The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-17
FINLEY SEEKS FOR
MORE COOPERATION
Wants Every EmpIoye to Have
Heart in Work
ADDRESS MADE IN ATLANTA
Head of Southern Railway lmpresses
On Men the Duty They owe to
the Public and to
the Road.
ADDRESS MADE IN ATLANTA

the Public and to
the Road.
The address of President w w. Finley
of the Southern Railway company. to tho
employees of the line has attracted much
attention because of the evident desire
indicated by the head of the system to
keep in the closest possible touch with
employees. The address was made at a
large meeting held in Atlanta last week
and Is as follows:
Your duties bring you into personal
and daily contact with the people along
the lines of the Southern railway. and
l as one who has filed positions which
some of you are now filling. propose to
speak to you briefly of the relations of
freight and passenger agents to the pub
lie. Your duties are of a two-fold ma
ture. You owe duties to the railway
company by which you are employed and
you owe duties to the public These double
duties do not In any way result in con-
fiict or divided allegiance for he serves
the railway best who serves the public
best.
The general officers Of railway have,
unfortunately, too few opportunities for
meeting and talking with the people who
are dependent upon the road for trans
portation services. The man having bus
mess relations with the road, as a rule,
comes into personal contact with the To-
cal representatives of the traffic and oper-
ating departments. The policies of the
railway are formulated and mapped out
by the general officers, but the applica-
tion of these policies to specific transac.
tons must be entrusted in the main to
men I'm the field. 1t follows, then, that
you have in a substantial sense the repu-
tation Of the Southern Railway company
for fair and just dealing in your hands.
Whether the company shall be popular or
unpopular depends in very large meas
ure upon your attitude toward the pub
lie and upon your treatment of those
doing business with the road. 1t is of
supreme Importance, therefore, that you.
who daily come into intimate personal
contact with the public should bear in
mind constantly that 1t Is the unvary-
ing policy of the company to be just and
fair to all alike-to the small shipper
and the occasional traveller as we'll as to
the large shipper and the regular travel
err; that you should be perfectly frank in
all business dealings; that you should
always be considerate and patient, and
that you should do all In your power to
make the servises of the road satisfac-
tory to those for whom they are per-
formed.
All classes of the public should be
treated with consideration and be given
every possible and reasonable accommoda-
ton. Even the man who makes impos-
sibe or unreasonable demands should not
be dismissed with a curt refusal: He may
not know that what he asks is either
impossible or unreasonable, and a few
words of frank explanation pointing out
to him why his wishes cannot be COM
piled with may send him away a friend
of the road instead of Pathfinder. While
everything possible should be done for
the accommodation of those doing bust
ness with the road, care should be ex-
ercised not to promise the impossible
In the way of facilities or services. When
failure to fulfil such a promise fol-
lows. the man who made it may be able
to shift responsibility to the operating or
some other department or officer, but
the damage done to the reputation of
the road cannot be easily remedied. Cues
tions that seem to you to be trivial may
be considered of much Importance by
the persons asking them and they should
n orA trfa
The efficiency of the service as a whole
depends upon the efficiency of each indi-
yidual official and employe. Every agent
and employee should study his duties in
detail and should understand thoroughly
Just what he is to do in any contingency
that may arise. He should then neglect
no detail of his duties, however unim-
portant it may seem to him, for no mat
ter how carefully and infinitely duties may
be prescribed by the general officers. the
neglect of some apparently minor detail
may lead to serious or possibly to disas-
trous results. OF even more Importance
than a careful observance of duties pre-
scribed by the company is obedience to
law. Many of the relations between the
railways and the public are now regulated
by federal and state statutes, and every
official mad employe of the Southern Rail
way company must understand that its
business affairs are to be conducted at all
times in strict accordance with the laws
of the land. No transaction or practice
that is forbidden by the laws can be per-
mitted, and as / am sure you all under
stand there must be no resort to evasion
of any kind.
AS representatives of the Southern Rail-
way company you should bear In mind at
all times the basic fact that the interests
of the railway and of those served by 1t
are identical and that they are insep.
arably interviewer. The railway can pros
per only as a result of the prosperity OF
communities by which the demand for
transportation is increased, and the pros
perity of the south can continue and can
be brought to the highest possible level
only through adequate and efficient trans
portation facilities. At the present time,
when every effort is being made to sup
ply additional facilities and more efficient
services. nothing is more important than
that the truth of this proposition should
be realized by men in all lines of business
When once this identity of interests is