The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-02-04
RAILROAD NEWS.
Slason Thompson ROaSts the
Labor Unions.
He Represents the General
Managers Association.
DISCIPLINE is LAX.
Says Railway Officials Are
Hampered by Union Rules.
Block System Not a Proven
tive of Accidents.
DISCIPLINE is LAX.

Slason Thompson, official representa-
tive of the General Managers associa-
ton of Chicago, has issued a pamphlet
In which ne makes a severe attack on
railway labor organizations, charging
them with responsibility for lax dis
cipline. which he declares exists, and
which is responsible for disasters caus-
ing thousands of deaths and casual
ties annually.
Mr.. Thompson also takes severely TO
task the alleged efficiency of the block
signal system which railway manage
ments are spending large sums to pro-
vide with the view of diminishing easu-
alties, and declares it is discipline which
American railways need most of all.
Speaking regarding railway labor or
CARNATIONS. he says:
They exercise an influence over the
entire field of railway employment det-
rimental to discipline. Before diScip-
lining an engineer railway officials
have to be prepared with proofs of
habitual and dangerous insubordina-
tiOn-tC face q demand for his rein
statement. The trouble is that, having
neither authority nor responsibility,
the organization of railway employees
interferes with the authority of railway
officials in innumerable ways They
seek to dictate appointments to the
~
restrict employment to their own num-
Der. They also act as a. check on the
prompt suspension or dismissal of men
for cause covered by the good of the
service. If the organizations guaran-
teed that all their members were COM
petent and reliable men and would be
loyal employees, amenable to discipline
in whatever branch of service employ
ed, their watchfulness lest injustice
might be done to such members would
be justifiable. But membership in
railway brotherhood conveys no such
guarantee"
Mr.. Thompson drives home to labor
organizations the responsibility for
many wrecks by the statement that
1.-The lack of discipline and the presence
of negligence account for nlne-tenthS
of the collisions, not only where the
block system is used, but where it is
Then Mr.. Thompson asks what accounts
for this laxness of operating officials in
saws. "tbecause they are in constant di-
lernma between public demands for fast
schedules and a division of authority over
their employees. from the engineers to the
switchnen? Every act of the operating
his own superior, but to the officials OF
the employees unions or brotherhoods-
In Mr. Thompsons opinion, the best
physical means to prevent COLLISIONS IS
the adoption Of the block system may
come next in Importance, he declares that
the results it has attained do not warrant
the Interstate commerce commission IN
concentrating popular attention its
universal adoption the panacea for
railway train accidents,
The block system is thus dealt with:
Conditions show that the block signal
system, though it seems to be correct in
principle. has for some reason failed of
anything like complete efficiency; Why?
Because it is not q system that can
work itself It's name has promised
more than its principle is capable of
fulfilling 1t merely signals; it does not
block anything"
Mr. Thompson also roundly scores rail-
way arrangements for lack of discipline,
and declares that whenever a man IS
caught running a block or stealing
switch he should be dismissed. whereas
he is only infrequently disciplined by
suspension. The purpose of the pamphlet
he says is to prove that there is no oc-
casion for the individual comparisons
which the interstate commerce commits
sion as at present constituted, has al
ways made between American and for
eign railways.