The Press., 1901-11-14
RAILROAD SPOILERS.
THE SECRET SERVICE THAT ONE BIG
SYSTEM MAINTAINS.

SYSTEM MAINTAINS.
members of 1t I'm Every Department
!. From Yardmen Up-Curious Cozn-
plfcations When Spoilers Unknown
to one Another Cross Lines.
.sProbably the most perfect spotter
system achieved by any private cor
poration," says 8. I'll. Adams In Aims
lees. "is that of one of the big eastern
railroads, which Is to some extent
modelled on the secret service system
Of some Of the eastern governments.
though by no means so complex.
$50 farreaching and SO direct, how
ever, are its lines OF communication
that the president of the organization
is himself kept constantly Informed
of the trend Of affairs and the changes
Of sentiment among the employees OF
every division and subdivision of the
whole railway system. and that with
out the knowledge Of any other persons
but his own special corps Of clerks
and secretaries.
"Nobody but himself knows the en-
tire personnel Of the wonderful service
that he has perfected. His agents are
drawn from every branch Of the roads
operating staff. They are engineers.
freight brakemen, passenger trainmel
conductors. signalmen, yardmen. sta
ton agents. track walkers and even
division officials. Should that road
have a strickland strikes are far less
likely to occur than they were before
the present system was put into op-
era i0n-the president will have de-
tailed warnings of 1t from all the
storm centers long before the first NUT
terings find cautious utterance in the
newspapers.
"While II also acts as defense
against thefts by employees, this sys-
TEN is Intended primarily to prepare.
80 to speak. a diary Of the disposition.
character, working efficiency and senti
ments toward the road of the men who
constitute the vast human machinery
Of the corporation. The feeling which
eliminates in general strike Is not
the result of one act alone, but slow
growth made up of many grievances.
real or fancied.
ITO keep track of the shifting mental
attitude of his employees is the aim Of
this railroad president. If certain
division superintendent has made him.
self unpopular with his subordinates,
Information to that effect comes by
underground wire to the central office,
and the matter ia taken under advise
ment IL the newest fireman on the
road attempts TO stir up discomfort by
int1ammatory talk. his views soon
reach the official ear. Every leading
spirit in the employees organization is
known to the president. who also
knows whether. In case Of trouble. tn '
man Is to be reckoned upon as a con.
servative or radical.
Sometimes this works out the mans
career in manner quite Incompetent
sible to him For instance. Night
Waterman Brown is shifted without
cause that he can fathom from one d.
vision to another. How, should he
know that rumors of trouble In that d.
vision have reached the presidential ear
and that he himself. being down In tn
presidents little book as speaker Of
weight and counselor of conserva-
tive methods. has been shifted over to
act as unconscious agent in checking a
dangerous tendency?
Some Of the admiring coworkers of
the head OF this system declare that in
two minutes reference to his collected
funds of informant ton he can unroll the
family history of the woman who
| washes the windows of car No. Ajax
and tell whether. in her estimation, he
himself is an oppressor of the down
trodden or perfect gentleman.
Where so many invisible lines radi.
ate from the same Office it is inevitable
that some of them should cross. Curl
GUS complications result from contact
between spoilers as unknown to each
other as they are to those whom they
watch
Several years ago at time of gen.
eral labor troubles a certain railroad
got no less than five reports from its
confidential men informing them that
an employee who was several degrees
higher in the secret service OF the road
than any of them. had they bnt known
it. had been making incendiary speech
eS.
This was true Matters had so
shaped themselves that the man &C
cused had to appear as radical In or
der to gain admittance to inner coun
ellis where the important questions
would be finally decided To the cha
grin of the authorities they were oblig-
ed to transfer him. Had they not done
SO the suspicious of the men who make
the reports would have been aroused
That spoilers should know each other
as such is held to be highly undesira-
BILE. There is always the chance that
they might work in conjunction instead
Of acting as checks on each other"