Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-08-31
II DOES NOT PAY.

Hartlly a month passes without rail-
road Journals publishing the portrait
of some bright, young railroad official.
with a biographical sketch beneath
not a sketch promising a reaping in the
4 immediate future Of deserved results
from years of preparatory work; but
1 an obituary nllronicling the sudden ter
j nlinatfon of a career Just at the time
OF life when a man ought to begin har
! yesting the fruits OF q long period of
4 preparation for future effective work.
/ Very likely, accompanying the obltu-
1 airy Is a set of resolutions setting forth
"the inscrutablc ways of Divine Provi-
dence In taking away the deceased IN
the prime of life, z and extending sym
patty to the bereaved widow and chill
dren in their distress." This sympathy
| could have been manifested In much
more practical manner by a readjust-
1nent of administrative requirements to
| less exacting standards: and which
would not demand service calculated
to exhaust the vital forces of the aver
age railroad man aspiring TO higher Off
cial rank. And as to the "inscrutable
| ways of Divine Providence, the
less said about that the better
The death OF these promising young
railroad men was due to overtaxation
OF physical resources in ambitiously
working their way up in the official
scale.
Nature Will not be imposed upon. In
life's strife, she demands that certain
rules shall be compiled with, and one
of these is periodic, regular rest. Six
! days shalt thou labor. and do all thy
work but the seventh is Sabbath i'm
to Jehovah thy God in 1t thou shalt
| Not do any work''-this isSone of the
laws of the Sinaitic code; and more
over. the writer Of Genesis closes his
summary Of the Creation with. "And
God blessed the seventh day and hall
lowed it,
The tendency in railroad life Is to
honor this law more in the breach than
in the observance. Railroad traffic Of
all kinds continues seven days in the
week; the Sunday passenger and excur-
sion traffic for six months In the year,
being heavily in excess Of regular week
day business. Railroad offices are open
at least half the day. cleaning up the
weeks business In addition to regular
routine Officials are busy Sundays.
almost as much as on other days; In
| short the whole atmosphere Of railroad
| life Is one continuous tendency toward
perpetual motion. Ambitious employees
become infected with the spirit; off,
Gals themselves are more and more
possessed of 1t, until. as in the case Of
President Maurel of the Santa Fe. the
| idea of periodic rest. or in fact, rest at
! all, becomes a lost art-forgotten. But
| nature calls the turn" in due time:
from that there is no escape. Then we
read the glowing tributes"-in post
| norton. and look sadly Mt the printed
faces of these able young men called
away while on the threshold Of prom
ised future usefulness. "Brlghts dis
ease" nervous disorders, and OCCASION
ally consumption. are the bases Of the
stroke that sooner or later comes
Many Salt Lake people will remem-
Der w. II. Baldwin. formerly of the
Union Pacific. in this city and Butte,
who became president of the Long Is
/, land railroad. There was man who
gave every indication while here OF a
long life of usefulness, and profitable
activity. But he was cut down like a
| CT f,,@,,
application to business. 1t was said
of President Mauvel that he so Insisted
In keeping posted in al! the details OF
operation that not even an Office Gus.
pidnre could be bought without his Off
cial 80 K.''
There are young officials on the Har-
rimnn lines so devoted TO their work
in and OUT nf all seasons that the Over
strain Limited is liable to carry some
of them off before their time. unless
they heed the call for periodic rest:
for 1t Is well to remember that. in rail-.
road life in particular, "all work anG
no play" not only makes Jack a dull
boy" but makes a corpse prematurel,
of him. Mr.. Hartman himself Is nov
paying the penalty for overdrafts OF
his nervous system, and is compelled to
rest. with the eastern papers devotine
columns OF speculation as to his earl,
summons to country where railroad
securities are of no Importance, pos
sibly. Mr.. Welby ought to be alive nov
in active possession of his faculties
carrying out the promise of brigh
career as railroad constructor ant
operator. But he burned the candle o
life in unremitting overambitious appli
cation to work, with persistency tina
exhausted his vital energies. so tina
when the time came to call on them fo
recuperation, there was no response.
six days shalt thou labor and do al
thy work. When viii men realize TIL,
, Creator meant Just what He said IL
, handing down that law that shall las
: through all time? The APOSTLE says
WHO art thou, o man, who rebelles
! against God?' and yet a disregard fo
II the Sabbath day is one of the cryin: