The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-14
CLUBS FOR WORKERS
SANTA FEES EXPERIMENT HAS
PROVED TO BE GOOD. IN
VESTMENT
FREE ENTERTAINMENTS GIVEN
Libraries Maintained at Several
Points Along Its Line and
Men Encouraged to
Study.

Officials of the Santa Fe railroad sys-
/ tenn have established and are now en-
/ gagged in charging and improving a sys-
: TEN of reading rooms for their employees
! purely as matter of business. They Will
/ tell you, II you ask them, that there is
! nothing of philanthropy in the enterprise;
/ 1T is business and nothing but business,
! and it pays. They declare that the mon
! ey so used is well invested; that there is
/ profit in tia financial profit. This does
I not mean that they make money out of
| the library system directly, for the con-
! ditions make that impossible. but they do
make it Indirectly. The company pays
I the expenses of the libraries out of its
treasury and it makes no charge for
the use of the buildings, books, games or
| anything else connected with the system
] by its employees or the members of their
j families. 1t erects the buildings buys
| the books, provides all the accessories,
! engages the lecturers, subscribes for the
! periodicals and pays the salaries of the
! superintendent and the librarians; and
I still it holds that it is financially ahead on
i the enterprise, in the terse language of
! one of the officials of the road: I'VE
/ would rather pay for books and billiard
tables than for wrecks; for it is cheaper
! and in every way preferable
! The officials of the Santa Zee certainly
/ ought to know the advantages of the sys-
| tenn, for it has been in operation now
] about three years Other roads have
discovered that there is benefit in the
| same plan of operation, but none of them
| has given it as thorough a test as the
| Santa Fe. The Y. M. c. A railway read
! ing rooms are found on almost all lines,
! and as general thing they receive d.
rect financial help from the companies.
! Their effect is good, and railway officials
I are glad to contribute to their support,
!. but so far as possible the Y. NJ. G. A
t rooms try to be self-supporting, and in
| consequence they charge certain small
| fees for the privileges they offer. Then.
| too, there.is an element of religion under
| lying the management of such rooms and
| there are restrictions that are lacking in
! the Santa Fe library system The lat
| ter gives the largest amount of freedom
! possible. The aim is to -amuse and IN
| struct without touching upon religious
matters in any form. 1t is quite imma-
| terial whether or not man has any
| church affiliations whatever; the COM
pany does not concern itself with that
! phase of the question. 1t contributes to
the Y. n. c. A. rooms and in other ways
| encourages them, but it runs its own sys-
tenn upon quite a different plan and is
well satisfied with the results.
This satisfaction and interest, by the
way, is not confined to the officials d.
reotlys connected with the management Of
the libraries. President Ripley takes a
deep personal. interest in the development
of the general plan, and that this ex-
tends to the3directors is eonclusiyely DEM
. onstrated by one little incident that may
be here related. --s.,..
| After listening to the reports of S Il.
Busser, of Chicago, the superintendent
of reading rooms. one of the directors
who resides9in Boston, made a little in
vestigatienscenD his own account. AS a
result of, this he bought and sent to Mr..
Busser as his personal contribution two
! billiard tables. Naturally Mr.. Busser
wrote him letter of thanks on behalf
of the men, and in reply he received
note that ran somewhat as follows:
81 am gratified to learn that the tables
were SO acceptable. If you need two more
let me know and I will send Them
! In addition to this Mr.. Busser asserts
that the directors are becoming more lib
eral in their treatment of the libraries
every year. 1T now costs about $l5G00
year to maintain them, and the directors
not only give this freely, but they have
| recently made liberal appropriation to
| improve and extend the system.
You see,' explained Mr. Busser. the
| advantage to the road comes in this:
; Here the men and their families can have
| almost any amusement they desire eS
| ,.cept drinking and. gambling. In those
| two latter things lies an especial menace
j in railroading. The man who drinks may
! or may not be in proper condition to take
out a train, and, the same is true of
gambling. A game of chance has almost
as bad an effect upon the nerves as
liquor. and the man who INDUCES in it is
likely to be unstrung and in no condi-
| ton physically or mentally TO do his
|. work properly. Formerly men off duty
used to hang about the roundhouses or
the yards in idleness and there is al
ways danger for the idle men, no matter
how excellent his intentions may be- Re-
sorts where he may drink or gamble ara
convenient, and it is very easy to be
lured into them, with the result that he
might show up for work not fully alive
to his responsibilities. Now he has
place to go where he may have either
! instruction or entertainment. He may
play cards or billiards or he may read.
The best of fiction and the best of tech
meal instruction is at his command. and
when he reports for work he is bright
alert and in the best of physical condi-
ton. The very recreations proV11s1f
stimulate his faculties and make him the
more reliable and valuable. Further
more, he is constantly improving. al
though he may not realize it at first,
There is no. attempt to force technical
knowledge or educational advantages up
on the nlen-they may devote their time
to billiards or cards, or light literature,
if they wish-but, with the facilities for
acquiring knowledge at hand, they inn
perceftil1y become interested in the Ge-
yelopment of some subject or line of
thought, aud are soon making the most
of the technical informa ton that lies so
inyit-ngly within their reach
I'm saving this I am not SpeCuiat.ng
or theorizing, but stating what 1 kOaw
to pe a fact. We keep a very close
watch on the libraries and we know
pretty we'll what the men are doing, and
what is interesting them. Our reports
show the demand for fiction and the.
demand for works and articles of All
Instructive nature, and it is extremely.
gratifying to be able to say that tho
latter demand is constantly growing
proportionately greater when compared
with the demand for fiction. The men
are almost unconSciousIy educating
themselves and fitting themselves for
promotion. We make it point to have
all of the best periodicals dealing with
technical matters always on hand. and
we allow employees to make acquisitions
for books that they want. Fer in
stance, ifsa man takes up any particular
subject and finds that a certain book
not in the library will be helpful to him,
it is his privilege to ask for it, All
sLch requests are referred to me, and. if
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