1 the safety of trains in yards2 that the letter is much like a cup of lunch-counter coffee--very good1 what there is of it1 and plenty of it1 such as it is4 ,i admit that you have caught me not only foul of the main1 but outside the switches4 ,i appreciate your consideration in so politely pulling the whistle cord for me1 when you would have been justified in setting the air4 ,we all like to be with good company and pull the president's special1 and in this case ,i seem to have with me no less distinguished companions than the ,american ,railway ,association4 ,that able body has been detoured too long around this important matter of rules governing trains in yards4 ,before ,i leave their varnished cars and climb into the gangway of a switch engine to run into the yards1 ,i want the conductor to throw off a register slip setting forth my admiration for the great work already done by that brainy organization4 ,i take off my hat to the ,american ,railway ,association4 ,when ,i take off said hat1 especially to a lady1 ,i always keep both eyes open4 ,adoration should not be too blind or one may overlook some other meeting points and land clear off the right of way4 ,long ago some bright minds1 whose identity is lost in the rush of the years1 hit upon the happy expedient of dividing trains into two kinds1 regular and extra2 just as early theology divided mankind into the two convenient classes of saints and sinners4 ,this designation of trains1 doubtless like all innovations opposed at first1 soon acquired the sacredness that time brings to all things4 ,at that period when we got a car over the road and into the terminal we felt that its troubles were about ended1 as did the contemporary novelist whose terminal was always a betrothal scene4 ,under modern conditions a car reaching a terminal1 like a couple leaving the altar1 finds that its problems have only fairly begun4 ,less romance1 more progress4 ,did you ever try to explain to an intelligent traveling man just what a train is8 ,did he not ask you some questions that kept you guessing for a week8 ,did he not remind you that outsiders usually make the inventions that revolutionize operation8 ,radical changes in methods of warfare are seldom necessitated by the inventions of military men4 ,a druggist invented the automatic coupler4 ,railroad men did not patent the air brake or devise the sleeping car4 ,all this is natural1 because in any profession where one attains excellence in a given method his mental vision may become contracted2 he may reason in a circle4 ,every once in a while we are appalled by a terrible collision in a terminal1 the result perhaps of some poor devil of an employe not appreciating fully the meaning of all trains4 ,to the innocent bystander the switch engine and cars are just as much a train as the ,pullman flyer with its two little green markers on the last car4 ,after such accidents1 for a brief period1 we hear a great deal about act of ,providence1 presumptuousness of man1 fallibility of the human mind1 surprise checking1 discipline of employes1 company spirit1 governmental supervision and a lot of other more or less unrelated subjects4 ,are we not to blame for not having met the issue squarely8 ,is it not time that we legislated to recognize the scores of engines chasing through our terminals1 from freighthouse to yard1 from engine house to station8 ,are they outcasts8 ,do the millions of dollars of investment they represent come through a different treasury8 ,to the human mind an engine or a motor is a train1 while a cut of cars without motive power is only a piece of a train1 and goes to the brain as an idea of something incomplete4 ,all the artificial definitions of the standard code cannot alter this state of facts4 ,what do you think of the following proposed designations and tentative definitions8 ,train4--,an engine 7or motor7 in service1 with or without cars4 ,two or more engines 7or motors7 may be combined as one train4 ,regular ,train4--,a train represented on the time table4 ,it may consist of sections4 ,a section derives its running existence from a train order requiring a regular train or the proper section thereof1 to display prescribed signals4 ,extra ,train4--,a train not represented on the time table1 but deriving its running existence from train order4 ,yard ,train4--,a train neither represented on the time table nor created by train order1 but deriving its running existence from rules governing movements within prescribed limits4 ,you will find if you work these definitions through the standard code the changes will be slight1 but the results comprehensive and satisfactory4 ,this will do as a starter1 but you will live to see trains handled on single track without train orders as we now understand the term4 ,if this answers your signal1 suppose we call in that flag we whistled out when we stopped to talk it over4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,vi4 ,,standardizing ,,administration4 ,april #bd1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,while backing in on a branch idea ,i bumped into a load consigned to the ,american ,railway ,association which1 with your permission1 ,i wish to bring in behind the caboose to save a switch4 ,yes1 ,i have tied a green flag on the rear grabiron for a marker4 ,when the hind man has dropped off to shut the switch and has given the eagle eye a high sign1 ,i shall make a note on the wheel report to the effect that there is not a much better daylight marker than the caboose itself4 ,some people doubt the necessity for green flags on freight trains or work trains unless the caboose does not happen to be the last car4 ,night markers are unquestionably necessary1 but are not a source of additional expense1 as the same oil answers for both the rear red signal and the marker4 ,the idea in question is that the ,american ,railway ,association might well afford to pay salaries to more of its officials and let certain ones give their entire time to committee work and the general welfare4 ,it is too much to expect that men1 probably already overworked on their own roads1 can find the broadest solution of problems in the very limited time allowed4 ,it might be possible to work out a plan whereby election to certain positions in the association would mean that the individual elected was to be loaned to the association for his term of office1 say two years1 and then return to service with his own company4 ,a permanent body of officials in such an organization would be undesirable1 save of course the able secretary1 for the reason that too long a separation from active service would beget an indifference to practical operating conditions4 ,under such a plan officials would have to be elected by name to prevent a company from unloading any old rail on the association4 ,you know that some statistician has figured out that the average official life of a railroad man in any one position is only about two years4 ,rearrangement of the staff on the return of an official from such broadening special duty should not be a difficult matter4 ,but1 as a man once said to me1 ,you will not bring all these reforms about until the old fogies die off1 and by that time you will be an old fogy yourself and it will not make any difference4 ,there is almost no limit to the number of matters in railway administration that can be made standard and uniform for all roads4 ,a great deal has been done1 but to a coming generation the present stage of accomplishment will seem to have been only a fair beginning4 ,the hopeful feature is that roads now meet each other in a much broader spirit than ever before4 ,the fortress that parleys is half taken1 and when negotiations looking to uniformity are once begun a long stride forward has been taken4 ,take the wage agreements of a dozen roads at a large terminal4 ,all twelve are intended to mean practically the same thing1 yet the wording of no two will be found alike4 ,this probably is not due so much to a disinclination to get together as to a lack of time for working out uniform details4 ,some roads are noticeable for the clearness1 conciseness and brevity of their instructions4 ,others employ a lot of surplus words which are as expensive and annoying in operation as dead cars in a yard4 ,on every road there are a few men in the official family who have a faculty of expression1 either inborn or acquired4 ,some day when we more fully overcome the prejudice against sending officials to school we shall utilize the services of such valuable men as instructors in style4 ,when this is done1 especially in the traffic and legal departments1 we shall materially reduce our telegraph expenses4 ,the mere thought of the thousands of unnecessary words flying over the railroad wires every day is enough to give one telegrapher's cramp4 ,some roads occasionally censor telegrams with a view to reducing their number and their length4 ,these efforts1 like municipal reform1 are apt to be too spasmodic to prove of lasting value4 ,success in anything depends upon keeping most everlastingly at it4 ,you notice that ,i do not confine this remark to our own profession4 ,carry a flag for me against the man who always says3 ,in railroading you have to do thus and so1 for it's not like other business4 ,all must admit that conditions in railroading are intense2 that1 except in an army in time of war1 there is no profession that is more strenuous or calls for better staying qualities4 ,these facts1 however1 do not put us in a class by ourselves1 a little lower than the angels1 a few car lengths ahead of perfection4 ,as ,oliver ,cromwell said1 some things are fundamental4 ,one of them is that good organization and administration depend upon certain basic principles which hold true for any industry4 ,whatever one's religious views1 he must find that the ,bible is one of the best books of rules ever written1 one of the best standard codes on organization that has been devised4 ,men were organizers on a large scale centuries before railroads were built4 ,when1 after months of deliberation1 the convention had finally agreed upon the provisions of the ,constitution of the ,united ,states1 the document was referred for revision to a committee on style and expression4 ,the result has been the admiration of the ,english speaking race4 ,the caller's book does not show that the ,american ,railway ,association has ordered a run for such a committee4 ,should a claim of that sort be made it would hardly be advisable to file the last standard code as an exhibit4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,new ,,trainmaster ,,and ,,civil ,,service4 ,may #a1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,i have your letter telling about your new trainmaster4 ,you feel that a man from another division has been forced on you by the general superintendent2 that you have suffered a personal affront because the promotion you recommended on your own division has not been approved4 ,i am sorry to rule against you1 but from your own story if anybody deserves six months twice a year1 it is you and not the general superintendent4 ,the latter may have been lacking in tact2 he may have been unduly inconsiderate for your personal feelings1 but in making the appointment1 which you admit is a good one1 he has doubtless been actuated by a conscientious sense of duty4 ,remember that a fundamental principle of highly organized bodies is that a superior cannot expect to select his own lieutenants4 ,the next higher is always consulted and generally the latter's superiors also4 ,the theory is that they are in a position to have a broader view1 to size up more talent1 to draw from the system at large1 and to accentuate principles and policies in promotions and appointments4 ,this theory is supported by practice1 which goes even further4 ,on most roads circulars signed by the superintendent and approved by the general superintendent announce the appointment of a trainmaster4 ,do not let this delude you into thinking the general manager has not been consulted4 ,in fact1 if you could drop a nickel in the slot and get a phonographic report of conferences on the appointment1 you might happen to recognize the voice of the president himself before the machine shut off4 ,all of which should convince you that the stockholders and directors have strewn other official pebbles besides yourself along the organization beach4 ,you say that the relation of superintendent and trainmaster should be that of elder brother and younger brother4 ,very true1 but do any of us ever select our brothers8 ,in a primitive state of civilization1 when force is law1 the military chieftain rules4 ,he makes and breaks his lieutenants at pleasure4 ,the oldest form of organization we have is the military1 for armies are older than governments4 ,every nation has its birth in the throes of battle4 ,time passes and the chieftain finds his lieutenants insisting on permanency of tenure4 ,gradually they secure it1 and channels of promotion and appointment are defined4 ,these reach the lower grades and the general finds that he has not even the authority to discuss a private soldier from the service until the latter has been convicted by a court-martial of an offense covered by enactment of the legislative body of the nation4 ,in every civilized country officers are commissioned by the executive head of the nation and by no one else4 ,the general-in-chief may recommend1 but he cannot appoint even a second lieutenant4 ,consider now a commercial organization4 ,do you think the high-salaried captain of an ocean liner can select his first and second officers without consulting his superiors8 ,does he select his own crew8 ,really1 now1 do you think the general superintendent should perfunctorily approve your recommendation for trainmaster8 ,men have been organizing armies and have been going down to the sea in ships for thousands of years4 ,let the railroads1 which have been in existence only seventy-five years1 draw another leaf from the lesson of the ages4 ,the time is fast coming when an official cannot discharge a skilled laborer from the service without the approval of at least one higher official4 ,we may not like it2 we may say that such policies will put the road in the hands of a receiver4 ,that is just what the conductors said when we took away from them the privilege of hiring their own brakemen4 ,it will come just the same4 ,we may as well look pleasant and see the bright side4 ,where employment is made a lifetime business1 where admission thereto is restricted to the lower grades and to younger men1 public sentiment will not stand for letting the question of a man's livelihood be decided by any one official1 however fair and just he may be4 ,safety and good administration may demand the man's summary suspension from duty by the immediate official or employe in charge4 ,if the man has been in the service a prescribed probationary period his permanent discharge will have to be approved by higher authority4 ,men will not care to risk having a recommendation for discharge disapproved4 ,they will learn that the more carefully a discharge has been considered the less readily will a reinstatement be made4 ,some people think you cannot have military methods and organization on a railroad because it has no guardhouse4 ,this is a mistake4 ,your old dad1 after trying both1 finds that railroads1 in some respects1 have a more powerful discipline than the army4 ,a discipline based on bread and butter1 shoes for the baby1 love of home1 and pride of family1 which is the bulwark of the state1 has in itself all necessary elements for maximum practical effectiveness4 ,reinstatements1 unless based on new evidence1 are demoralizing to discipline1 for the reason that the unworthy employe bumps back to a lower grade some deserving man1 whose good service is then reckoned at a discount4 ,some passenger conductors become so color blind they cannot tell the company's money from their own4 ,they keep down the wrong lead until the auditor derails them at the spotter's switch4 ,the ex-conductor gets hungry1 the sympathetic grievance committee1 not knowing what is for its own best interests1 intercedes4 ,the management1 dreaming of loyalty in coming strikes1 reinstates the offender4 ,some young conductor1 who1 on the strength of his promotion1 has married or bought a home1 is set back to braking4 ,this causes some brakeman to carry the mail to the extra list4 ,he quits in disgust and another road1 less sympathetic1 gets the benefit of his training4 ,other reinstatements follow and more of the younger men quit4 ,years go on1 a rush of business comes4 ,the management look in vain for promotion material and wonder at the seeming ingratitude in quitting of so many good young men whom it was fully intended to promote--in the sweet by and by4 ,this is not the experience of one road1 but of many4 ,let us be just before we are generous4 ,speaking of discharged employes1 did you ever happen to be in a general office with an ex-passenger conductor1 discharged for unsatisfactory services1 but seeking immediate reinstatement2 and have an ex-official1 who left the service in first-class standing1 come in and ask for the next official vacancy8 ,the conductor might succeed1 but the official would fall a sacrifice on the shrine of civil service1 a fetich because1 in its true meaning1 so little understood4 ,i shall string a civil service limited for you on some other time card4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,viii4 ,,education ,,of ,,several ,,kinds4 ,may #h1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,i happened to meet your general manager the other day1 and the way he spoke of the good work you are doing warmed the cockles of my old heart4 ,he said that you couldn't rest easy until you knew more about the division than any other man4 ,this1 of course1 is as it should be1 but it is astonishing how many division superintendents are satisfied to grope along in the dark4 ,then some fine day the general officials come along on an inspection trip and unintentionally make the superintendent look like thirty cents by the sincere questions they ask about the division which he is unable to answer4 ,if one's memory has not been trained by education it is a good thing to condense information and have it in a notebook in the vest pocket4 ,some wise man has said that all education after we are twenty-five years old consists in knowing where to look for things4 ,another help that school education gives to an official is to broaden him so that he can use different methods on different properties4 ,there are three main reasons why officials without much early education have succeeded and will continue to succeed4 ,the first is native ability1 which remains comparatively undeveloped without the second1 which is opportunity4 ,the third is the good luck to work under organizers and developers of talent4 ,training under the right sort of leaders is an education in itself4 ,the danger of relying on such training alone is that one may copy too blindly the methods of his master without being broad enough to realize that the same master under other conditions of territory would adopt radically different methods4 ,this is the reason why there are so many failures when a new man takes a crowd of his followers to reorganize a property4 ,if all succeed1 very well1 but if one fails the most of the bunch go tumbling down like a row of blocks4 ,again1 the educated man from his knowledge of history is less likely to forget that what may go in fifteen-year-old ,oklahoma will receive the icy mitt and the marble heart in three-hundred-year-old ,virginia4 ,triples that are ,o4,k4 in cavalier ,south ,carolina may be too quick acting in puritan ,massachusetts4 ,commercialism1 like patriotism1 rests on certain fundamental principles4 ,the application of these principles may be as uniform as a train of system cars2 it may be as diverse as the cars in a train of a connecting line4 ,orthodoxy is usually my doxy4 ,the rough and ready efficiency of the ,west1 which has developed a vast domain1 has won the praise of the world4 ,our rough and ready brethren are finding that1 as society rapidly becomes more highly organized1 this old-time efficiency must be supplemented with technical education4 ,so you find your self-made magnate giving his sons college educations4 ,the only regrettable part is that to make it easy the old man raises the low joints for the boys and they do not always get bumpings enough to test their equipment thoroughly4 ,time will correct this1 and more college men1 more presidents' sons1 will fire1 will switch1 will brake1 will become men behind cars as well as men behind desks4 ,it is not only what you know1 but what you make people believe you know1 that counts in this little game of life4 ,the ,american people never go back on a man who puts aside birth or education and stakes his all upon his manhood2 who is willing to share the dangers and the hardships of his calling4 ,our military men have long since learned this lesson1 and the son of the general must do the same guard duty1 make the same marches1 dig the same trenches1 and face the same bullets as his fellows4 ,his father knows that for it to be otherwise would be to handicap the son by the contempt of his comrades4 ,like the ,spartan mother1 he says3 ,my son1 return with your shield or upon it4 ,did you ever consider how uncertain a quantity is opportunity1 as inscrutable as the ways of ,providence8 ,in all ages and in all callings it has been one of the numerous mysteries that make life so attractive4 ,there is many a veteran conductor1 many a gray-haired station agent1 who1 if he could have had the chance to start1 would have become a general manager4 ,some men have to go to another road to be fully appreciated4 ,when a man is young he is criticized if he changes roads4 ,when he is older his services are sought because of his varied experience with different roads4 ,human nature is prone to limit the length of everybody's train to the capacity of its own sidetracks4 ,in the spring of #ahfa there went from his tannery at ,galena to the capital of ,illinois an ex-officer1 a professional soldier1 whose gallantry and efficiency had stood the tests of the war with ,mexico4 ,springfield was filled with commission seekers1 natives of the ,state1 and ,illinois1 like some railroads1 did not wish to go off her own rails for talent4 ,she needed trained clerks to make out muster rolls1 to book wheel reports in the yard office1 as it were4 ,this humble employment the silent soldier accepted with better grace than has characterized some former railway officials under similar circumstances4 ,the opportunity came in the shape of a mutinous regiment1 which1 like a mountain division1 was hard to handle4 ,three years later the clerk had run around all the officers1 was commanding all the armies of the ,union1 and the world rang with the military fame of ,ulysses ,s4 ,grant4 ,strange indeed is opportunity4 ,some successful railroad men owe their official start to the seeming bad luck of being let out as an employe4 ,your general manager said that he had read some of my letters to you2 threw me a warm jolly by remarking that you are a credit to such teaching4 ,then he confessed that he had asked the son if the old man always practices what he preaches4 ,i am pleased to know from his own lips that you uncovered his headlight on that point4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,ix4 ,,correspondence ,,and ,,telegrams4 ,may #ae1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,you have asked me to say something more on the subject of correspondence and telegrams4 ,in these days of push the button for the stenographer1 letters and telegrams are longer than when the officials themselves wrote out communications in long-hand4 ,it therefore usually remains for employes like yardmasters1 conductors and operators to preserve the good old terse style of the past4 ,some of them send messages that are models of comprehensiveness and brevity4 ,when you run across a man who is an artist in that sort of thing keep an eye on him4 ,the chances are that he uses the same good judgment in all of his work2 that he accomplishes the greatest possible amount with the least possible effort2 that he takes advantage of the easiest and best way2 that he has the prime requisites of a coming official1 namely1 a cool head and horse sense4 ,of course1 the matter of terseness can be run into the ground4 ,clearness should not be sacrificed to brevity4 ,there is a happy medium between the off agin1 on agin1 gone agin1 ,finnegan1 of the ,irish section foreman and the regretsky to reportsky of the ,russian general4 ,the point to be gained is to avoid repetition and unnecessary words4 ,when wiring your office that you will go east on ,number ,two1 the word east is superfluous for the reason that on your road ,number ,two can not possibly run west4 ,for years in our train orders we used the phrase1 right of track4 ,then somebody was bright enough to think that as ,stonewall ,jackson is no longer hauling locomotives from one line to another over the ,valley turnpike in ,virginia1 the words of track might be cut out4 ,similar amputations have been made in the morning delay reports of many roads4 ,human nature is so prone to grasp at the shadow rather than the substance that men cling to words rather than to ideas4 ,when you have written a bulletin directing something to be done1 do not discount your faith in its effect by the introduction of our good old friend1 ,be ,governed ,accordingly4 ,we get in the habit of doing a thing simply because we have always seen it done and know no other way4 ,we paint on the sides of our cars such unnecessary words as baggage1 chair1 dining1 parlor1 furniture1 stock1 etc41 etc41 just as though these cars were never used for anything else2 just as though the words really served some useful purpose4 ,the people who do not know the different kinds of cars are beyond the reach of instruction through such information4 ,you have heard of the man who entered the dining car by mistake and asked1 ,is this the smoking car8 ,whereupon a waiter grinned and replied1 ,no1 suh1 this is the chewin' cah4 ,the ,pullman people years ago discontinued the use of the words sleeping car on their equipment4 ,it is not of record that the voices of the car inspectors and the switchmen on the outside have awakened any more passengers than usual on account of such omission4 ,we borrowed from the army and the navy the idea of uniforms for employes1 brass buttons1 gold lace and all4 ,lately soldiers and sailors are wearing plainer1 simpler service uniforms4 ,we1 however1 have not taken a tumble1 perhaps because no one has hit us with a club1 or run into our switch shanty and knocked it off the right of way4 ,the cap is the essential feature of a trainman's uniform4 ,he doesn't exactly talk through it1 but its badge and ornaments identify his responsibilities and proclaim his authority4 ,add to the cap a plain blue uniform suit with the detachable black buttons the tailor furnishes1 and you have a very satisfactory result4 ,the cap then becomes the only difference between the costume for the road and that for the street4 ,where tried1 it has been found that men wore their best suits on duty and on the street1 and kept their worn and shabby suits to wear around home4 ,at present on nearly all roads1 as the uniform is too conspicuous to be worn off duty1 the men are tempted to defer buying a new uniform until the old becomes very shabby4 ,it has been found that freight crews are easily induced to take advantage of the contract price to buy such plain uniforms for street wear4 ,such freight crews can be provided with extra caps from the office in emergencies and be utilized to advantage2 sometimes reducing the amount of deadhead mileage in making special one-way passenger movements4 ,the street railway of at least one large city has tried this system of plain uniforms with excellent results4 ,why should the most of us be so timid that we must have a precedent before we can endorse a proposed plan8 ,like a successful after-dinner speaker1 ,i am responding to the toast on expression by talking about other things4 ,in writing important letters or instructions it often pays to take the time to sit down and make a rough draft with a lead pencil4 ,if you have the dictation habit so firmly fixed that this is irksome1 revise the first draft made by the stenographer4 ,except when writing in the familiar style1 the third person should be used rather than the first or second4 ,the use of the second person should be carefully avoided in formulating general instructions2 its use in special instructions to a few individuals is sometimes1 but rarely1 permissible4 ,in writing or dictating telegrams figure roughly what the message would cost the company for transmission at commercial rates1 and its probable reduction if the price per extra word came out of your own pocket4 ,as far as possible avoid letting your initials become cheap by being used by too many people4 ,if the management do not disapprove1 encourage your subordinates to do routine business over their own initials or over symbols1 as ,s4 for superintendent 7,g4,s4 for general superintendent1 and so on71 so that when your initials come over the wire they will indicate personal attention and final action4 ,this1 too1 has been tried successfully in contravention of the fallacy that unquestioning obedience must be rendered even when it is known that the official's initials have been signed by the office boy4 ,it may be remarked in passing1 that appreciation and fame await the individual who will be able to coin some short and expressive words to replace such awkward and cumbrous designations as superintendent of motive power1 engineer maintenance of way1 assistant to the first vice-president1 etc41 etc4 ,did you ever think how desirable and practicable it would be to adopt the ,government method of addressing the office instead of the incumbent by name8 ,we do this with train orders1 and usually in addressing station agents4 ,we should also address ,the ,superintendent1 ,getthere ,division1 ,suchtown1 ,somestate1 and not use his name unless it is intended as personal and to be opened by him alone4 ,in all correspondence remember that a reprimand1 expressed or implied1 may be taken in a very different sense by the recipient from that intended by the sender4 ,your old dad has maintained satisfactory discipline among quite a bunch of men on more than one trunk line without ever writing a letter of reprimand or sending a hot message over the wire4 ,the advice of the famous politician to walk ten miles to see a man rather than write him a letter is paraphrased for our business to mean rawhide yourself fifty or a hundred miles over the road to jack up a man rather than play him a tune on the typewriter4 ,another useful injunction is that of a famous soldier and diplomat1 ,never underrate yourself in action2 never overrate yourself in a report4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,x4 ,,the ,,bayonet ,,precedes ,,the ,,gospel4 ,may #bb1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,the evolution of the relative importance of the several departments in railroad work is an interesting study4 ,the early railroads were short and usually had for president the most important man of affairs in the community1 a banker1 a lawyer1 a publicist1 a what-not4 ,frequently this man could not give his whole time to the road and he leaned heavily upon his superintendent1 who1 perhaps1 had been the engineer in charge of construction4 ,the superintendent of the early days was general manager on a small scale1 and with limited facilities had to be a man fertile in resources4 ,the superintendent of to-day is a better man1 because the race improves all the time1 but he performs duties of a decidedly different nature4 ,it is idle to speculate as to just what he would do under primitive conditions4 ,a return to such circumstances is impossible4 ,we know that in a pinch our railway officials and employes1 as a class1 are never found wanting4 ,they will measure up to standard in the future as they have in the past4 ,one fact they must never forget is that1 like soldiers and sailors1 their faculties must be so alert1 their grasp so comprehensive1 that they will not get lost when the fortunes of the service bring them into strange territory4 ,the pace is too swift to admit of standing still to get one's bearings4 ,there were few officials and the conductors were very important personages4 ,when the superintendent needed an assistant it was natural to take a conductor who helped around the office1 ran the pay car and specials1 and made himself generally useful4 ,later on1 train dispatching developed splendid tests of executive ability and the official staff was recruited by promotions from dispatchers4 ,still later1 the growing importance of terminal problems gave yardmasters a chance for recognition and advancement4 ,as ,west ,point was the nursery of the early constructing engineers1 many of the early roads were built and operated by military men1 whose impress in railway methods has survived to this day4 ,when the civil war was over the railroads gained for their service thousands of men whose ability had stood the stern test of camp and battle1 men who could meet unexpected conditions4 ,these men bore the brunt in the wonderful railroad development that secured forever the commercial greatness of our country4 ,the value of military methods was appreciated by them and almost unconsciously such methods were copied in organization1 in discipline1 in correspondence4 ,one reason the great ,pennsylvania organization is so strong and successful is the training some of its embryo high officials received in the military railway bureau of the ,war ,department during the great conflict4 ,the bayonet always precedes the gospel4 ,when the military have cleared the wilderness of the savage foe the railroad brings a permanent civilization4 ,witness the marvelous growth of the great ,west during the last forty years4 ,a majority of the railroads in the country at some time or other passed through a receivership4 ,here came a chance for legal men1 and after reorganizations lawyer presidents have not been uncommon4 ,at the next stage of development many railroads had been built and systems were growing larger4 ,the civil engineer1 who in earlier years would have become the president or chief operating official1 was now taken care of in a newly necessitated department1 that of maintenance and construction1 sufficiently important to attract his talents4 ,following this period competition was keen2 it was a struggle for existence4 ,the man who could get the business was ,,it4 ,the traffic man had his inning and1 if not president1 dictated policies and the amount of his own salary and perquisites4 ,with the growth of the community of interest idea the traffic man is just as important2 but he is no longer wreckmaster1 and the transportation man is up under the lime light near the derrick car4 ,between the different dynasties of departments the transportation man1 like the rock of ages1 is always the standby and always will be4 ,the other departments come and go in relative importance1 but the transportation never shuts off1 and is there with the sand when the others unload from the gangway4 ,the revolution in standards of power and equipment incident to recent years of tractive units and ton-mile costs has brought the mechanical man prominently in front of the headlight4 ,fortunately for himself and for the service in general he has not dodged the rays when anyone cared to read figures1 and the way to higher executive positions has not been left dark for him4 ,the pendulum is already coming back toward the transportation man4 ,whether the next swing will be toward the signal engineer or toward the electrician it is hard to say4 ,the lesson a superintendent should learn from all this is that he has more and more superiors to please1 more and more fads to follow1 more and more improvements to develop1 more and more different points of view to reconcile4 ,he must merge his own importance1 his likes and dislikes in the great corporation with which he has cast his lot4 ,if his superiors spell traveler with two l's or labor with a u1 let him do likewise4 ,by so yielding he is not losing any manhood4 ,he is winning a victory over the crotchety part of his individuality and leaving room for its development along broader lines4 ,he that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city4 ,as no man can take a city or do any great work unaided he must learn first to rule his own spirit in order that he may rule others and gain their heartiest co-operation4 ,the superintendent who is habitually calm and polite1 however great the provocation to speak angrily1 will soon find that if he is firm and just his men are worrying even more than he lest things go wrong on the division4 ,in the matter of discipline there has been a great change in sentiment and in method4 ,whether or not it is all advisable is very much of a question4 ,there are too many collisions in proportion to the improvement in material and personnel4 ,in the old days the crew at fault1 whether they actually got together or not1 were discharged and forever barred off the road4 ,nowadays we are apt to give them another trial on the theory that we are immune from future mistakes on their part4 ,this may or may not be so1 but how about the effect on others in the service8 ,how about the men who are thereby entitled to promotion8 ,is not a failure to make an example of such offenders holding life and property too cheap8 ,we may pity the unfortunate blunderers1 just as we may pity a drunkard or a thief1 but their usefulness to us should be over4 ,they may start in again1 but it must be on some other road4 ,our duty to the public and to our stockholders demands that the safety of a train should be sacred4 ,one of the most absurd conclusions is to measure the punishment by the amount of damage1 according to how straight the track happened to be1 according to how hard they happened to hit4 ,some railroad sins can be forgiven1 but drunkenness1 chronic or periodic2 stealing1 money or property2 and collisions1 actual or constructive1 should be unpardonable on any road1 however thoroughly they may be blotted out elsewhere4 ,less sentiment and more discharges will mean fewer collisions4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xi4 ,,preventing ,,wrecks ,,before ,,they ,,happen4 ,may #bi1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,an able and successful general manager--not all able men and not all general managers are successful--recently called attention to a most important distinction in the training and practice of superintendents4 ,he says that too much stress is laid upon the development of ability to locate responsibility after a wreck occurs1 and not enough upon the quality of controlling circumstances1 of cultivating precautionary habits that will prevent disaster4 ,as he aptly puts it1 the superintendent should be a doctor1 a health officer1 rather than a coroner2 his staff a sanitary commission1 a board of health to prevent disease rather than a jury to determine its causes and effects4 ,some superintendents pride themselves on their legal acumen1 their ability to cross-examine1 and on the way they can catch a crew trying to lie out of a mix-up4 ,this is all very well if it does not obscure the main object1 namely1 to minimize disaster in the future4 ,the investigation serves1 perhaps1 to determine what men to discipline and discharge as an example to others in the service4 ,it should also serve as a lesson in official methods4 ,however thorough and searching1 it cannot restore life or return property4 ,the damage has been done4 ,all the king's horses and all the king's men cannot put ,humpty-,dumpty together again4 ,some of your men every day will give you the old hot air1 ,as long as there are railroads there will be wrecks4 ,to which you should hand back the stereotyped reply1 ,very true1 but let's figure on letting the other fellow have them4 ,a discreet remark or suggestion that will put a man to thinking for himself is one of the secrets of success in handling men4 ,never miss an opportunity to make the point that wrecks seldom occur from the neglect of any one man4 ,it is when two or more forget at the same time or fall down together that trouble results4 ,impress on the brakeman the fact that the very stop he neglects to flag is the time when the operator is most likely to let two trains in the same block4 ,remind your conductor that when he fails to read the orders to the engineman in person and sends them forward by the porter or the head brakeman1 that is the very trip the orders get torn or smeared so that a fatal mistake results4 ,when a passenger train breaks in two the air usually sets on both portions4 ,it fails to do so when bums or misplaced safety chains have turned the angle cocks2 and that is the time there should be a trainman riding in the rear car4 ,men will tell you so and so cannot happen1 but next week it does happen just the same4 ,the whistle hose and the brake hose cannot be coupled together because the connections are purposely made of a different pattern4 ,a green apprentice coupling an engine to a tender at a roundhouse managed to pound together the couplings of the wrong pairs of hose1 which the engine inspector had failed to notice were badly worn4 ,that was the day the car inspectors neglected to try the signal and the air before the train left the terminal4 ,by a strange fatality the conductor trusted the car men for the station test4 ,the engineman was too busy to make a running test4 ,they all got wise when the air wouldn't work at the first railroad crossing4 ,watch the inspectors to see that they do not form the lazy habit of giving the signal to try the air from the next to the last car1 of walking only half the length of the train to see the pistons and the brakeshoes4 ,never wink at an irregularity of that sort4 ,it will come back to plague you a hundredfold4 ,go right after it quietly1 but promptly and effectually4 ,do not wait for disaster or for investigation by your superiors to tell you that a loose practice prevails4 ,get such information with your own senses or from observations of your staff4 ,it is vigilance1 eternal vigilance1 that is the price of safety4 ,teach your men that a hundred successes do not justify an avoidable failure1 that twenty years of faithful service cannot condone criminal carelessness4 ,a fundamental is that when backing up there should always be a man on the rear end4 ,educate your men to feel that neglect of this wise precaution is just as mortifying as to appear in public without clothes4 ,in shoving long cuts of cars without using air1 get your brakemen and switchmen to feel a pride in setting a hand brake on the end car to take the slack and save the jerk on the drawbars4 ,work for the old-time feeling of chagrin that came to the calloused-armed passenger brakeman1 in the days of ,armstrong brakes1 when he did not go after them soon enough and let his train run by the station4 ,the men are not to blame for this loss of pride and interest4 ,we1 the officials1 are at fault4 ,we have not kept ahead of the game4 ,we have been coroners1 not sanitary inspectors4 ,if an engine is waiting at a hand derail or at a crossover for a train1 neither switch should be thrown until the train has passed4 ,then1 if the throttle happens to fly open at just the wrong moment1 the train will not be sideswiped4 ,if not trained1 your switchmen will throw every switch possible beforehand so as to be ready4 ,they may think such precautions are old womanish1 but the time will come when your wisdom will be vindicated4 ,if a train is waiting for a connection1 with a siding switch in rear1 the facing point switch should be opened1 so that if the incoming man loses his air or misjudges distances the train will not be hit4 ,similarly a flagman going back to protect a train between switches should open the siding switch as he passes it4 ,the switch is more effectual than a torpedo1 and if a following train happens to get by him and his torpedoes his own train will not be hit4 ,he should flag just the same1 because a train entering the open switch too fast might turn over4 ,it is better to take a chance on a derailment than on a collision4 ,it is better still to have such training1 vigilance and discipline that there will be little chance of either disaster4 ,train your men to do things because they are right1 because it is manly to do good railroading4 ,then1 when you hold an investigation you will not find at the moment the accident happened that the engineman was priming his injector1 the fireman putting in a fire1 the head brakeman shoveling down coal1 the conductor sorting his bills1 and the hind man starting to boil coffee for supper4 ,there is hardly a conductor or an engineman of any length of service who has not at some time overlooked an order or a train4 ,when he has forgotten1 his partner has remembered4 ,the trouble has come1 bad luck1 they call it1 when they both forgot4 ,many a #ej operator has saved the job of a #aej engineman4 ,keep your men keyed up to the idea that this is too uncertain2 that each must watch his own job1 that in so doing he may keep his comrade out of the hole1 that by conscientious vigilance he becomes a better man and more of a credit to his calling4 ,no man wilfully courts danger to life and property4 ,his failures are an accompaniment1 a concomitant they call it in logic1 of officials being better coroners than they are doctors4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xii4 ,,the ,,self-,,made ,,man ,,who ,,worships ,,his ,,maker4 ,june #e1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,i once heard ,general ,sheridan1 my old commander1 say that when he was a lieutenant he made up his mind to be the best lieutenant in his regiment2 that in every grade to which promotion brought him he strove to be the best2 that he attributed his high rank to this consistent effort4 ,right here is a moral that many a railroad man should apply to himself4 ,although ,sheridan's comrades at ,west ,point and in the service knew his efficiency1 the powers that were in #ahfa found no higher position for him than that of captain and assistant quartermaster4 ,during the first year of the civil war1 while politicians were called colonels and lawyers tried to be generals1 this trained soldier was inspecting horses and mules in the ,southwest1 a veterinary's work4 ,some men1 disheartened by such apparent inappreciation1 would have lost interest1 would have let the contractor palm off inferior animals on the government4 ,not so with the future commander of the army4 ,he tried all the harder and his work was efficient1 clean and honest4 ,in the spring of #ahfb a ,michigan cavalry regiment needed a colonel and the officer hailing from ,ohio1 who had bought horses so well1 had a chance to drill both horses and men4 ,a year and a half later he was commanding a division of infantry1 and six months after that as major general a corps of cavalry4 ,popular opinion pictures ,sheridan as a dashing fighter1 executing the plans of some one else4 ,never was there a more incomplete conception4 ,no matter how hard had been the fighting1 how wearing the march1 it was ,sheridan who rose in the night to see that the sleeping camp or bivouac did not suffer from laxity in guard duty1 that all was ready for the plans of the morrow4 ,the general manager did not have to tell him that the switch lamps on his division were not burning4 ,the general superintendent did not have to wire him that his water cranes were out of order4 ,the superintendent of motive power did not have to complain that his enginemen were not kept in line4 ,the traffic manager did not lose freight because his night terminals became congested4 ,there is many a railroad man who has lost heart and lessened his usefulness because an honest but inappreciative management has promoted the wrong man4 ,then is the time to come out strong1 to try harder than before to be appreciated4 ,the world has little use for soreheads4 ,the more strenuous the conditions the less sympathy for the sulker in the tent4 ,be game and do not kick for rest4 ,the sleeve is no place to wear a wounded heart4 ,do not put up a squeal about nepotism4 ,as long as man loves woman and that woman's children the relatives of the management will always be the easiest for the promotion call-boy to find4 ,remember that though they be marked up first out1 there are other runs to be filled2 that sooner or later there are chances for more crews to get out4 ,if you find flaws in the reasons announced for certain appointments1 forget them in the thought that honesty of purpose is a distinguishing characteristic of operating management4 ,not only look pleasant but head off the efforts of foolish friends to form a volunteer grievance committee in your behalf4 ,assuming that you are trying to be the best division superintendent1 remember that in the final roundup it is not your own ideas of success that must prevail4 ,you may know that you are stronger and better than the official who gets the preferred run4 ,you may know that it would be best for the company to have you run around him4 ,all the men on the division may unconsciously feel your superior ability4 ,they may all swear by you and make your name almost sacred around the lunch counter and the caboose track4 ,all this will not count for full value if you do not please your superiors4 ,when the general manager comes on your division you must be ready for any kind of a statistical run4 ,he has not time to wait for you to oil around4 ,his every hour is valuable and like all busy men he forms his opinions in a hurry4 ,remember that until we know men intimately we judge them by standards more or less artificial1 but usually pretty accurate in the aggregate4 ,thus a man who is careless and untidy in his dress is apt to overlook little essentials in the management of men and affairs4 ,the dandy is almost never a coward2 for1 if physical courage be lacking1 his pride supplies its place4 ,the superintendent whose desk is in confusion probably has untidy stations and dirty coaches4 ,the man who slouches coatless into his superior's office and sprawls into a chair before being invited to sit down is likely to be equally inconsiderate of the public his company serves4 ,the tobacco lover who cannot refrain from smoking or chewing the few minutes he is close to the throne will probably not inherit much of the kingdom of advancement4 ,the man who clings to the ,george ,washington habit of eating with his knife and the ,thomas ,jefferson custom of drinking from his saucer has the burden of proof on him to show that he is not unobservant of progress in other things and is not generally behind the times4 ,the self-made man in so many cases worships his maker that he forgets the divinity that doth hedge a king4 ,the man above may be no better1 perhaps not as good1 morally1 mentally1 physically and socially1 but officially he is the superior in fact as well as in name4 ,familiarity breeds contempt and the more respect you show your superior the more dignity you are conferring upon yourself1 the less likely are your own subordinates to forget the respect that is due your position4 ,self-restraint and mental poise cultivate an unconscious dignity of character that is of immeasurable value in the handling of men4 ,abraham ,lincoln and ,robert ,e4 ,lee1 men of radically different types but alike in being idolized by their people1 were popular heroes1 although neither was addressed1 even by his intimates1 by his first name4 ,the highest compliment you can pay an associate or a subordinate is to address him in private by his first name4 ,it shows either that you have known him a long time or that you think enough of him to separate him from his payroll designation4 ,one of the amiable failings of human nature is to be self-satisfied1 a condition that in our profession is probably intensified4 ,we railroad men have to think and act in such a hurry that we become very cocksure of ourselves4 ,we have so little time for introspection that we often regard the science of railroading as putting it on the other fellow4 ,when disaster occurs1 no matter how defective may have been our equipment1 how parsimonious our policy1 how lax our discipline1 we cry out long and loud at the untrustworthiness of employes1 at the decadence of company spirit1 at the growing evils of the labor unions4 ,an intelligent public usually gets on to us1 however1 and we pay for such mental and vocal pyrotechnics with compound interest4 ,it will profit us to do a little more self-examination1 to copy the publican rather than the pharisee4 ,the conductor who burns off journals will assure us of his distinguished concern and of his constant injunctions to his brakemen to watch for hot boxes4 ,the superintendent who rawhides his men will tell you with tears in his voice how necessary it is to be considerate of the boys on the road4 ,the general superintendent who sends long and unnecessary telegrams will deplore with you the tendency of the traffic department to burden the wires4 ,all these are good men and true1 but they have not formed the habit of healthy1 honest self-criticism4 ,strong1 indeed1 is the man who can stand up and say1 like ,lee at ,gettysburg1 ,i was in command and responsible4 ,if anyone is to blame ,i am the man4 ,the greatest of executives are those who can make men think for themselves1 who can work men and have them believe they are playing1 who can suggest a new thought to a man and leave him with the idea that he originated it himself4 ,a great deal of effort is lost1 a vast amount of mental force is wasted in trying to convince people that you alone originated an idea or a movement4 ,bury such a thought in the results produced1 for it is results we are after4 ,get your satisfaction in said results and your amusement in the honest self-glorification of some unconscious borrower who has utilized your idea4 ,it doesn't pay to be too much of an originator4 ,if you have advanced ideas1 keep yourself in the background or you may kill the ideas4 ,men find the old alignment so familiar that they are slow to want curves replaced by tangents4 ,if you are too ubiquitous with suggestions they will become leery of your good judgment and will unconsciously set the fish tail when you whistle into town4 ,if you will run past the distant signal and find your superior at the home1 some of the best stops for the suggestion derail are3 ,you doubtless have considered the advisability of thus and so2 or1 ,i assume you are not quite ready to decide the question of hit or miss2 or1 ,as you were saying the other day1 we are losing money by deadheading crews2 or1 ,i hope you will be able to carry out your idea of introducing train staffs2 or1 ,on further consideration1 do you care to recommend adopting lap sidings for the new extension8 etc4 ,of course this kind of a sand valve must not be opened too wide or too often or some of the soft soap will get on the detector bar and violate the interlocking rules4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,friend-,,mile ,,as ,a ,,unit ,,of ,,measure4 ,june #ab1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,your chief dispatcher blew through here the other day on his vacation and dropped in to pay his respects4 ,he rather apologized for so doing1 as he seemed to think it might be considered an intrusion to call on a stranger4 ,i took it as a compliment to myself and as a mark of his loyalty to you4 ,it is so easy for us old fellows to forget that we were once junior officials ourselves that ,i rather like to keep in touch with those who are to come after and maintain the time-honored standards of the profession4 ,i never like to say very much about my desire to acquire information from everyone ,i meet1 for experience has made me a little leery of the man who whistles too long for that station4 ,he is apt to toot his own horn so much that he doesn't hear the other fellow's signals4 ,so ,i tried not to do all the talking1 and did not tell my guest of the great improvements ,i had made since ,i came to this position4 ,i preferred to let him hear that from someone else4 ,if one should take too literally the talk of the officials on whom he calls he would wonder how the road ever ran before each held down his particular job2 how there can possibly be any improvement made by those who come after4 ,no1 ,i do not advocate hiding one's light under a bucket in the cab all the time--only when running4 ,the world is getting to place more and more confidence in the man who thinks out loud4 ,it trusts him because he is not doubtful of himself4 ,the stunt of looking wise and not expressing an opinion when a suggestion is made is no longer popular4 ,a non-committal promise to look into the matter may be construed as a mask for ignorance or timidity4 ,the more a man knows the more frankly he acknowledges that a certain idea is new to him4 ,men to whom talking and writing do not come easy sometimes say beware of the windy man1 but there are some mighty efficient railroaders who act and perform all the better for being able to handle words4 ,hot air is all right if properly compressed4 ,the idle breeze dries the ground and runs windmills4 ,sand bites the rail in more economical quantities when fed down by the pneumatic attachment4 ,every division has its ,windy ,bill1 its ,chattering ,charlie1 its ,gasbag ,george2 but some way1 when they are on the road you always feel safe4 ,they may work a con game on some of the agents and dispatchers1 but they get over the road with the local4 ,you feel good when you meet them4 ,the man you want to run from is ,calamity ,jake1 who always has a tale of woe as long as a gravel train4 ,his caboose rides rough2 its stove smokes2 the caller doesn't give him time enough for his wife to cook breakfast2 the yardmaster saves all the shop cripples for his train2 he can't trust the ignorant engineers2 the brakemen are all farmers1 and the signal oil won't burn4 ,if you tell him that's all right1 that you will try and correct all these things when the car accountant's office stops kicking on his wheel reports1 he will look at you in sympathetic sadness and bewail the modern tendency to make clerks of conductors4 ,your chief dispatcher is a fine fellow and understands the art of getting away4 ,he didn't wear out his welcome but broke away while making a good impression4 ,you have to unlock the switch for some men before they can couple their crossings and get out of town4 ,the dispatcher has to send the operator outside with a clearance4 ,acquaintance is one of a young man's most valuable assets1 and a two minutes' interview may grade the way for a lifelong run4 ,before the world was as good as it is now1 men rather prided themselves on the number of enemies they had made4 ,nowadays the friend mile is a more desirable unit of measure4 ,washington ,irving puts it very prettily where he says1 for who is there among us who does not like now and then to play the sage8 ,so ,i felt rather flattered when your chief dispatcher asked me for advice as to what to study in order to get on in the railway world4 ,i told him first of all to read every bit of company literature that he could get hold of2 not to skim through a part of the pamphlet on refrigerator cars and guess at the rest4 ,a table of freight rates may become interesting if properly approached4 ,do not try to memorize data and statistics1 but rather plod through them at least once with a view to trying to master the principles that govern4 ,life is very full in this twentieth century1 but1 broadly speaking1 it is still possible to know something of everything as well as everything of something4 ,the day is coming when we will not entrust a man with the important duties and the great responsibilities of a division superintendent until we have given him a brief course in every department4 ,we examine a man before we let him run an engine1 but how about the man who runs him8 ,a superintendent should know enough about an engine to handle the enginemen just as he does the trainmen4 ,when we have men successfully running engines who can barely read and write1 it is a mistake to claim that a locomotive is such a sacred mystery that only the mechanical department can judge whether or not it is properly handled4 ,enginemen are transportation men1 and the time that master mechanics put in assigning crews1 keeping an age book1 and otherwise duplicating the superintendent's work might a great deal better be given to the back shop4 ,the yardmaster has one caller and the roundhouse foreman another4 ,the two callers go up the same street1 sometimes together1 and call men in adjoining houses1 an expensive duplication of work4 ,the trainmaster rides in the caboose and the traveling engineer--road foreman is the modern term--in the engine1 but neither dares presume to know the business of the other4 ,every trainmaster should be a traveling engineer and every traveling engineer should be a trainmaster4 ,that will be the case when we train officials along more definite lines4 ,honey bees feed their future queen a special food4 ,no1 ,i would not decrease the number of officials1 if anything ,i would increase it4 ,i would not1 however1 let every official created have a chief clerk and a stenographer4 ,i would make it impossible for him to yield to the temptation to add a bureau of records to the amount of useless information already on file4 ,i wouldn't lose my nerve if now and then a set of ancient papers got lost1 for with less red tape quicker action would result and little would get away4 ,the first time the trainmaster had to wait an hour or two before he could dictate a letter in the superintendent's office1 or could use a stenographer in his own office1 he would beef for a separate establishment4 ,if more help should be needed1 which would be very doubtful1 put it on1 but do not limit its usefulness to any one official4 ,with a proper1 responsible head it is entirely feasible to carry the community of interest idea into office organization4 ,if the division engineer is under the superintendent1 why1 in sending papers into the next room to him1 write a letter and burden your files with the carbon of the stereotyped1 ,kindly note next attached and take necessary action8 ,is not his office a part of the superintendent's8 ,have you not the same right to papers there that you have to those in the office of the chief dispatcher8 ,why not go even further and have one chief clerk and one set of records for the whole outfit1 just as an assistant superintendent can handle a part of the work without having a separate force8 ,if you ever rearrange an office building1 fix it so that the casual visitor waiting to see the boss will not learn state secrets by hearing the chief clerk dictate letters4 ,a number of roads have tried the experiment of putting the enginemen and the roundhousemen solely under the superintendent1 and of confining the master mechanic to his proper function of running the shops4 ,it has usually failed2 not on account of inherent weakness as a system1 but because the superintendent didn't superintend1 and found it too convenient to try to shift the responsibility to the mechanical department4 ,reform has to begin at the top1 and if the division is to be the unit the superintendent must be something more than a high-class chief dispatcher finding flaws in train sheets4 ,it is not enough for him to be a star division engineer1 a boss yardmaster4 ,he must remember that his holding of any of these positions is ancient history1 not to be forgotten1 because valuable and instructive1 but nevertheless a thing of the past4 ,as the yardmaster and the dispatcher must scatter their trains1 so the superintendent must keep his staff doing different things4 ,he must avoid having two men doing the same thing4 ,if it is better to call the roundhouse foreman a master mechanic and invent a title for the man behind the back shop1 let us do so2 but by all means avoid working the master mechanic at present as foreman1 head caller1 road timekeeper and roundhouse clerk4 ,the superintendent can boss all these jobs1 and transportation1 including its operating attributes1 must focus at his office4 ,it is not the superintendent who works the most hours who is the most successful4 ,it is he who puts in the best licks at the right time1 night or day1 and with the right man or men4 ,i told your chief dispatcher that a knowledge of law is as important to a real superintendent as a knowledge of telegraphy4 ,i advised him to give himself the pleasure of reading ,cooky's edition of ,blackstone1 which1 if taken in homeopathic doses1 is one of the clearest things in the language4 ,every superintendent gets to be more or less of a lawyer4 ,it should not be necessary to refer every little fire or stock claim to the legal department for some of its students to render a profound opinion upon a matter of common sense4 ,it is so easy to follow the line of least resistance that we too often evade responsibility by throwing up our hands and saying that such and such is a legal question1 a mechanical matter1 or a traffic problem4 ,we gracefully pass it up to the other fellow1 and think we are in to clear when an investigation happens to come4 ,by and by1 oblivious of the relation between cause and effect1 we deplore the curtailment of our authority and inveigh against centralization4 ,i had some other ideas to set out for you1 but we have drifted so near the switch that there is not room enough to make a drop of the caboose4 ,so ,i shall either pull the whole train into the yard or get permission from the yardmaster to cut off on the main1 and like an orthodox conductor1 leave them for the night men to switch out4 ,we conductors feel that1 as a switch engine lies around the most of the time1 it can always do at least one more job1 besides having time to shove us out of the yard and over the hill4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,management ,,that ,,breeds ,,from ,,its ,,own ,,herd4 ,june #ai1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,history repeats itself1 and railroad history is made so fast that we repeat ourselves very often4 ,mankind absorbs a certain amount from the experience of others4 ,in spite of the much good that comes1 the same old fallacies are followed1 the same old blunders are made4 ,within the last fifty years every road in the country1 at some time or other1 has undergone at least one reorganization and a corresponding radical change in personnel4 ,always1 after several new camels get their heads under the tent1 comes a newspaper pronunciamento that thereafter the management will breed from its own herd4 ,this inbreeding invariably leads ultimately to narrowness if not to deterioration4 ,the cousins intermarry too often and ere long the road is breeding its own scrubs4 ,within the last five years every road in the country has gone outside its own ranks for official talent4 ,the oldest roads have had only a few ,leonard ,woods and ,fred ,funstons1 a president here1 a vice-president there4 ,other roads have changed officials so fast that one is reminded of the traveler sojourning in ,paris during the ,french ,revolution4 ,he instructed his servant to tell him every morning what the weather was1 that he might know how to dress himself1 and what the government was1 that he might know how to conduct himself4 ,what then of our boasted civil service2 of the wonderful administrative machines we build up and find wanting8 ,is the principle wrong or is its application faulty8 ,the earnest efforts of able men1 crowned by many partial successes1 are sufficient guarantee of honesty of purpose1 of the necessity for something of the sort that has been attempted4 ,he who criticises1 be he ever so honest1 must suggest a practical remedy or he soon descends from the level of the critic to that of the demagogue or the common scold4 ,our trouble seems to be1 not with civil service as an abstract proposition1 but with the type we have been getting4 ,it is about ,z-#ii as compared with the real thing4 ,it has too many flat wheels to run smoothly4 ,it must be jacked up high enough for new trucks and a stronger kingbolt4 ,true civil service presupposes maximum care in original selection4 ,it doesn't mean that we shall wait until the grain and the coal begin to move before we figure on more crews4 ,it rather contemplates having available firemen in wipers1 and willing brakemen in clerks4 ,every superintendent believes that he is the best judge of men on the pike4 ,on every system are probably men who can give him cards and spades1 picked coal and treated water1 and then outclass him on such a run4 ,if we leave the hiring to the different trainmasters1 master mechanics1 or agents1 we may have mostly the ,irish on one division1 mostly the ,dutch on another4 ,if we are going into this civil service business and are taking men1 like ,federal judges1 for life or during good behavior1 let's have a long list of waiting eligibles recruited for each division4 ,let's send around periodically a car with an examining board from central headquarters to size up the talent recommended by local officials4 ,put experienced officials1 a surgeon and an oculist on the committee4 ,show your trainmaster that men who make it a business have more time than he to keep dudes and cigarette smokers off the runboard and the payroll2 that the former have broader opportunities than he to develop a high standard of requirements4 ,let the committee encourage men already employed to demonstrate their fitness for transfer to other departments or to heavier divisions4 ,let's change ends with our rail and put it where it will do the most good4 ,the employment bureau1 the recruiting office1 or the civil service commission becomes a necessity to every large organization4 ,some roads have made a start in this direction1 but it is only a start4 ,to work out the problem will cost us money4 ,yes1 but less than we are being forced to pay by some of the labor contracts we have had to sign4 ,it is not only more graceful1 it is less expensive1 this leading instead of being driven4 ,the great trouble seems to be in this matter of civil service that we have tried to accomplish too much in too short a time4 ,an industry whose existence does not antedate the memory of men still living cannot hope to have struck the best methods already4 ,yet it can be too cautious in building ,chinese walls around its organization4 ,what we have been striving for is to cultivate a company spirit1 to improve the efficiency of the service4 ,we have felt that the way to do this is to make our men feel secure in their positions1 to have them convinced that the shakeup made by our advent is the last they will ever experience4 ,have we not chased this rainbow long enough8 ,should we not back up and draw some of the spikes we have put in the connection switches8 ,it is one thing to sit in an office and figure that the importation of this one man ought not to make anybody uneasy4 ,it is quite another to make the thousands of men along the road believe that we can stick to the original package4 ,blood is thicker than water and the new man will have his relatives and his followers or the followers of his friends4 ,if he is too thin-skinned1 fear of criticism may prevent his bringing in some new talent that would be of real benefit to his road4 ,he is blamed if he does and blamed if he doesn't4 ,whichever course he pursues there remains1 in greater or less degree1 that uncertainty which is so demoralizing4 ,remove this uncertainty1 let men know definitely what to expect1 and you are over the hill and closer to the terminal4 ,the old-fashioned rule of promote two and hire one worked mighty well on some roads for conductors and enginemen4 ,in these days of larger systems the ratio might be changed to three or four or even five or six to one4 ,if it were definitely understood that every so often1 say every fifth vacancy in certain grades of officials and employes1 a man would certainly be selected from outside the service1 ,i believe that we could remove the feeling of uncertainty4 ,we would in a large measure attain the result we have thus far missed4 ,we would build up organizations with enough fresh blood to stand the test of time4 ,brains and adaptability are not a natural monopoly4 ,god ,almighty hasn't given any road a ,new ,jersey charter broad enough for incorporating a trust of the most efficient men4 ,no1 ,i am not a populist or a socialist4 ,i believe in trusts4 ,they have come to stay and ultimately to benefit the masses4 ,legislation will no more succeed in destroying them than it did in preventing partnerships in ,england where centuries ago it was thought for two men to unite as partners in business was an unsafe combination of power4 ,education comes by hard knocks and probably anti-merger decisions are worth the inconvenience that they have caused4 ,the sober sense of the ,american people will tell them after a while that in attempting constitutional and legislative interference they have not benefited themselves one dollar4 ,they will learn that forcing a change of methods does not necessarily bring about a different result4 ,they will learn that in the long run they1 the people1 are the losers when good capital is tied up2 that they pay the price for unwise competition4 ,the railroads1 the first great trusts1 should be early to realize that some conditions inherently forbid the elimination of competition4 ,our prairies are too broad for an agricultural trust4 ,the range of the human mind is too great for any railroad to patent the ability of its men4 ,this trust freight seems to make you full tonnage without cleaning out all the rush stuff in my yard4 ,you may cut off ahead of the rest of the civil service loads and ,i will have a pony set on your caboose when you pull through the ladder4 ,yes1 ,i will tell the operator at the yard office to scratch them off your consist4 ,i shall have to run another section and fill out with some cars of company material which the construction department is kicking about4 ,please put up--excuse me1 display--signals until the dispatcher can get hold of you at the end of the double track4 ,by the way1 if instead of will display signals1 etc41 his order should read1 will signal1 etc41 would it not be shorter and1 including flags1 lamps1 whistle and voice1 be more comprehensive8 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xv4 ,,more ,,on ,,civil ,,service4 ,june #bf1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,we were speaking of railroad civil service1 so called4 ,as ,i told you before1 our civil service is so far from the genuine article that ,i always feel like qualifying the term in some way for fear of being called in on the carpet for failure to cut the proper duplex4 ,it is a great big subject1 worthy of the most serious consideration1 because it concerns men1 not machines4 ,furthermore1 it is a high type of man with whom we deal or should deal4 ,we are all so busy that we say we concern ourselves with results4 ,we all butt in too much on details1 usually along the line of our early training4 ,yet1 withal1 we overlook some pretty long shots because we flatter ourselves we are too busy to place small bets4 ,even after we have wasted so much of the building season that we give the contractor a bonus to rush the new line to completion in time to hold the charter1 wouldn't it pay us to have a care as to the kind of men we let him work on our right of way8 ,next year1 when the grievance committees come up from the new division1 we make them feel that it means something1 it gives them a stamp of honor to work for our system4 ,why not begin a little farther back8 ,why not hook up in the beginning so that our different departments can get busy early in the game8 ,let the people who are to settle the new country help build and maintain the road4 ,let the immigration agent camp with the reconnoitering engineer4 ,when the latter comes back to locate or retrace1 let the former be interesting colonies4 ,let our own organization follow the surveyor's flag4 ,let's be our own contractor and get back more of the money he disburses4 ,why let a floating gang of ,dagoes take so big a bunch of it back to sunny ,italy8 ,why not spend it ourselves so that its recipients will use it to develop the country and hurry the origination of traffic8 ,let's handle this coin both going and coming and cut out some of the empty haul4 ,the political revolutions in continental ,europe and the famine in ,ireland in #ahdh brought to this country a high class of immigrants4 ,we gave them work and schools4 ,they helped build the railroads4 ,some continued on the roads after construction2 others helped develop the surrounding country4 ,our flag made them free1 and when civil war came they were among the bravest of its defenders4 ,to-day their children and their children's children1 all ,americans1 rank high among railway officials and employes4 ,perhaps all this is a happen so2 perhaps much of it is due to big1 brainy men whose policies were not narrowed by specialization in departments4 ,we are now doing little new construction4 ,we should do it better than ever and in the full sense of the word4 ,is it enough to pass it up to the construction department8 ,did it ever strike you that there may be many good reasons why both officials and employes may desire to transfer to another road8 ,a young man1 feeling the home nest too full1 the local demand for skilled labor too light1 has struck out for a newer country4 ,he makes good4 ,we find him in after years running an engine1 working a trick1 or1 perchance1 holding down an official job4 ,death occurs at the old home4 ,marriage brings new interests in another country4 ,an invalid member of his family needs a change of climate4 ,an unexpected development of a chance investment in a remote locality demands occasional personal attention4 ,the orphaned children of a relative claim his protection4 ,any one of a dozen praiseworthy motives may prompt him to make a change1 provided he can continue to derive his main support from the calling to which he has found himself adapted4 ,would he be able to transfer without beginning over again at the bottom8 ,between the civil service of the companies and the seniority of the brotherhoods he would find it like making a link and pin coupling on the inside of a sharp curve4 ,he would be lucky if he could get a regular job on another division of the same system4 ,let him persist in suggestions as to how the matter may be brought about1 and the average official1 hidebound by precedent1 will consider him nutty1 a candidate for the crazy house instead of for another run4 ,who is the loser8 ,not only the man1 but the company1 which should have the benefit of his wider experience1 of his peculiar interest in its territory1 of the infusion of fresh blood which his advent would mean4 ,suppose an official has resigned for any good personal reason1 or because he couldn't reduce the size of the engine nozzles fast enough to suit a new management4 ,when he starts out to hunt a job his brethren of the profession receive him with sympathy4 ,they promise to help him out4 ,each begs him to understand how impossible it is for him to catch the pay car on that particular line4 ,perhaps his informant has been on that company's payroll only six months himself1 but he waxes eloquent on the benefits of civil service1 on the desirability of making their own men1 of overcoming previous demoralization4 ,this would be amusing if it were not a serious business4 ,each seems to flatter himself that he got aboard because of peculiar personal fitness1 and inferentially denies such attribute of genius in the man on the outside4 ,as a matter of fact1 the recognition of outside talent is usually a consequence of acquaintance1 of happening to know the right man at the right time1 of having previously worked with the appointing official4 ,all this contains too much of the element of chance4 ,when we reserve certain vacancies for men outside of the breastworks and select them in advance we shall get better results4 ,we have made our civil service frogs so stiff that our discipline has climbed the rail4 ,we know it is so hard for a conductor or an engineman to get a job that we sometimes hesitate too long before we make an example for the good of the service by discharging a flagrant offender4 ,if we knew that by and by he could hit on some road the vacancy reserved for outsiders we would have the benefit of the change4 ,the man would learn a lesson1 would not be debarred from his occupation1 and would give better service on another road4 ,talk with your employes about this and you will be astonished to find how many will fall in with this idea of leaving open a door of hope by filling just so many vacancies with outside men4 ,your official or your employe seeking a transfer or hunting a job will be impressed with the fact that all assistance rendered will be with a view to favoring him because he is a good1 worthy fellow4 ,he will not hear it put on the ground that any company is fortunate to have his services1 that his future employers are being especially considered4 ,if he has known from boyhood the territory and civilization where he desires to work1 it will not be urged as a special qualification4 ,right here is where the most of us fall down4 ,we too seldom make our subordinates feel that we are the gainers by having them in our employ4 ,we are too likely to make them feel they are lucky to have a job4 ,this may do for the indifferent men1 but it puts no premium on superior ability and loyalty4 ,it renders a discharge1 when made1 less effective as an example4 ,you cannot treat all your men alike in all things4 ,in a few things1 collisions1 stealing1 booze-fighting1 for example1 you have to do so4 ,in most things you must avoid destroying individuality4 ,you must build up personal pride in each4 ,even sister engines of the same type do not steam or pull exactly alike4 ,man1 made in the image of ,deity1 has pride1 brains and courage to make more complex his disposition4 ,corporations have no souls4 ,railroad men have souls and good red blood4 ,their intelligence is an inspiration2 their steadfastness1 a psalm4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xvi4 ,,the ,,supply ,,train4 ,july #c1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,blacksmiths' horses and shoemakers' wives proverbially go unshod4 ,a railroad puts up its poorest sample of transportation in the routine handling of its own material and supplies4 ,company stuff is moved and handled last of all2 and probably at maximum expense4 ,for example1 if we wish to ship a car of wheels to division headquarters we load them after we are lucky enough to get an available car4 ,then after proper billing authority has been furnished we go through some more red tape1 so that the auditor may not confuse figs with thistles1 revenue producers with deadheads4 ,when we happen to have a train with such light tonnage that all excuses for moving the car have been exhausted it reaches the yard nearest its destination4 ,the master mechanic's office in a day or two has pounded sufficiently at the yardmaster to get the car set1 usually several hours after it has been promised4 ,it is not of record just how much time and money have been wasted by the mechanical department through not having the car when expected4 ,if our administration is unusually smooth we may be able to load our scrap wheels on this same car4 ,usually1 however1 we wait until the car has been hauled down the line before some office away off somewhere gives disposition for the wornout material4 ,or1 having unloaded all the wheels1 we wait until next week before we order in another car1 and go through the same performance to ship a couple of pairs to some junction point on the same division4 ,i will not bore you with the expensive details of getting a car of ties loaded and distributed1 of how much time the sectionmen are worked to poor advantage because the car or material failed to show up when expected4 ,we1 mounted on wheels1 with transportation as our chief asset1 let our own business get it where the chicken felt the axe1 where the sharp flange caught the bum4 ,it used to be more comfortable in the old days4 ,we could have the sectionmen do so many jobs without its seeming to cost anything4 ,the fact that we have learned better makes me rash enough to believe that we may yet progress beyond thinking that some of our own transportation costs little or nothing because we do it with the local freight or a switch engine4 ,we haul a car clear over the division to pick up a few pounds of scrap paper2 provided1 of course1 the agents have not confused the day with that for loading dairy line shipments4 ,the weakness in handling company material naturally leads to a distrust by other departments and a desire by each to control the distribution of its own supplies4 ,did you ever think in what a haphazard1 hit or miss manner we handle our traveling workers8 ,the scale inspector is a very necessary individual because freight revenue is a function of weight4 ,he is so valuable to us that1 although the test car is a nuisance in trains and yards1 we haul him hundreds of miles to do a few minutes' or a few hours' work4 ,if he should try to do any other company business2 if he should repair furniture1 solicit traffic1 inspect ties or examine interlocking plants1 he would infringe on the prerogatives of other men who earn salaries by riding much and working little4 ,yes1 ,i know we must have departments4 ,our great task is to work them to the best advantage2 to let them overlap a little when business is dull1 or where local conditions permit4 ,we should switch our departments together so that we can cut in the air on enough to hold the train without going after expenses with a club4 ,the employe who does not receive supplies regularly1 whose requisitions for stationery are arbitrarily cut1 will try to get enough ahead to keep himself from running out4 ,when you take an inventory you must figure on removing the temptation for everyone to hold back full returns for fear of not rendering good service in the future4 ,with a lot of money tied up in supplies at central or division storehouses our service often suffers1 even accidents occur for want of a lantern globe1 or a few gallons of oil4 ,the average local freight crew has no more compunctions in replenishing the caboose from a can of oil consigned to a country agent than did the slave in taking chickens4 ,it all belongs to the company4 ,massa's chicken1 massa's niggah4 ,some roads are now distributing oil to sections and to small stations from a box car fitted with inside tanks and self-registering pumps1 a very economical arrangement4 ,this car runs on the local freight at fixed times4 ,the next step has been to put with it supply cars1 handled by the oil man1 who issues supplies and tools to agents1 section foremen and pumpers4 ,a stationery car comes next in the outfit4 ,this progressive development is hampered in most cases by adherence to the time-honored requisition4 ,it does not promote a good company spirit in an agent to haul by him a car filled with supplies and deny him a much-needed broom1 a comfort-giving pane of glass1 simply because a requisition has not passed through the prescribed number of chief clerks' office baskets4 ,issues are for the good of the service1 not for charity4 ,the best way is to require a division official to accompany the cars on his division1 hold him responsible1 and make his check good on our traveling bank4 ,let the employe sign on a line in a book for articles received1 just as an agent receipts to an express messenger1 and let the official countersign once for all the employes on a page4 ,then you have the economy and benefits of centralization without the demoralizing interference with local administration4 ,the supply cars are only a beginning4 ,the evolution must be a supply and inspection train run exclusively for company business1 and to do every practicable kind of company business4 ,it should supply every department and pick up the surplus and scrap in each4 ,it should run over as many divisions as feasible1 giving it time to return and restock so as to cover its territory at prescribed intervals1 say every thirty or sixty days4 ,this train should be manned by monthly company men1 preferably of the semi-official class4 ,the position of fireman should be part of the course of a special apprentice4 ,if no special apprentice is available for engineman1 use the man in mind for the next vacancy as road foreman4 ,let the scale inspector be the flagman4 ,for conductor have a coming trainmaster1 not afraid to pull off his coat to help adjust a scale or to unload a keg of track spikes4 ,have an ambitious brakeman for train clerk1 whose records would replace requisitions and waybilling4 ,for pilot use the superintendent1 the trainmaster1 the chief dispatcher1 the master mechanic1 the road foreman1 the division engineer1 or the supervisor4 ,have as many as possible of those last named accompany the train and give the division a rigid inspection4 ,pretty soon you would find the general superintendent frequently hitching his car to this train4 ,put the contents of the train in charge of a high-class traveling storekeeper4 ,on the ground the employe would indicate his requirements1 the division official would recommend1 and the traveling storekeeper1 closely in touch with the management and its policies1 would take final action4 ,whatever happened to be done1 it would be right up to date1 and in accordance with existing needs4 ,arriving at a roundhouse1 the train itself would spot a car of wheels and a car of oil1 taking care to reload scrap wheels and empty oil barrels4 ,in general do not issue a new article unless an unserviceable one is turned in4 ,the recollections of those present will make fresher the record of expendable articles issued on a previous trip4 ,long range requisitions1 approved by distant authority1 may result in false economy1 in a lack of clearly defined responsibility4 ,the essence of good administration consists in dealing with men and things1 in giving them greater value than their paper symbols4 ,if love for requisitions should still linger in the official breast1 the proprieties of such chaste affection could be preserved by going through all the forms until their absurdity is fully demonstrated4 ,the supply train should have a car fitted up as a workshop in which a handy man could repair station trucks1 office chairs1 lanterns1 switch lamps1 etc41 etc41 and save shipping many miles for a new part4 ,many tools and utensils would last longer if1 in some such way1 they could receive the stitch in time that saves nine4 ,prompt repair and interchange among various points should diminish investment in reserve supply4 ,an article should not have to be returned to the place where previously used4 ,under present methods the return journey may put it in worse shape than when first sent in4 ,when repaired it should be issued wherever it will do the most good4 ,another car in the supply train should be a laboratory in charge of the superintendent of tests or his representative1 whose office would thus get more closely in touch with division officials and with service conditions4 ,the scrap car1 with its broken side rods1 its worn-out shovels1 its twisted drills1 might mean a whole lot in connection with arbitrary theoretical tests4 ,with the train1 on stated trips1 should be the employment bureau4 ,pick up candidates1 haul them over the division4 ,talk with them1 note their adaptability in strange surroundings1 see of how promising a stretch is the rubber in their necks4 ,give them transportation back home and1 if desired1 tell them to report again next trip for further examination4 ,when your supply train has to tie up away from a night roundhouse1 let the crew take short turns as watchmen4 ,incidentally the train might serve as an object lesson as to the endurance and capacity of men1 the length of runs1 and the care of an engine4 ,if your labor contracts do not permit you to man your own train1 do the necessary toward an amendment of such unwise schedules4 ,the more you think of the increased efficiency of the service1 of the ultimate economy1 of the smoother administration1 the more you will cuddle up to the notion of a company train4 ,experience will show the wisdom or unwisdom of numerous details that will suggest themselves4 ,i have given you only an outline with a few samples of methods to be pursued4 ,i want you to think out the rest for yourself4 ,it is theory to-day1 but the theory of to-day is the forerunner of practice a few years hence4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xvii4 ,,what ,,the ,,big ,,engine ,,has ,,cost4 ,july #aj1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,the progressive president of a rustling railroad has recently gone on record as regretting the too rapid introduction of big engines4 ,to which from many an ancient office1 from many a greasy roundhouse comes a loud amen4 ,the fad for big engines1 the slavery to the ton mile1 the rack of the comparative statement1 have cost the granger roads a pile of good coin4 ,procrustes1 the highwayman of the ancients1 fitted all his victims to stone beds1 doubtless charging to other expenses the stretching of an arm or the cutting off of a foot4 ,nowadays we get our brains warped and our legs pulled just the same4 ,the methods are more subtle1 the operations more graceful4 ,our equanimity stands for almost any old thing1 provided it is done in the name of progress1 or is called a process of analysis4 ,able men devote their lives to the solution of problems of practical railroad operation1 to making maximum net earnings for their employers1 only to be discounted by the financial writers4 ,fools rush in where angels fear to tread4 ,the same writers who1 to hear them tell it1 can save financial panics by sound advice to the country bankers1 who can instruct our ,uncle ,samuel how to handle his navy1 who can hurry ,russian troops to ,manchuria1 can tell us just how to run our railroad1 just how many tons we should pull per train4 ,invention is the handmaiden of progress4 ,inventors are usually laymen or outsiders4 ,inventors and architects have to be held in check to prevent development from becoming abnormal or one-sided4 ,the man who invented the air brake was not asked to come in and take charge of all transportation4 ,the men who design big engines should not be allowed to forget conditions of track1 territory and traffic4 ,railroads are run to make money4 ,a motion to manage them like golf links is never in order4 ,the track is built for running trains4 ,to the man with too much ton mile on the brain the running of a train1 the very object of the road's existence1 becomes a bugaboo4 ,he will sacrifice business1 incur risks of other losses1 rather than run a train4 ,in some cases this is all right1 in others it is all wrong4 ,there is a happy medium which all of us should be allowed to work out for ourselves1 to suit our own conditions4 ,the trouble is that we are denied a sliding scale4 ,all roads look alike to the critic1 the reviewer and the broker4 ,roads of dense traffic with much low-class freight1 such as coal1 coke1 ore1 pig iron1 etc41 to move1 found it more economical to have large engines and heavy trains4 ,the nature of the business demands a considerable supply always on hand4 ,this permits waiting for full tonnage for every train4 ,a few cars1 more or less1 at one end or the other of the line make no great difference to the shipper4 ,these roads usually have more than one track and an old solid roadbed4 ,this good thing of economical transportation was pushed along to us of the prairies4 ,here traffic is relatively thin1 the track with dirt ballast is less solid1 hauls are many times longer1 and single track is the rule4 ,moreover1 we frequently have merchandise1 implements1 machinery and other high-class freight in one direction1 and such perishable stuff as live stock and dressed meats in the other4 ,a dozen years ago we had developed a combination freight and passenger engine1 usually a ten-wheeler with fairly high drivers1 which handled such business promptly and profitably4 ,we could take out a ,raymond excursion or a theatrical special one way1 and coming back make a fly run with belated stock for a distant market4 ,we may yet do the same with the compound battleship1 but it will first require alterations and a big expenditure on track4 ,when stock shows up you must get it moving4 ,you cannot hold it to club trains1 as in the case of coal and pig iron4 ,you miss the market and there is a big claim to pay1 to which the financial gentleman in ,new ,york does not give sufficient weight when he makes his wonderful analysis of our figures4 ,it does not show up in grate surface1 tractive power1 or weight on the drivers4 ,it is not complimentary to our wisdom that stock shippers have been compelled to invoke ,state aid to force us to run stock trains regardless of full tonnage1 to do what our own best interests demanded4 ,we should avoid the necessity for even a just regulation of our affairs4 ,it opens the door to much that is unjust and undesirable4 ,the big engine has made us straighten curves1 reduce grades1 relay rail1 renew bridges1 buy land1 increase terminals1 extend passing tracks1 abandon light equipment and increase wages4 ,its presence on single-track roads has retarded traffic and has increased expenses4 ,it has torn up our track and increased the number of wrecks4 ,its long hours and trying work have been an element of demoralization among our men4 ,the efficiency of our crews is limited to the endurance of the fireman4 ,this last condition must be remedied by an automatic stoker--the most crying need of the present4 ,supply usually keeps pretty close to demand and the automatic stoker should not be very long in coming4 ,yes1 directly and indirectly1 the big engine has cost us a lot of dough4 ,it is not an unmixed evil4 ,it has its good points1 to be sure4 ,some of the new conditions it has forced would have come in time anyway4 ,its advantages would be greater1 its operation cheaper1 if its coming could have been broken to us more gently4 ,it is now a condition1 not a theory1 and we must do our best with it1 regardless of our personal predilections4 ,whether or not it has come to stay is an open question4 ,it probably has1 but modified for higher speed1 when all conditions permit4 ,we are not yet wise enough to know just what it is costing us4 ,not even our own statisticians have had time to digest fully the figures of increased equipment due to slower movement2 of increased cost of maintenance1 both of track and equipment2 of unparalleled increase in freight claims2 of higher wages2 of strengthened power of the labor organizations2 of altered trade conditions due to dissatisfaction with transportation2 of changed location of industrial plants2 of the effect of reduced speed on water competition2 of the numerous conditions that go to make a railroad so complex4 ,in the language of the good old funeral hymn1 some time we'll understand4 ,we must make up our minds to prompter movement of freight1 which may mean increased speed4 ,the people demand it and public opinion is king4 ,here again the shipper steps in to help us out1 for promptness simplifies our terminal problems4 ,the art of war has been defined as getting the mostest men there the fustest4 ,the art of railroading comes to mean moving the mostest trains the soonest4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xviii4 ,,be ,a ,,superintendent--,,not ,a ,,nurse4 ,july #ag1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,i am so sure that you will be a general manager some day that ,i have been writing you a good deal of advice as to matters that are above the control of a division superintendent4 ,as a rule1 however1 a man will fill any position better if he has a good conception of the work that is beyond his own sphere4 ,some people do not like to hire an ex-official for work subordinate to positions that he may previously have held4 ,they fear that the old superintendent who gets aboard as yardmaster or dispatcher will be a nuisance1 that he will be all the time scheming for promotion1 that he may try to dictate to his superiors1 that he will have too much dignity to climb a side ladder1 that he will be only temporary1 that they will soon be put to the trouble of breaking in another man4 ,all of which is narrow and shows in the aforesaid objectors a lack of confidence in themselves and in their own organization4 ,it all depends on the man himself4 ,if he is the right stuff he will take a broader view for having been an official4 ,he will appreciate the difficulties of his superiors4 ,his desire to make good should induce him to put forth maximum effort4 ,he may be able to get his men out of ruts of many years' standing4 ,it is so seldom that we get fresh blood we should be thankful that circumstances permit us to get a three-hundred-dollar man to work for one hundred4 ,he may be only temporary for that position1 but if he makes us money we should be willing to be incommoded later on4 ,it is a selfish fear1 this feeling that by and by our royal selves may suffer the personal inconvenience of having to look after a certain part of our machine that we thought was running itself4 ,vain hope1 this looking for any kind of perpetual motion4 ,we are paid official salaries to be big enough to tower over such lazy feelings1 over our own personal disinclination to exertion4 ,let me repeat1 once more1 that for every position you should have an understudy4 ,then if anybody drops out through promotion or otherwise your task is a simple one4 ,a fact that none of us should overlook is that we all have superiors4 ,the president reports to the directors1 and the latter to the stockholders4 ,the stockholder1 big or little1 is his or her majesty1 the citizen4 ,our superiors must know what we are doing4 ,they will not butt in and give us so many directions if we just keep them advised of our progress4 ,your general superintendent is an able man1 but neither you nor he is a mental telegrapher4 ,after you get the surgeons called1 the wreck train started1 the general superintendent should be the next man to have the wire4 ,tell him briefly what has happened1 what you have done1 are doing and expect to do4 ,if conditions are such that it is wise for you to go to the wreck or the washout yourself1 wire him that you are on the ground4 ,don't think this is enough1 but every half hour or so tell him how you are getting along4 ,he will feel better and the officials above him will feel better4 ,you will feel better because1 if they are wise1 they will let you alone and not bother you with instructions4 ,above all things do not try to pass responsibility up higher by asking what to do4 ,tell the general superintendent what trains you will detour1 what equipment you will need from other divisions for stub runs1 what you have requested your neighbors to do4 ,war has been declared1 the writs of the courts have ceased to run4 ,you are the general in the field and it is all up to you4 ,from the moment that you are wideawake enough to answer the telephone at the head of your bed1 your brain should be earning your company many dollars a minute4 ,as you slip into your clothes1 think connectedly where all available men and material are to be had4 ,as you rush over to the office1 figure what the situation needs to protect the morning suburban trains4 ,when you see the train sheet1 tell the dispatcher what trains should be kept on time as long as possible1 what trains should be tied up to prevent a blockade4 ,don't sit down and take the key1 or act as call boy or for one second forget that you are the superintendent1 that the whole push looks to you4 ,the cooler your manner1 the less hesitating your instructions1 the greater the confidence of your men in you and in themselves1 the better their work4 ,arriving at the scene of trouble1 size up the situation1 reassure the panic-stricken passengers1 organize everybody present1 give politely all the information you have1 how many hours passengers will be delayed1 what train will come to take them forward1 when their baggage can be expected4 ,be cool but sympathetic2 alert1 but polite4 ,in a few minutes your presence for good will be felt4 ,tell the wreckmaster what to do first1 but do not try to handle his men4 ,resist the temptation to use an axe or shovel yourself4 ,do not shrink from the sight of blood4 ,lead the relief parties1 but do not try to be surgeon or nurse4 ,let the others do the lifting of the killed or injured4 ,you do your work with your brains and with your voice4 ,be a superintendent4 ,care first for the injured and the dead4 ,then look to the comfort of the other passengers4 ,next in importance comes the mails1 then the express and the baggage4 ,do not give any grand stand orders to burn cars or roll heavy equipment down the bank4 ,think twice before you destroy more property4 ,the line must be opened1 but conditions may be such that an extra hour or two will not complicate the situation1 and will save the company thousands of dollars4 ,men often earn big salaries by the things they avoid doing4 ,when the work has been organized1 circulate among the gangs1 give each foreman a word of praise1 tell them all that you have ordered coffee and sandwiches1 that the company also gives its men square meals at wrecks4 ,arrange to feed your transferred passengers earlier rather than later than usual4 ,do not hesitate to feed badly delayed passengers at the company's expense4 ,when everything is running smoothly keep your mouth shut and your ears open4 ,as the country people come flocking in to see the wreck1 as the roadmaster yells his orders1 you will hear some sweetheart ask her swain if that is the superintendent who has such a big voice4 ,when he shakes his head and the wreckmaster roars to take a fresh hitch1 she guesses again1 only to be told that the quiet man over there with apparently the least to say is the boss of all4 ,soon many of the bystanders are pointing admiringly at you as the master of the situation4 ,when it is all over1 when1 hours or days later1 you lie down for a well-earned rest1 you will feel that you are a railroad man1 that you are holding down a job for which no old woman need apply4 ,there is some self-satisfaction in this world which outruns the pay car1 which cannot be measured in dollars and cents4 ,what ,i am telling you holds good for a trainmaster1 a yardmaster or whoever happens to be the senior representative present4 ,sometimes it is better to send out the trainmaster and stay in yourself to handle an already congested situation4 ,sometimes the trainmaster is at the wrong end of the line and you must go yourself4 ,common sense is a pretty safe guide as to one's course of action4 ,the principle to be remembered is to avoid interference with the man on the ground4 ,if it is a minor derailment which the conductor is handling1 do not rattle him with messages1 with requests for reports4 ,when you examine your conductors on rules1 include questions and explanations which outline action expected in emergencies4 ,forbid your dispatcher sending a stereotyped message to get written statements of all witnesses every time a personal injury occurs4 ,have your conductors1 your agents and your section foremen so drilled that they will keep the office informed and will depend on themselves1 not on the dispatchers1 for such things4 ,your rules1 your organization1 the instructions on your blanks will amount to little if they are continually discounted by special messages4 ,you had better lose a set of reports than tear your organization to pieces4 ,when somebody falls down1 discipline him in such a way that the others will keep in line4 ,it takes patience and persistence1 forbearance and firmness to drill men to a high state of discipline4 ,disobedience and indifference can sometimes be traced to unwise orders4 ,the impossible or the unreasonable is expected4 ,there are too many bulletins and too many instructions4 ,do not think a thing is done1 an abuse corrected1 a condition remedied simply because you have given an order to produce the desired effect4 ,it is up to you to follow the matter to a finish4 ,you must know by observation1 by inspection1 by the reports of your staff1 that your order is being obeyed4 ,the way to enforce discipline is not to keep repeating the order4 ,except in rare cases an order should not be repeated or a bulletin reissued4 ,weak men try to strengthen their discipline by extravagant language in their instructions4 ,do not say that no excuse will be taken for failure to turn in these reports or to comply with these instructions4 ,you may be made to appear ridiculous1 even mendacious1 by a cloudburst1 by a holdup1 by an act of ,god or the public enemy1 as the old law phrase runs4 ,vitality in expression is a good thing4 ,it is useless without vigor in enforcement4 ,the latter does not depend upon the kind of breakfast food you order in the dining car1 but upon the ginger in your administration4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xix4 ,,the ,,rack ,,of ,,the ,,comparative ,,statement4 ,july #bd1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,you ask what ,i mean by the rack of the comparative statement4 ,i mean that1 figuratively speaking1 we are all pretty securely fastened to the corresponding month of last year4 ,what was originally intended as a tavernkeeper's tab1 as a rough check on operation1 has become a balanced ledger1 a rigid standard of efficiency4 ,time1 even a short period1 brings a sacredness to all things4 ,if we make a so-called better showing on paper than a twelvemonth previous1 we shake hands with ourselves and forget how rotten we were considered just one short year ago4 ,the ball team that wins the championship and takes the big gate receipts is the one whose members play for the side rather than for high individual averages4 ,the tendency is for our owners to expect us to make base hits rather than send in runs which win games4 ,if in ,april and ,may we have a lot of ties on hand1 we may not be allowed to put them in the track because they will be charged out before ,june #cj1 and make too heavy a showing of expenditure for the fiscal year4 ,so1 with labor comparatively plentiful and the weather comfortable1 we wait until the new fiscal year comes in1 until the sun shines hottest on the track4 ,then1 with farmers paying harvest wages we have to offer more money4 ,if we get the extra men the heat lessens their efficiency4 ,it is true we have probably had to pay the producer for the ties1 but if we fail to charge them to the final account1 we have a childlike confidence that they have not yet cost us anything4 ,the little matters of failure to utilize the full life of the tie1 of interest on the money invested1 we dismiss with the thought that trifling losses must be expected in the conduct of large affairs4 ,maintenance of equipment as well as maintenance of way suffers from too much comparative statement4 ,some new official pulls our power to pieces to show us how they used to build up train-mile records on the ,far ,eastern4 ,the crowded rip tracks reflect the tractive power of the big engines4 ,bad orders1 the bane of a yardmaster's life1 the teasers of the traffic man's tracers1 block our terminals4 ,our shopmen and our car repairers1 despairing of full time1 move away4 ,yet withal we are serene1 for are not we operating just as cheaply as they did at this time last year8 ,when ,i am in doubt1 when ,i become mixed with the complexities of our profession1 ,i go back to my boyhood on the farm4 ,from that gateway as a basing point ,i can think out a rate sheet with fewer differentials4 ,the same common sense housekeeping which my mother practiced will fit any railroad1 however diversified its territory4 ,the same well-balanced management which enabled my father to pay off the mortgage and extend his acres is suited to any railroad1 however complicated its financial obligations4 ,the bigger the proposition1 the greater the need for sticking to homely basic principles4 ,we learned on the farm to expect about so much rainfall every year4 ,whether the heaviest would come in one month or in another1 the good ,lord never found time to tell us4 ,we did the things that came to hand1 sometimes similarly1 sometimes differently1 from the corresponding month of the previous year4 ,if our crops were short we did not starve our work horses4 ,we sometimes found it paid1 even with a poor crop in sight1 to go to the bank and borrow rather than neglect the ditching in a wet field4 ,if we made some surplus money we did not blow it all in for tools and improvements4 ,we knew that the inevitable lean years preclude throwing the fat in the fire4 ,if we ran behind some year1 we did some retrenching1 to be sure1 but we did not lose our nerve1 did not lose our faith in the future4 ,some kinds of fertilizers on the farm are said to make rich fathers and poor sons4 ,the way some railroads have been run for a record you would imagine that race suicide had reached a point where no further generations were expected4 ,one of the gravest of our mistakes has been the application of the comparative statement1 regardless of its effect upon our men4 ,the farmer finds it wise and economical to arrange work for several monthly men in order to minimize the number of day hands for his rush seasons4 ,in the winter he may lay them off1 but this is for a period sufficiently long and sufficiently definite to enable the farm hand to become something else1 say a wood chopper or a lumberman4 ,can we expect our car repairers1 our sectionmen1 to be loyal and faithful if we lay them off with necessary work in sight1 simply to make our books look better8 ,they know that later on we shall1 at the last minute1 at the scratch of an indefinite somebody's pen1 put on a big force and with a hurrah1 boys1 rush it through4 ,is this fair8 ,is it not better to keep twenty men steadily employed than to have forty on half time8 ,the unquestioned deterioration in the quality of our labor1 in the morale of our forces1 cannot all be laid on the union's doorstep4 ,there is a responsibility here which we cannot shirk4 ,cutting down expenses has been done in an unintelligent1 cold-blooded sort of a way4 ,we go home at night feeling good at having cut down our payrolls4 ,we should be feeling sorry at the necessity for taking from men the wherewithal to pay the unceasing rent and grocery bills4 ,our methods give some room for the populists' plea to put the man above the dollar4 ,no1 ,i do not expect ever to see an entire correction of these conditions4 ,in the play of economic forces the weak have to suffer4 ,i believe1 though1 that through minimizing such suffering we can improve the service and earn bigger dividends for our stockholders4 ,each of us can do a little2 all of us together can do a great deal toward making the problems easier4 ,as the ,french say1 noblesse oblige--rank imposes obligation--every time4 ,it is up to us1 the educated1 powerful class1 to take the lead and to do the most4 ,we cannot expect the poor1 unlettered man to work out his own salvation unaided4 ,we cannot turn him loose to face an unequal struggle4 ,if he fails1 if he has too much time for brooding1 society at large has an anarchist and we are the losers4 ,do not understand me as advocating the employment or retention of unnecessary men4 ,what ,i am kicking for is a better balanced system4 ,when we lay off our extra sectionman in the fall1 do we give him a pass and ask him to come to town and work when we put on more unskilled winter labor in the shops and roundhouses8 ,no1 he is in a different department4 ,an official or a foreman might be put to the inconvenience of waiting a few days1 of breaking in a new man4 ,next spring there might have to be a readjustment when the work trains go on4 ,some big1 strong railroad men are coming to the front who will improve these conditions by working from a broader viewpoint4 ,we need more brainy men with nerve enough to stand up and insist upon a consideration of the welfare of our properties ten1 twenty or fifty years hence4 ,because we need them they will be developed4 ,now do not hand me the old song and dance about business being cold-blooded and devoid of sentiment4 ,we spend money directly and indirectly for advertising with a view to fostering public sentiment in favor of our line4 ,business comes from an increase in population1 from development of resources1 from the growing sentiments of the human race4 ,life owes its origin to love1 which originates in sentiment4 ,the family1 directly traceable to sentiment1 is the unit of civilization4 ,the way to have our heads rule our hearts is not to forget that we have hearts4 ,business is so attractive because it is chock full of sentiment which can be made an asset4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xx4 ,,handling ,,the ,,pay ,,roll4 ,july #ca1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,i have your letter about the supply train4 ,please do not fail to consider that it is an inspection and administrative train as well as a traveling storehouse4 ,the term company train perhaps comes the nearest to a comprehensive designation4 ,as a tentative proposition1 to be modified by experience1 ,i think ,i would distribute one-half of the expense of the train to supply1 the other half to inspection and consider both halves as money well spent4 ,with the enormous growth of business1 with the increasing expansion of systems1 we have had to leave more and more to departments4 ,the result is that each department becomes more and more forgetful of the others4 ,it isn't enough to have the heads at the general offices take lunch together4 ,we must begin farther down in our administration to keep our departments in touch4 ,representatives of the traffic department should accompany the train and distribute their own advertising matter4 ,perhaps the best feature of all would be the improved feeling among the country agents due to more intimate acquaintance with the operating and traffic officials with whom they are doing business4 ,we can afford to compete with the organizers of the telegraphers and clerks for this spirit4 ,it will interest you to know that at least two large systems are figuring on a company train4 ,when it comes1 as come it will1 we shall all wonder1 as in the case of the telephone1 how we ever got along without it4 ,you ask if the pay car should be included in the outfit4 ,yes1 if local conditions permit4 ,before going into this very far1 however1 let us consider our system of paying only once a month4 ,has it sufficient merit to stand the test of time8 ,it breaks down in some cases when we wish additional cheap labor4 ,many of us have turned over to contractors the unloading of company coal at fuel stations4 ,the avowed reason for so doing is that the shovelers being often recruited from the hobo or the squalid class1 we cannot hope to handle them as well as a contractor who pays daily or weekly4 ,right down the track a little way our agent is remitting company money which is not earning any interest4 ,another reason given is that our officials are too far away to give the coal wharves proper supervision4 ,as a matter of fact the official is on hand about as frequently as the contractor4 ,this is a sad commentary on the versatility and elasticity of our organization4 ,before throwing money to the contractors why not give our section foreman or our agent a bonus for supervising the coal heavers8 ,let our men be a little interchangeable4 ,if a man becomes worn out from too much sun on the track1 let the breeze blow through his whiskers in the coal shed for a few weeks4 ,no1 ,i do not think the track would suffer if the section foreman had to put the fear of the ,lord in another gang of men4 ,the old-time section foreman had ingenuity and originality enough to do many things4 ,his prototype of to-day may be dwarfed by over-specialization4 ,when we treat our men less like machines we can subdivide gangs and still get results4 ,nearly every winter a bill is introduced in some legislature requiring corporations to pay their men at least twice a month4 ,railroads at once get busy and manage to be exempted from the provisions of these measures4 ,such resistance is based on a variety of arguments1 the vastness of territory covered1 the large number of men employed1 the necessity for careful auditing1 etc4 ,how long we can hold out against the spirit of the age is a question4 ,why not keep ahead of the game and lead public opinion8 ,at such times we become very solicitous of the thriftiness of our men4 ,we claim that we are their benefactors2 that by paying them so much money at one time we are helping them to save4 ,as a matter of fact people who have studied such questions tell us that when payments are frequent less stuff is bought on credit and fewer bills are run4 ,savings banks find that1 under certain conditions1 men who are paid daily or weekly will put by more money than those who have a monthly pay day4 ,it is an economic question1 dependent more upon sociological conditions than upon railroad policy4 ,it is usually pretty good business sense to take advantage of trade discounts4 ,do you not think we could make better bargains with our men if we did not wait to pay them until we are six weeks in arrears8 ,we pay them for only one month and are always in their debt4 ,every once in a while we lose a good man from the service because he is hard pressed and can raise money only by taking his time check4 ,the monthly payroll was adopted before bonding and surety companies revolutionized business methods4 ,the theory is that the roll must be approved and audited before payment in order to insure accuracy and prevent fraud4 ,did you ever hear of a payroll being disapproved as such8 ,no matter how unwise their employment1 how injudicious the time put in1 the men must be paid4 ,we are under moral and legal obligations to pay for service performed4 ,did you ever hear of a padded payroll being caught in the auditor's office8 ,the man who stuffs the roll alters the data against which the auditor checks4 ,the few arithmetical errors discovered do not justify the time consumed4 ,again1 why should you send your general superintendent a payroll of names any more than you should send him copies of your train sheets8 ,what difference should it make to him just how much each particular man worked8 ,he should have a summary of results1 totals1 maxima1 minima1 averages1 etc41 just as the morning report gives him a summary of the train sheet4 ,if he wants more detailed information1 let him come to your office and examine the time books1 just as he should occasionally go over your train sheets4 ,he is furnished a car to travel for just such purposes4 ,assuming the desirability for more frequent payments1 the day1 the trip1 the piece1 would seem the best unit4 ,railroads have comparatively few credit lists4 ,the ability to force patrons to pay cash is a business asset1 and should give us the benefits of a cash basis4 ,our present system of payments is slow and cumbrous4 ,in our desire to guard every avenue to fraud we have gone too far and retarded administration4 ,the bonding company gives us a check which should enable us1 under a proper system of inspection1 to have the timekeeper practically the paymaster4 ,i confess that ,i have not yet been able to work out all the details to my own satisfaction4 ,i have gone far enough1 however1 to be convinced that there are men in our business bright enough to solve the problem4 ,when given proper attention it will be found that for the same or less expense we can pay daily1 improve the service and render a better account of our stewardship to the stockholders4 ,an agent remits daily4 ,why not let him turn in as cash a receipt or a deduction to cover his own pay8 ,if he can do this1 it is an easy step to accept as cash the time slips of his force1 of the operators and sectionmen at his station4 ,the time slips of shopmen1 roundhousemen1 yardmen1 trainmen1 enginemen1 etc41 when countersigned by the proper chief clerk1 should become cash at a certain designated agency or local bank4 ,it might be found practicable to use a form of time slip similar to a postal note or a street car transfer which could be punched and then authenticated with a stamp4 ,an advantage of this would be that these original data would be available for tabulation in electrical integrating machines in the auditor's office4 ,the plan followed in compiling statistics would be similar to that in use for many years in the census office in ,washington4 ,such a system of payment presupposes fewer checking clerks but more traveling auditors and inspectors4 ,it does things first and talks about them afterward4 ,it is predicated upon the belief that checks and balances must begin to work nearer the foundation1 that true centralization of results demands a full measure of local autonomy4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xxi4 ,,military ,,organization4 ,august #g1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,while in ,washington last week ,i dropped in to see some old cronies at the ,war ,department4 ,the iconoclasts have been at work there1 too1 with gratifying results4 ,the military secretary's office has superseded the former adjutant-general's department4 ,under the new dispensation every letter must receive definite action1 not a mere acknowledgment1 the very day of its receipt2 every telegram must be answered within two hours4 ,an emergency request came in for some equipment for a militia encampment4 ,in three hours the ,philadelphia clothing depot acknowledged the order1 reported loading and shipment1 and advised that bill of lading had been mailed4 ,this means better supply1 less suffering1 more effective movements when real war comes4 ,it means a saving in blood and treasure4 ,we of the railroads are inclined to scoff at the slowness of government methods4 ,are we doing as well as the rejuvenated ,war ,department8 ,of course1 when there is a wreck1 a washout1 a fire1 we do some great stunts4 ,day in and day out we are sadly lacking in promptness with our telegrams and our letters4 ,the pulse of business is so quick that these delays cost us money4 ,the remedy is simple4 ,get the departments in line4 ,a diplomatic censor with rank enough1 say1 that of assistant to the president1 should be able to show even the highest officials where they are falling down1 where they are duplicating work1 where their telegrams have no business on the company's wires1 where their letters are too lengthy1 where their offices are lame4 ,the departments on a railroad correspond to the bureaux of the ,war ,department4 ,the ,spanish war showed the weakness of the departmental system under modern conditions4 ,it has been corrected by the creation by ,congress of a general staff1 with a chief of staff1 usually a general officer detailed from the line1 who1 as next in rank to the ,secretary of ,war1 controls all departments1 thus insuring unity of action4 ,he has help enough to enable the general staff to give attention to details4 ,the president of a railroad is often too busy and seldom has assistance enough to hold his departments in check4 ,they do not always maintain a proper proportion to each other4 ,if he appoints a committee to consider a question1 the tendency is for such committee to leave the transportation part to its transportation man1 the mechanical question to the mechanical member and the traffic problem to the traffic representative4 ,the results of such work are likely to be narrow or one-sided4 ,each member should consider every phase of the matter and not minimize his own versatility4 ,remember that the layman may discover a radical inconsistency in professional practice4 ,give each man due weight in his specialty1 but do not let him be absolute4 ,a minority report from a committee should always be welcome as affording more information for the parent body or the appointing power4 ,a little careful consideration1 a little lively debate on a committee report1 may be a healthy check4 ,while speaking of military organization1 let me impress upon you that in the army the line always commands the staff4 ,a staff officer cannot command troops except by express direction of the ,president4 ,enlisted men and junior officers must show a staff officer the respect due his rank1 just as our conductor is respectful to the division freight agent1 but when it comes to taking orders1 that is another question4 ,a lieutenant of the line1 if he happens to be the senior present1 may have under his command a surgeon with the rank of major1 a commissary with the rank of captain1 etc4 ,certain special work1 such as the construction of buildings1 of a telegraph line1 of a road1 may be put under a staff officer reporting directly to headquarters and exempted from the orders of the local commander of troops4 ,we do the same when we put certain construction work under our engineers working independently of the superintendent4 ,in an emergency all officers1 men and material come under the control of the senior line officer present4 ,with us the line is the transportation department1 to whose senior representative1 in time of trouble1 usually the superintendent1 every official and employe of whatever department should yield unquestioning obedience4 ,they have another feature in army administration which we would do well to emulate4 ,on the theory perhaps that a cat may look at a king1 the lowest may address the highest4 ,the official ear and mouthpiece of the ,war ,department is the military secretary4 ,he may be addressed by the lowest man in the service1 provided1 that under the address is the important phrase in parenthesis1 through the proper channels4 ,unless the communication is grossly irrelevant or disrespectful it must be forwarded through the channels1 each officer indorsing his opinion1 pro or con4 ,if it reaches an officer whose authority and views can give favorable action1 it need not go higher4 ,otherwise1 it must keep going4 ,the reply comes back to the man through the same channels4 ,all this is worth the trouble it costs1 for1 even if unfavorable action is taken1 the man feels that he has been given consideration2 that he is not a mere machine2 that there may be good1 honest reasons for turning him down4 ,this strong effort to preserve individuality is the reason that the ,american people never have cause to lose confidence in the man behind the gun4 ,its short-sighted absence in railroad administration is the prime cause of our loss of confidence in the spirit of our men4 ,the inauguration of such a feature might cause our agitators to be annoying and importunate for a time4 ,the greater the consideration shown1 the sooner would the agitators be laughed at and discouraged by their comrades4 ,it would break up the fashion of ignoring the superintendent and running to the general manager with every petty little grievance4 ,if your trainmaster sees fit to make a general recommendation1 for example1 about a train rule1 provided he does so through your office1 you should forward it1 giving your own views4 ,if you happen to disapprove1 do not try to kill the proposition by holding the letter4 ,under the narrow practice of most roads the trainmaster would have no redress and would be considered disloyal if he attempted to reach the general superintendent4 ,in the handling of railroad papers there are a number of short cuts4 ,there are too many letters written just for the sake of having a carbon to complete a file4 ,if you must have a carbon1 require offices reporting to yours to make an extra copy on the typewriter of the original letter4 ,stamp both copies with the office dater1 and just below use a one-line rubber stamp2 for example1 ,to the ,general ,superintendent1 adding in pen1 if necessary1 such words as recommended1 disapproved1 etc4 ,if no special action is taken1 no signature is necessary1 the office stamp being sufficient authentication4 ,forward one copy1 keep the other1 and in routine correspondence your file is complete without the scratch of a pen or the click of a typewriter in your office4 ,certain classes of papers referred to your subordinates1 for example1 special itineraries1 claims1 statistics1 etc41 can be kept track of by a number system in a small book1 without using any carbon4 ,master the file system of your office4 ,if someone happens to drop in for information1 do not be put to the mortification of explaining that your clerks do not come down ,sunday morning1 or that they are all playing ball on the company nine4 ,filing should be uniform on divisions and in departments1 one general plan for the whole road4 ,some roads have as many varieties as a pickle factory4 ,it was nice of your friend1 the chief dispatcher1 to write so strong a letter indorsing the sacredness of signatures4 ,he is right2 most telegraphic instructions on a division should go out over the initials of the chief dispatcher4 ,years ago your old dad1 with the title of trainmaster and the duties of an assistant superintendent1 obtained smooth results from the following bulletin3 ,instructions from this office governing the movements of trains1 engines and cars1 and the temporary assignments of men1 will be given over the initials of the chief dispatcher4 ,messages concerning such routine matters will be addressed to the chief dispatcher4 ,the idea is to limit the use of the trainmaster's initials to cases handled personally by him4 ,the men caught right on4 ,they saw that it was impossible for a man to be issuing all the instructions over the wire when he spent most of his time on the road4 ,i have long thought that a train order should be as individual as a bank check and be signed by the dispatcher's own initials4 ,i am beginning to believe that no signature is necessary2 that the dispatcher's initials1 given with the complete1 should be sufficient4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xxii4 ,,wrecks ,,and ,,block ,,signals4 ,august #ad1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,you ask what we are going to do to prevent so many wrecks4 ,my various admonitions to you have been in vain if ,i have failed to score some points looking to that end4 ,we must get closer to our men1 improve their discipline1 which means also their spirit4 ,we must have more official supervision4 ,we must pay division officials better salaries4 ,the minimum pay of a division superintendent1 regardless of the price of wheat1 should be #cjj per month and expenses1 with such greater amount as the importance of the division demands4 ,trainmasters cannot be expected to enforce discipline and set an example in neatness if paid less than some of their conductors and enginemen4 ,not a bad rough rule for fixing intermediate salaries is to split the difference between the highest man in one grade and the lowest in the next higher1 and then add enough to make convenient even money4 ,do not think you are saving money if you avoid raising the pay of your officials when you raise that of employes4 ,wrecks are a reflection of administration4 ,sometimes cause and effect are years apart1 so distant1 in fact1 as to be almost unrecognizable4 ,adversity makes heroes and the more disorganized we find conditions the more comprehensive and earnest should be our efforts to seek the cure4 ,neither public opinion nor our own self-respect will stand for shifting too much of the blame to our predecessors4 ,whatever safety appliances we adopt we shall never be able to eliminate entirely the element of human judgment1 we shall never get beyond trusting somebody4 ,therefore we must train our men to alertness4 ,we must build up a loyalty that pervades every rank4 ,those roads have the fewest wrecks due to defective equipment which cater to the welfare of their men4 ,such roads do not expect a man to live on air4 ,when repair work is slack they put their men to building cars and engines1 taking advantage of the low price of material4 ,if we have to operate so closely that we cannot make such wise investments in influence1 we are grading the way to disaster4 ,we are preparing to pay out later in wrecking1 personal injuries1 maintenance and renewal of equipment1 much more than the expense of anticipating future needs by keeping our men employed and contented4 ,no amount of engine and car inspection can overcome inherent defects due to careless workmanship4 ,will the track walker who knows not when he will be laid off prevent as many disasters as he whom we find time to tell in advance what tenure to expect8 ,we can overdo this matter of running our railroad too strictly in accordance with the auditor's statistical blue print4 ,as surgery the operation is a great success1 but unfortunately the patient dies4 ,we have divided responsibility sufficiently when we furnish both the conductor and the engineman a copy of the train order4 ,if it is desirable for the brakemen and the fireman to be informed1 we should furnish a copy to each man in the crew4 ,what is everybody's business becomes nobody's business4 ,even if it were practicable it is undesirable1 this idea of showing the orders to every member of the crew4 ,it would seem better to have three different standard signals for an engineman whistling into town2 one indicating a wait order or a meeting point1 either by time table or train order2 another indicating a passing point1 and a third indicating no other trains to be considered4 ,the wrong signal sounded by the engineman should cause the conductor to stop the train with the air before the switch is reached4 ,some roads now have the engineman sound a prescribed signal1 after the station whistle1 to indicate orders to be executed4 ,the objection to this is that valuable time may be lost by the conductor before being sure whether or not he heard the signal4 ,a condition should not be indicated in a negative manner by the failure to do something4 ,all indications should be of a positive nature1 that a positive understanding may result and positive action be taken4 ,it may be a little hard to give up the good old long blast for stations1 but safety demands some such modification4 ,the fad for main track derails at interlocking plants seems nearly to have ditched itself4 ,we are realizing that it is not necessary to kill an engineman who runs past a signal4 ,the money that such unnecessary derailments have cost might better have been spent in enforcing discipline by increased official supervision4 ,if main track derails were proper for an interlocking plant1 it would logically follow that every block signal should be interlocked with a derail4 ,desirable as they are on auxiliary low-speed routes1 it is doubtful if derails have any place in a main track1 even at drawbridges4 ,we are learning1 too1 that a good derail can be installed without cutting the rail4 ,public opinion is aroused on the subject of our failure to safeguard human life in proportion to our progress in other matters4 ,we must cough up the money for more block signals4 ,i say block signals1 not because they are the panacea for the evil that many people imagine1 but because they are the best safeguard yet devised4 ,they are useless without proper discipline and supervision4 ,the vertical plane coupler is not all that can be desired4 ,yet if modern equipment had to stand the slack of the link and pin it would be in a bad way4 ,the block signal even with the train staff or the train tablet is far from perfect4 ,it is impolitic1 however1 for us to hesitate too long before going down into our clothes for the coin4 ,while waiting for the perfect method to be developed the perfect man may be evolved and bump the most of us out of our jobs4 ,there will be fewer wrecks when executive and general officials have better control of temper and judgment4 ,feeling in an indefinite way the responsibility for an appalling wreck1 the high official thinks he must do something4 ,he butts in with some ill-considered instructions which breed distrust of the entire system of running trains1 which discount the whole organization4 ,this action may result for a time in an abnormal1 unhealthy vigilance1 which is certain to be followed by a demoralizing reaction4 ,when a condition1 like a man1 gets the drop on you the only sane thing to do is to throw up your hands for the time being4 ,wisdom consists in looking for the true prime cause of the aforesaid drop4 ,the frontal attack on a buzz saw is suicidal4 ,always take it in flank4 ,when you get your block signals1 consider the permissive block as an abomination before the ,lord4 ,the only block to have is the positive block in both directions4 ,if there is trouble in a block1 let the dispatcher give the delayed train a message to flag over4 ,encourage your men to flag over1 block or no block1 against any train on the road when common sense dictates such a course4 ,the object of all rules is to run trains with safety1 not to tie them up on technicalities4 ,flagging means good flagging1 signals as sure and unmistakable as fixed signals4 ,some day we shall find time to instruct our flagmen uniformly4 ,they should all either put the red light on the end of a tie and swing the white light across the track1 or they should swing both lights2 not sometimes one way1 sometimes the other4 ,a red light of itself means stop4 ,if the flagman swings it he runs a big risk of blowing it out4 ,in matters of this sort there cannot be too much uniformity for all roads4 ,where we run uniformity into the ground is where we fail to recognize the radical differences in individual characteristics of men of the ,atlantic1 the ,pacific and the prairie type4 ,realization1 if not repentance1 must precede salvation4 ,we must save ourselves4 ,if not1 the government doctrinaires will undertake a task for which we are better qualified4 ,we cannot stop killing people to-day or to-morrow1 this year or next4 ,the problem is not as easy for us as for the oft cited ,english railways4 ,their block signals are a coincidence1 not a prime cause of their safer operation4 ,much of our mileage has only a speculator's or a promoter's excuse for existence4 ,much of our traffic is so thin that ,english thoroughness would put a part of our lines out of business1 much to our relief1 but much to the intolerance of the public4 ,until our systems are sufficiently stable to remove the tempting sign1 ,please kick me1 from the view of the financial manipulator1 we cannot keep out of the scrimmage1 we cannot build up as safe and conservative operating organizations as the ,english4 ,we can1 however1 do much better than we are doing4 ,automatic devices will help1 but they are only a check4 ,the balance lies1 my boy1 in developing the human interest of the men1 high and low1 who work for the road4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xxiii4 ,,unionism4 ,august #ba1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,what will you put in its place1 ,bob8 was perhaps the hardest query that the brilliant ,ingersoll had to answer in his assaults on the ,christian religion4 ,does not the same question confront us in our attacks upon organized labor8 ,we endeavor to tear down1 but do we build up8 ,this subject1 like the marriage relation1 cannot be entered into lightly4 ,it is longer than a train of ore jimmies1 and broader than a box vestibule4 ,it is a bridge too close to the track for the telltales to sting your face in time to get off a furniture car4 ,like the ostrich1 believing itself hidden with its head stuck in the sand1 we feel that if we call them committees of our employes we are not recognizing the union4 ,is this consistent8 ,we claim1 and justly so1 that a high principle is involved2 that if we recognize the union we practically force every man to join1 regardless of his own inclinations and of his freedom as an ,american citizen4 ,this is sound doctrine1 but its application is very faulty4 ,our spirit may be willing1 but our flesh is damnably weak4 ,do we give the non-union man a show for his white alley8 ,not as long as we fail to question the credentials of committees4 ,we know that all their names appear on the payrolls1 at least during the time they are not laying off and using our transportation for organizing or grievance work4 ,we do not disturb ourselves to find if they were elected as employes4 ,did the non-union men have any voice in their selection8 ,not much2 they were elected in the lodge room4 ,we1 in effect1 say to the non-union man that the way to the band wagon is through the lodge room door4 ,then we are very much shocked to find that he1 like ourselves1 is following the lines of least resistance4 ,it is so much easier to run with the current of traffic than to cross over2 it takes so much less nerve to open up for trailing points than to keep our hand off the air valve when approaching facing points4 ,when a move is made to run out a non-union man1 we are so afraid of being accused of holding somebody up that we put on the man the whole burden of making good4 ,unionism1 like religion1 and like love1 is the outgrowth of certain feelings and emotions in the human breast that strive to overcome the limitations of mankind2 that seek to make an eternity of time1 an ideal of an idea1 a solid phalanx out of heterogeneous parts4 ,you may win the strike1 down the union1 hire your men as individuals2 but sooner or later1 in the ,lord's own good time1 in obedience to natural law1 they will organize in some form1 under some name or other4 ,only a few will stand out2 some from sheer contrariness2 more from strong individuality of temperament4 ,the outsiders1 from a lack of organization1 have little positive influence1 simply a negative conservatism4 ,since these things are so1 why not1 to drop into familiar phrase1 be governed accordingly8 ,instead of letting the men organize the road1 why not have the road organize the men8 ,the system of collective bargaining1 of labor contracts1 has come to stay4 ,it is merely a question of how and with whom we shall deal4 ,it is so easy to let out work by contract1 to call on the supply dealer to help us out1 that doubt as to our own powers of organization becomes habit of mind4 ,we farm out our rest rooms1 our temperance encouraging resorts1 to the ,railroad ,y4,m4,c4,a4 ,where comes in the company1 whose existence makes occupation possible1 whose capital is invested1 whose property is involved8 ,do you think we have made effort enough to let our men organize as employes8 ,should not all our plans for terminals and headquarters include the excellent investment of a club house and assembly hall8 ,when we have tried this plan and failed have we not been too easily discouraged8 ,sometimes the cause of failure has been our own mistake in selecting the wrong location1 in deferring too much to the convenience of our own land company1 in attempting too much official supervision1 in allowing our local officials to butt in to ride their pet hobbies4 ,let us try turning the building over to a committee of our employes and inculcate a feeling of pride and responsibility4 ,our employes are a high grade of men2 many of them are nature's noblemen4 ,it is true they sometimes worship false gods1 indulge in strikes1 commit violence1 and require vigorous discipline4 ,although misguided in all this1 they are usually honest as individuals4 ,when banded together there results the same tendency that exists in political parties1 in churches and in societies1 to mistake their own organization for the only defender of the true faith4 ,this same spirit plans religious crusades1 gains converts by the sword and destroys freedom in the name of liberty4 ,this spirit run mad breeds anarchy4 ,it may result in a condition1 as with us in the strikes of #ahid1 when cold lead and sharp steel are needed to cool hot blood1 when the innocent have to suffer with the guilty4 ,this spirit is unreasonable1 but its existence cannot be ignored4 ,men1 says ,marcus ,aurelius1 exist for one another2 teach them then or bear with them4 ,it is up to us to do more of the teaching act4 ,a prime requisite of a teacher is honesty4 ,let us be honest4 ,let us either recognize the unions outright1 or else try to teach them that they have not yet attained full age2 that as yet they are lacking in the ripe wisdom which permits of a larger participation in affairs4 ,let us be fair and tell them wherein they are lacking4 ,capital1 from inherent differences in nature1 can never surrender itself to the absolute control of labor4 ,capital can1 however1 give labor1 its poor neighbor1 the results of deeper study1 of wider view1 of larger experience4 ,it can point out the consequences of mistakes of past centuries1 as1 for example1 the shortsighted policies of the trade guilds in ,england4 ,we can teach the unions that much more than the payment of dues should be essential to membership2 that they are in a position to demand high standards of conduct4 ,the unions must learn that if they would be powerful1 they must be severe as well as just4 ,if they desire merely benevolent and comfortable care of their members they must put away the ambition for recognition4 ,to be respected they must purge their ranks of the morally unfit4 ,the union must expel the thief and the drunkard1 as well as the thug and the ruffian1 if justly discharged by the company1 before it can hope to be trusted as a judge of capacity4 ,it must learn that the ,american people will never stand for the closed shop1 the restricted output1 a limited number of craftsmen4 ,the failure of the ,a4,r4,u4 strike in #ahid taught a much-needed lesson4 ,it put many a good man on the hog train1 but it was a terrible warning to would-be strikers4 ,did we maintain our advantage8 ,did we develop more men and prepare for the great rush of business the years were sure to bring8 ,perhaps we did the best we could2 perhaps in the name of economy we maintained too few officials4 ,perhaps our officials were so overworked that they did not have time to watch the game4 ,perhaps the situation got away from us because the unions increased their official payrolls relatively faster than did the railroads4 ,perhaps the union leaders made relatively greater progress than railway officials in attracting the men with insurance or profit-sharing features4 ,the whole question is interlocked with so many side lines that it is easy to overlook a dwarf signal or two4 ,be that as it may1 we lost our nerve and shut off too far back in the country when we got a meeting order for the flush times of #aijb4 ,we were so afraid the other fellow might make a dollar or two if we happened to tie up1 that we yielded the inch which has resulted in the ell of union domination4 ,a war1 terrible as it is1 may result in good4 ,there are worse things than strikes to contemplate4 ,we chose peace at any price1 and we are paying the price4 ,we blame our statesmen and politicians for not resisting union influence1 for being morally responsible for the uncompromising attitude of union leaders4 ,why should they open our firebox door for us as long as we fear to burn our own fingers8 ,the great comfort in the situation is that we are beginning to wake up4 ,we have walked long enough in our sleep4 ,the slumbering giant1 business sense1 is aroused4 ,the worst is over if we but do our part4 ,the unions have come to stay4 ,their extermination1 even if desirable1 is as impracticable as liquor prohibition4 ,we cannot surrender supinely4 ,the solution lies in wise regulation1 in education1 in the inculcation of true temperance of thought and action4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,letter ,,xxiv4 ,,the ,,round-,,up4 ,august #bh1 #aijd4 ,my ,dear ,boy3--,when you have a conference of your staff1 do not overlook the storekeeper4 ,even if he reports to the general storekeeper1 he should be on your staff in somewhat the same relation to you as is the master mechanic who reports to the superintendent of motive power4 ,if the management1 in the last treaty of peace1 has awarded the storekeeper to some other sovereignty1 be foxy enough to invite him to be present for his own good4 ,he will not decline to come4 ,then1 when you are discussing work trains2 when the master mechanic figures out the engines2 the trainmaster1 the crews2 the roadmaster1 the men2 the chief dispatcher1 the working hours2 the whole arrangement will not fall down from lack of material which the storekeeper did not know about in time4 ,invite the storekeeper out on the road with you2 drop in frequently at the storehouse and see if you cannot help him out of his difficulties4 ,we all have our troubles4 ,do not proclaim your own inefficiency and narrowness by writing the general superintendent that your failure has been due to the store department falling down on material4 ,unless you have kept close to the game1 you may find that you were lame in not giving sufficient warning2 that the stuff was loaded in time but was delayed by the transportation department waiting for full tonnage4 ,when you get to be general manager1 do not forget the general storekeeper4 ,keep close to him and take him out often4 ,when you become operating vice-president1 do the same with the purchasing agent1 whose position1 like that of the general storekeeper1 is an evolution from a clerkship in some general office4 ,not all of us have realized the necessary elevation of these places to official status4 ,they1 too1 have come to stay4 ,they will survive even the awkwardness of their own titles4 ,would not purchaser or buyer1 and supplyman or supplier1 be better terms8 ,speaking of inviting people to ride in your car4 ,from operating vice-presidents down we do not avail ourselves sufficiently of the company of representatives of the accounting department4 ,they do not and should not report to us4 ,they1 however1 compile statistics from data which we furnish4 ,we want to have our data in such good shape that they will not misinterpret4 ,as they count our ,australian ballots1 it is important for us to know how to put the cross opposite the eagle or the rooster4 ,on the other hand1 the service will not suffer if we have a chance1 on the ground1 to show the inconsistency of some arbitrary requirements4 ,i carried by an idea in a recent letter4 ,i asked the man on the opposite run to take it back2 but he1 too1 had a big switch list and a time order4 ,so it has been an over in the freight room until now ,i bill it free astray4 ,the thought is that our organization should provide automatically1 as in the army and the navy1 for the next in rank available to assume the duties of an absent or incapacitated official4 ,a superintendent has to be sick or absent for quite a long time before we designate an acting superintendent4 ,we let the chief clerk sign for him1 an absurd fiction if long continued4 ,why should not the assistant superintendent1 or1 if none1 the trainmaster1 sign as acting superintendent as a matter of course when the accidents of the service take the superintendent off the division8 ,an assistant is really a deputy1 although1 with all our borrowing and mutilating of titles1 we have not utilized the comprehensive qualification of deputy4 ,the time is soon coming when we shall welcome the opportunity of making our organization elastic by giving understudies the title of acting so and so4 ,as we grow in liberality we shall feel proud to lend one of our men to another road for a few months at a time to do special work or to introduce some new idea that he has developed4 ,the other road will be glad to pay the man a good salary1 and he will return to us all the broader and more valuable because of service elsewhere4 ,we have been meantime training another man for any vacancy in the grade that may occur4 ,by the same token1 we shall by and by consider it a privilege to get back in our official family a man whom we trained to our ways in youth1 but who has been broadened by service with different roads4 ,we shall get over considering him as having lost his rights1 as an unpardonable offender against our sacred civil service4 ,there is never any affection stronger than our first real love4 ,as you master the details of your profession1 as you carry out loyally the policies of your management1 keep in mind the possibility of radical changes4 ,we shall not forever keep up the absurdity of a ,pullman conductor's snap and a train conductor's busy job4 ,when we each own at least the sleeping and parlor cars local to our own rails1 the conductor will run the train and perhaps work the sleepers1 while a collector will work the coaches and chair cars4 ,when oil burners and automatic stokers have revolutionized the fireman's duties1 when train orders are unknown1 when the position or color of a signal is the only instruction1 we may transfer the command of the train to one of the men in the engine4 ,when we so protect our trains by block signals or other devices that to send back a flag is an absurdity1 our trainmen will become starters1 and perhaps collectors1 with duties not dissimilar to those of guards on elevated roads4 ,when the much-needed motor car for suburban and branch service is perfected1 other changes will come4 ,you may not live to see electricity displace steam for heavy motive power1 but you had better not gamble all your life insurance on such a proposition4 ,the tendency has been to limit all the utilities of a railroad to transportation4 ,before long we shall1 for a time at least1 be going to the opposite extreme4 ,some of us have entered the pension and life insurance business1 some own coal mines directly or indirectly4 ,should we not manufacture our own ice at various points as needed and cut out some haul8 ,should we not control the banks in the cities and towns where we disburse so much money8 ,why not grain elevators and industrial plants8 ,can we afford to manufacture relatively fewer of our own appliances than that comprehensive organization1 the ,standard ,oil ,company8 ,these questions cannot be answered easily or by a simple yes or no4 ,they all depend upon time and circumstance4 ,our trouble has been a fundamental error in reasoning1 a dogmatic generalization from too few particular cases4 ,stagnation is usually death to business4 ,as we cannot back up1 it would seem wise to be ready to move forward in power and influence4 ,ours is a high destiny4 ,the railway officials of the future will never be without knotty propositions to tackle4 ,they will not have to work as long hours as we1 but their problems will be more intense4 ,the injector saves the drudgery of jacking up an engine to pump her1 but it does not warrant sitting down while waiting for the steam derrick4 ,through all the improvements1 real or imaginary1 through all the changes that the years may bring1 bear in mind the human element4 ,although the race grows better all the time1 the old ,adam and ,eve will be ever present in all of us4 ,high explosives1 armor plate1 modern weapons1 modify the conditions of war1 but as the ,japs and ,russians are teaching us to-day we can never do entirely without the individual initiative1 without the courage necessary for the hand-to-hand conflict4 ,some may deplore this condition1 but1 in the words of the ,salvation ,army lassie1 ,i thank ,god for it4 ,for a period covering some thirty years1 beginning and ending over a hundred years ago1 an ,english nobleman and statesman1 the ,earl of ,chesterfield1 man of letters1 wrote a series to his son4 ,the morals inculcated are hardly acceptable in this better age4 ,the manners taught1 the art of pleasing so attractively set forth1 have a value to-day1 have made the term ,chesterfield a synonym for grace4 ,lord ,chesterfield's letters to his son were collected to the number of nearly five hundred and published in book form4 ,he has had many imitators1 and ,i confess to being one of them4 ,whether or not he borrowed the idea from some ancient father ,i have never sent a tracer to find out4 ,now that you and ,i are to be near enough for heart-to-heart talks1 my weekly letters will cease4 ,whether or not they shall be preserved in book form it is up to you to say4 ,affectionately1 your own ,d4 ,a4 ,d4 ,,postscript4 ,,by ,,frank ,h4 ,,spearman4 ,when a young army officer1 a ,west ,pointer1 resigns his commission to become a railroad man the unusual happens and observers naturally follow the result with interest4 ,major ,charles ,hine was more than a lieutenant of the ,sixth ,united ,states ,infantry when he threw up his commission to become a freight brakeman on the ,big ,four4 ,he was even then1 at twenty-eight1 a graduate of the ,cincinnati ,law ,school1 a member of the bar and a practical civil engineer4 ,when the country needed her army men in #ahih1 ,lieutenant ,hine1 then on the staff of a ,big ,four superintendent in ,cleveland1 secured leave of absence1 volunteered and was commissioned a major of the ,first ,district of ,columbia ,infantry4 ,after ,santiago1 ,major ,hine promptly resumed his work as a railroadman4 ,he has served as brakeman1 switchman1 yardmaster1 conductor1 chief clerk to the superintendent1 trainmaster1 assistant superintendent and general superintendent4 ,he is1 by nature1 a student2 no task is too onerous to dismay him if there is in it or behind it something he can learn4 ,thus he has not only stored away information1 but he has learned how to impart it1 and his fund of shrewd observation and good common sense he has drawn on in writing a railroad book entitled ,letters ,from an ,old ,railway ,official to ,his ,son1 a ,division ,superintendent4 ,the letters cover a breadth of ground in railway operation that is really astonishing to any one who does not know the man behind them4 ,this is not all2 loaded as they are with nuggets of hard1 practical sense in railroad practice1 they have a form and finish that make them doubly attractive4 ,they are short1 compact1 of an easy and agreeable style and both lively and humorous as well as instructive4 ,major ,hine has long since won his literary spurs as a contributor to the ,army and ,navy ,journal1 ,the ,railway ,age and ,the ,century ,magazine4 ,his present book is bright1 quick and gossipy1 and it would interest a man that did not know the difference between a puzzle switch and a gravity yard1 but its especial appeal is to the young railroad man of to-day who understands that whether in the operating department1 the accounting department or the motive power1 he must1 to get ahead1 know all that he can1 and the letters cover as many railroad subjects as they bear numbers4 ,they will take their place at once in railroad libraries and in railroad literature4 ,major ,hine--recently doing special railroad work on the staff of the general manager of the ,rock ,island system and at present on the staff of the second vice-president of the ,burlington1 specially charged with the subject of company supplies--may write longer and more pretentious books than this2 but hardly one of more real value to the ambitious young railroad man4