The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-02-27
RAILROADS AND TIE PUBLIC.

President Finley of the Southern
Railway Addresses the Freight and
Passenger Representatives of the
Railway as to Their Duties.
The representatives Of the freight
and passenger departments of the
southern Railway Company were
brought together in Atlanta on Feb
ruary 18th, at the request Of Presi-
dent Finley, who addressed them in
part as follows:
Your duties bring you into personal
ana daily contact with the people
along the line of the Southern Rail
way. and as I am one who has filed
positions which some Of you are now
filing, propose to speak to you brief
ly of the relations Of freight and
passenger agents to the public. Your
duties are Of a two-fold nature. You
owe duties to the railway company by
Which you are employed and you owe
duties to the public. These dec5le Gu
ties do not in any way result in con
Sfict or divided allegiance, for he
serves the railway best who serves
the public best
The general officers of a railway
have, unfortunately, TOO few oppor-
tunities for meeting and talking with
TIE people who are dependent upon
the road for transportation services.
The man having business relations
with the road, as rule, comes into
personal contact with the local rep
resentatives of the traffic and operat-
ing departments. The policies Of the
railway are formulated and mapped
out by the general officers, but the
application of these policies to spe-
cifc transactions must be entrusted
in the main to men in the field. 1t
fellows, then, that you have IN a
substantial sense the reputation OF
the Southern Railway company for
fair and just dealing in your hands
Whether the company shall be popu-
lar or unpopular depends in very
large measure upon your attitude to-
ward the public and upon your treat
inert of those doing business with
the road. It is of supreme import
nce, therefore, that you, who daily
come into intimate personal contact
with the public, should bear in MIND
constantly that it is the unvarylns
policy Of the company to be just a1c
fair to all alike-to the small shipper
and the occasional traveller as well
as to the large shipper and the regu-
lar traveller; that you should be per-
fectIv frank in all business dealings;
that YOU should always be consider
ate and patient, and that you should
do all in your power to make the SER
v;cas of +he road salts. actory to those
for whom they are performed.
All classes of the public should be
treated with consideration and be
given every possible and reasonable
accommodation. Even the man VINO
makes impossible or unreasonable de-
mands should not be dismissed with
a curt refusal. He may not kno"
- ,cI,e ;c other i'm DOSSl-
Bile or unreasonable, and few words
of frank explanation pointing out 10
r;,o ,rbv his wishes cannot be COM
pIied with may send him away a
friend of the road instead Of a fault
finder. While everything possible
should be- done for the accommooa-
ton Of those doing business with the
road. care should be exercised not to
promise the impossible in the way or
facilities or services. When failure
TO fulfil such promise follows, the
man who made it may be aole 70
shift responsibility to the operating CT
some other department or otncer'
hut the damage done to the reputa-
ton of the road cannot be easily rem
edied. Questions that seem to you 10
be trivial may be cc2sidered OF much
importance by the persons asking
them and they should be answered
with patience and courtesy.
The efficiency Of tn service as a
whole depends upon the efficiency OF
each individual official and employe.
Every agent and employe should
study his duties in detail and should
understand thoroughly just what ne
is to do in any contingency that may
arise. He should then neglect no de-
tail Of his duties, however unlmport-
ant it may seem to him, for no mat
ter how carefully and nainuteiy ou-
ties may be prescribed by the general
n6oars the neglect Of some appa-