The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-09-14

!
desert (the haunt of the Majave In
! dian) about one hundred miles south
east of Death Valley, being shop and
! division point, was typlcdl or several
conditions. 1t was said that the rail-
| readers experience was not complete
until he had spent some time there;
| that a machinist who could hold on
| there for three months would be pro-
NOTED to master mechanic. The sum-
| mer heat is intense, yet notwithstand-
ing these severe conditions the climate
is salubrious, and winter ideal.
THE company has built at this point
without regard to expense, one of its
finest recreation halls, in the Mission
style; a hospital is maintained parks
have been grown. the shop grounds
have been beautiful, and cottages have
been built. At other points, where the
conditions are severe, similar measures
have been taken, as at Winslow, Ariz.,
and at La Junta, Colo.
"In all the principal cities along
the railway, hospitals are maintained.
each employe. from laborer to higher
officials pays a small monthly sum
(from rs cents to SD to the hospital
association, the aggregate amounting
to about $4,000 a month. Some of the
trustees of the association are officials
of the company, while others are en-
ployes. These trustees devote any sur
plus receipts over expenditures to per-
manent improvements, new buildings,
and additional facilities Although in
Sel1-SuppOTIlnR,
citation has received much substantial
aid from the railroad in the way of
donations to building funds. company
buildings rent free, and other serv-
ices. All officials and employees of the
asso citation, including surgeons, re-
ceive transportation free while in the
company's service, the same rule APP
plying to injured and sick employees.
The Topeka Hospital.
1.-The most notable hospital is at
he Oh at Ia@
his staff of five surgeons, about thirty
nurses, and many other employees. At
this point from fifty to one hundred
patients are in the various wards all
the time. not only for injuries re-
ceived but also for sickness. Many
serious operations are, of course, per-
formed. There are many private
rooms for severe or special cases. The
other hospitals render service similar
to that at Topeka, there being about
a dozen at various points along the
road.
Besides these hospitals. which aim
to take care of all the cases in their |
own territory, there are several hun |
vote all or part of their time to the |
company's service at various towns of
any size on the road.
I'm the principal cities ambulance |
service is provided; in the grounds |
of the larger shops there are emer- |
gency rooms, and in each shop de- |
partment are men instructed in the |
first aid to the injured, regular classes |
being held at the company's hospital |
These examples of the interest of |
the railroad for it's employees are not |
along the line of paternaIism. but are /
in the nature of an investment in the |
character, health and good will of the
employees
Another advantage that has been |
instituted is the pension system. and |
still another of no small Importance /
is the Advantage of the employe to
get free transportation for themselves /
and family from time to time.
The pension system is one of the |
latest institutions established by the |
company, and while modelled on pre-
existing examples 1t has been intro
duced in the belief that its terms are
more liberal than those OF. any pension
plan previously enforced 1t is car
ried out wholly at the expense of the
company, but under the conviction
that the employees will show apprecia-
ton of it by increased zeal and loyalty.
Nearly every employee has it in his
power to benefit his employing COM
pany by the character of his work and
his influence, or to injure it by care
lessness or indifference.
THE establishment of the PEN
sion system is based upon conf
dence that those whose future is thus
made safer will in return render the
best service of which they are capa-
BILE
The general management of the
pension system is in the hands of
board of five officers, or employees,
designated by the president of the rail-
way, and acting under his general dis
erection and during his pleasure. The
board adopts it's own rules, subject to |
revision by the board of directors or
by the president of the railway COM
pany.
system |
sets forth that 1t has been instituted
in order to enable the employees of
the company who have rendered long
and efficient service to retire when
advanced age makes relief from work
desirable.
This sense of security in old age
Or in disability incurred in service
has proved elsewhere to be one of the
greatest incentives to loyalty, content
ment and faithfulness in service: 1t
has as yet found comparative little
in industrial management
in the United States
by the institution of the system
the Santa Fe road seems to be taking
4 Ions. step toward the betterment of
relations between employ
ar and employees.
The proba bility that it will be
fully justified and repaid oa, by the re.
he credit due to the farsightendness
and the praiseworthy effort of those
who are responsible for it's introduce
ion"
School for Apprentices.
Another feature of what the road
$ doing for its employees distinctively
Santa Fe in spirit. which Mr. Jacobs
ioes not mention is the School for APP
1rentices. which has just been started
and is already in good working order
n the local shops. Young men of
good habits are taken from the farms
md other walks of life and are given
ife nositions with the Santa Fe with
III the privileges and benefits which
ire bestowed by no other system.
The road is growing very fast and
integrity are opening UP in all the diff