The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-02
SUGGESTION FROM wINsLOw.
'sSIaiI' Tells Why Santa Fe Men Hunt
the Saloons.


For the past year the coast lines OF
the Santa Fe system, we mention the
Santa Fe simply because we are more
intimate with their methods. have
been waging a campaign against all
employees who frequent saloons eltnef
for gambling or drinking cam
paign highly cOmmendable in us tun-
damentals but somewhat distorted IN
this particular attempt at execution
The matter has taken on Sucn eS-
tensive proportions that 1t is the st-
Hent point in almost every discussion
in which the employees engage in their
inevitable street corner railroadlng,
that gives a better insight into the
railroader's sentiments on any qnes-
ton than does any other phase OF his
calling. There is a psychological fac
tor reflected in these open sir meet
ings, which asserting and reasserting
itself eventually forces recognition.
The question confronting the west
ern railroads.&c. they insist upon en-
ployes and saloons being alienated one
from the other-is not SO much a
question of obtaining a sufficient num-
Der of men to act as operatives. COM
monty called spoilers, to hold their
men in fear, as it is a question of sup
planting one kind of amusement with
another.
In these western terminals, such as
Gallup. Winslow, Seligman, Needles,
and other similar towns the dearth of
legitimate amusement, to state nat
ural and universal desire, has prob
ably cost the railroads more money,
deprived the employees of more wages
without a legitimate return cost more
men their positions, than has any
other factor figuring in any branch of
the business.
place him in a town that is located on
a stretch of land so barren it is diff
cult to raise an umbrella on it with
out some artificial aid; let him remain
in that town for eight hours, and he
will be on a still hunt for a place of
amusement. 1t may be counting the
stripes on some barber sign or it may
be game of roulette, but it's amuse-
ment just the same. He is going to
have it. job or no job.
Can the railroad companies furnish
the amusementS that will supplant
the diversions to which they so I'M
compromisingly object? They can.
but they cannot do it with a couple of
rooms a few antiquated books and a
billiard table, especially so if the
books are not of the mems taste and
the table a relic of the ark. A hand
books on pOetics will hardly elicit an
enthusiastic reading for man who
works in iron; nor will Faust or Plau-
tus in the original be of interest to an
Americana born trainman. A man who
has been through the railroad school
from the first reader to the post
graduate work is the only man fitted
for the position in which exists the
management OF this department: a
man OF prose for men of prose every
time. A sufficient number of game
boards free to all corners, to accom-
modate the men, lectures and enter
tainment. many and good, but not
technical unless it be the technique of
railroading itself. A man who makes
a livelihood dragging chains along so
car trains and handling air cannot be
expected to take much interest in a
lecture on indigenous plants, even
though the man who explains the sub
Ject is graduate of Chicago univer-
slty and has d picture machine to
back him up.
The question is not a new one, but
1t seems to have been dropped into
the also ran" class on the western
roads. A more vigorous effort in this
line, conscientiously carried out by
any company will have a tendency to
inspire confidence, create a feeling of
stability in employment, in each and
every employe, and would certainly