Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-10-17

TRAINMkN's RIGID nULAs.
0beying Orders 90 the Letter wsala
Make Travel Safe but Tedious
Il ds an interesting position that
one fnds when studying the relations
that connect the railroad employee
with the road itself with regard to the
rules and regulations. 1t has ring of
heads win, and tails you lose" in
favor of the road when dt comes to
deciding where the responsibility lies
when an accident occurs. An old
railroad employee, a member of a train
crew, was conversing with the writer
recently, and in going over il the situ-
alton might be better and more read
aly understood If he were to be rather
closely quoted from his standpoint
and in his language.
On our line" he said, 'swe have
many good mile that composes the
whole road, but I will confine INV
knowledge of experience of working
under rules and regulations as stand
ing between the general managers
ONCE and the actual operation of
trains. To follow every rule and regu-
dadon ITO the letter would make travel
lar safer than lying in bed, but 1t
would be SO slow and tedious to the
passenger that the time made in the
old days of stage lines would appear
a 'fifer's' time of these days.
10 make from even 30 miles per
hour up to the 80 reached these days,
and to live up ITO everything pertain
ang to slow ups. grade crossings, saw
ing OF coal, oil and material, slow
stops and starts, reduced speed over
switches and tOurnouts and a hund-
red and one things Ito be remembered,
would be the worst Kind of folly il
making time was q consideration.
Take my run, $50 miles. which In
on the card to be made in hours and
SO minutes, not such a swift gait, to
be sure, although in winter, with
snow, ice and bad weather. it is some
little kind of a job to get around on
time. To live up to every ironcaad
rule, those in the book, on the card,
and various specials issued every 6ay,
you could not pull that run through
IN ten hours. and you might count
yourself lucky if you went fhrough
upon that time.
"a trainman has the choice Of
either making his time. for, II he IN
frequently late, he Is either set back,
suspended, fined or dismissed. or hy-
ing up to every rule, and, if not found
doing so i'm case of accident. being dis
missed. OF course where no accidents
occur the rules can be tampered with
and the management be blessed with
bandaged eyes, but let mishap occur,
and in order to protect themselves
they jot out the Thousand or two rules
and If you are found guilty you re-
ceive your dismissal. So the train
hand takes his desperate chances by
playing ait luck, by using discretion
dn obeying his rule, as he keeps his
position longer than he would through
strictly carrying out every one and
eventually being dismissed when the
first salary day arrives.
In one book of rules upon large
road appear nearly 500 regulations for
the employee to famiEarize himself
with, or, as one of the general rules
says: The head Of each department.
must be conversant with the rules,
supply copies of them to his subordi-
mates. see that they are understood
enforce obedience to them. No one
will be excused for the violation of
any OF them, even though not includ
ed in those applicable to his depart
ment. Ignorance is no excuse for
neglect of duty
"Then follows a most remarkable
clause or rule which reads, Every
employee while ON duty connected
with the trains on any division Of the
road is under the authority and must
conform to the orders of the superin-
tendent of that division Now, If the
employee has a certain order from the
superintendent that conflicts with
those of the book, the road has HIN
double headed.
ITO obey the superintendent and
disobey the rule means discharge, a.
1t distinctly states that mo one will be
excused for the violation of any Of
Them while on the other hand he
must conform to the orders of the
superintendent SO he is apt to be-
come discharged either way. but the
road stands unblamed in either case.
Besides these 800 regulations there
are numbers of rules, about 20 forms
of train orders, four hand and lamu
signals, II manners of using signals
according to the train rules, besides
"Then comes the changing occasion.
ally OF rule, or from day to day the
time of some new rule. With this the
employee must learn by heart the
schedule time OF some 25 regular.
trains. not to mention as many spec.
falls. Is IT a wonder not more acci.
DENTS occur when one employee may
be ON duty IS or 20 continuous hours
and happens TO forget just one Of
these things TO be remembered? ?".
No Tyros In diplomacy.
Il was in the Macomb House that
Washington so stoutly insisted on our
treaty rights with Great Britain. and
il was here that he delivered his saga
cious reply to Lord Dorchester's nm
Official communication through Major
Beckwith. Lord Dorchester attempt.
ed to give orally a more promising