Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-02-26
#tiseellaneuus Reaains.
SOUTHERN AND THE PEOPLE.
President Finley Talks to His Freight
and PASSENGER Representatives.

and Passenger Representatives.
At a bringing together Of the rep
resentatives of the freight and passen-
ger department of the Southern rail-
way at Atlanta, Ga, President Finley
delivered the following address which
is deserving of the careful considera-
tion Of the people living along the
] line of his big system.
Your duties bring you into personal
and daily contact with the people along
the lines of the Southern railway, and
I as one who has filled positions which
some of you are now filling, propose
to speak to you briefly of the relations
Of freight and passenger agents to the
public. Your duties are of two-fold
nature. You owe duties to the rail-
way company by which you are en-
ployed and you owe duties to the pub
lie. These double duties do not in
any way result in conflict or divided
allegiance. for he serves the railway
best who serves the public best.
The general officers Of railway
have, unfortunately, too few opportu-
mites for meeting and talking with the
people who are dependent upon the
road for transportation service. The
man having business relations with the
road as a rule, comes into personal
contact with the local representatives
OF the traffic and operating depart
ments The policies of the railway are
formulated and mapped out by the
general officers, but the application of
these policies to specific transactions
must be entrusted in the main to men
in the field. 1t follows, then, that you
have in a substantial sense the repu-
tation of the Southern Railway COM
pany for fair and just dealing in your
hands. Whether the company shall
be popular or unpopular depends in
very large measure upon your attitude
toward the public and upon your treat
ment 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 con-
stantly that 1t Is the unvarying 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 traveller;
that you should be perfectly frank in
an business dealings: that you should
always be considerate and patient, and
that you should do all in your power
to make the services Of the road satis-
factory to those for whom they are
performed
All classes of the public should be
treated with consideration and be CIV
en- every possible and reasonable ac-
commodation. Even the man who
makes impossible or unreasonable de-
mands should not be dismissed with a
curt refusal. He may not know that
what he asks is either impossible or
unreasonable. and few words Of
frank explanation pointing out. to him
why his wishes cannot be compiled
with may send him away friend or
the road instead of a faultfinder. While
every thing possible should be done
for the accommodation Of those doing
business with the road, care should be
exercised not to promise the impossi-
BILE in the way of facilities or services.
When failure to fulfill such promise
follows, the man who made 1t may be
able to shift responsibility to the oper-
ating or some other department or Of
ficer, but the damage done to the rep
utation Of the road cannot be easily
remedied. Questions that seem to you
to be trivial may be considered Of much
importance by the persons asking them
and they should be answered with pa
tience and courtesy.
The efficiency Of the service as
whole depends upon the efficiency OF
each individual official and employee.
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 de-
tail of his duties, however unimportant
II may seem to him, for no matter how
carefully and minutely duties may be
prescribed by the general officer, the
neglect of some apparently minor de-
tail may lead to serious or possibly to
disastrous results. OF even more i'm
portance than a careful observance OF
duties prescribed by the company Is
obedience to law. Many OF the rela-
tions between the railways and the
public are now regulated by Federal
and state statutes, and every official
and employee OF the Southern Railway
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 permitted, and as l am
sure you all understand, there must
be no resort to evasion Of any kind.
AS representatives Of the Southern
Railway company you should bear In
mind at all times the basic fact that
the interests of the railway and OF
those served by it are identical and
that they are inseparably interviewer.
The railway can prosper only as re-
suit of the prosperity Of communities
by which the demand for transporta-
ton is increased, and the prosperity
Of the south can continue and can be
brought to the highest possible level
only through adequate and efficient
transportation facilities. At the pres
ent time, when every effort Is being
made to supply 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 thor
oughly understood the railroads of the
south and the people will be brought
together in more harmonious co-opera-
ton for the development Of the natur-
al resources of the south and for the
expansion of all lines Of industry. The
men in the freight and passenger de-