Daily Arizona silver belt., 1908-08-23

! 'nSp"Stoh ie oiSahilcu ds Cdrtluiiy d
 a college course. At the head of it il
 a body of experts familiar with the ev
 olution of safety apparatus, from tho
 original waving of the hand by day
 and of lighted candle by night, dowr
 to the electric automatics of the pres
 ent. From these experts are assigned
 instructors who travel over the com
 pany's lines, covering the various sec.
 tions at stated intervals. Thus the
 courses of instruction are given with
 proper regularity Continuing, the article apeals to pub.
 lie sentiment to aid railroad managers
 in it's battle against the great number
 of accidents annually occurring on all
 railroads in the country.
 "Let the public add to the rules
 the weight of its opinion, and the
 scale will turn. No one man, and no
 body of men in this country is bigger
 than public opinion. If rules are disre.
 garded, if discipline is lax, and lives
 are lost thereby, the remedy is in an
 educated and aroused public opinion. At present railroads cannot enforce a
 thoroughgoing discipline. As leading
 technical journal very aptly said not
 long ago:
 "The condition which must be reme- died is that railroad arrangements out of deference to public sentiment do not try to exercise that rigor in dis ciplning railway employees which safe ty of the public demands. It is an anomalous but incontestable fact that the public would cruelty the manage ment that inflicts proper discipline. y
 "We may be sure that the moment public opinion changes and shows a willingness to support officials in en- forcing vigorous discipline, we shall see that change recorded in high effici- eney and lower death rate. The time is ripe for such turn. The public has had its surfeit of abusing corporations; it has arrived at the element of jus tiee underlying the movement of gener- al attack and distrust It has reached the position that railroads as public service corporations are under special obligation to regard the public welfare. Now it must see to it that the rail roads receive the inestimable support of its great influence in securing disci- pline and efficiency from those who while serving them serve the public.
 "Disciplne and consequent efficiency in our army and navy would be abso- lutely destroyed if all officers from the commander in chief down were indis- criminately condemned and held up to public execration. Under such con ditions it would not be long before the petty officers, privates, and sailors would look on their officers as their | worst enemies, they would become dis 1 loyal, faithless in the discharge of duty | and inefficient in guarding the inter ests intrusted to them.
 ''The army of railroad employees is in a demoralized condition, and, as re- suits show. is inefficient in safeguarding life and property intrusted to it. What Is the remedyi Simply that if our em- ployees once realize that the responsi- Dility for the discredit now resting on ,he operation of American railroads is lot one which can be placed entirely on heir officers, but that they themselves must assume large share of it, joint .ffort and cordial cooperation to remove he load of joint discredt must neces- arily follow.
 "And how is this realization of re- to be brought home to the mployeesl By the help of the pub ic; by the force of their opinion. It must discriminate between the bad and he good in passing judgment on corpor- tions and their officers. Wholesale dis. , pproval breeds wholesale disloyalty in he industrial army serving them. The ! nnatural and hostile conditions that ', ave resulted from the attitude of the | ress and the public toward corpora , ions must be replaced by peace and ooperation: and while not abating its . of abuses or relaxing its , to correct them, it must 1 the exercise of its determination [ i've the support of it's all-powerful pinion to the earnest efforts of rail pads to improve discipline, increase ! lfety and generally raise the standard T safety" h