The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-03-01
Will Act as Assistants to As
sistant Supt. Motive Power.
TO Do SPECIAL WORK
r. Emerson and C. C. Higgins
New Men Named.
Other Items of General Interest
in Railroad Circles.


vancement and progress and in the
constant study of physical and eco
nomic conditions, the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe railway has secured as as
sistants to Assistant Superintendent
of Motive Power Jacobs, two widely
known railroad men and engineers
These men will make their headquar-
tiers in Topeka and do special work out
of the office in this city over the lines
of the Santa Fe.
These two experienced men are R.
Emerson, from the Lehigh Valley rail-
road, and c. c. Higgins of Chicago.
Their duties under Mr.. Jacobs will be to
cover all assignments that might be
made and to make a thorough study
of the mechanical conditions on the
Santa F'e at this time.
Mr.. Emerson is well known in To-
peka. He was instrumental in the
establishment of the bonus system on
the Santa Fe and came to this city IN
1905, holding a similar position to that
assigned to him at this time. He was
on the staff of the assistant superin-
tendent of motive power and in jan
uary, 1909, he accepted the position Of
assistant to general manager of the
Lehigh Valley.
While with the Lehigh Valley, Mr..
Emerson established on that railroad Il
clerks a certain amount of vacation
time for reporting for work on time
every morning and noon. 1t was an
odd system of bonus and instead of
giving the men extra money for their
work it gave them extra vacation time
every so often for punctuality. 1t made
a great hit on the Lehigh and has been
suggested for the Santa Fee Tt is
thought by local railroad men that Mr..
Emerson will head the work of INSTALL
ing the time bonus on the Santa Fe.
Mr.. Higgins comes highly recon-
mended and well known by all Santa
F'e officials He has been with the
American Brake Shoe company in Chi
cago. Besides this work he has had a
technical and engineering education in
high class universities and schools and
has been with different railroads in diff
ferent capacities for many years. Both
men will bring their families to Topeka
and make their homes in this city.
The Santa F'e has always been noted
for their mechanical stats which are
composed of some of the brightest and
best known railroad men in the coun-
try. Mr.. Jacobs staff in Topeka is one
of the best in the country and the Of
ficials under him in this city are most
ly men who are young, have had prac-
teal experience on the best railroad
systems and the graduates from the
best schools in America
The idea of having men for special
work-as the case of the two new Of
fcials-is to keep them On hand at all
times for such exigency. Suppose, for
instance, the Santa Fee decided that the
motive power now in use was wasteful,
that the class of locomotives were not
economical, that the grades were I'M
necessary and that the curves, ETC.,
were not for the best interests of the
operation of the traffic.
Now, the average official on a rail-
road has other things to do than work
out these problems. He is in an office
an office with regular schedule of
work and a certain we'll placed re-
sponsibility. He is in readiness to meet
all emergencies and he has a certain
number of men under him depending
upon his executive ability.
The question then comes up-how will
he find time to test and figure out
and practically the differ
ent advantages of certain classes of
motive power, the good of some new
grade, and the use of another kind Of
fuel. With this mapped out work he
has little time for work of this kind. |
But when the assistant superintendent !
of motive power, with his hand on the
so to speak, has a corps of
able and practical assistants these mat |
tiers can be threshed out to the advant- |
age of the railway system.
With her mammoth shops, her unsur- |
passed situation, and her headquarters
for both official and physical equip |
ment, Topeka is the keystone of thei
test and special work of the system.