Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-01-26
TIME SAID TO BE APPROACHING
WHEN pRuDeERY WILL BE
ELIMINATED.
MONOGRAPH BY j. S. EATON
ON RAIL EMPLOYMENT
Two Million Men Engaged in Work in
United States and Highest Efficiency
is emanded-Effieiency Wage Must
Be Aceorded-other News of the Day.

Washington. Jan. 26.-"The time will
come when railroad employ for every
man in the service will not mean
drugery, nor sinecure, nor accidental
opportunity, but an enlightened, slim
ulating, highly efficient service of high
est earning power, least uncertainty
from accidental causes, largest freedom
for individual initiative, entire self
respect and thoroughly democratic
spirit"
With this prediction j. Shirley Eaton.
former statistician of the Lehigh Val
ley railroad, concluded lengthy mono
graph for the United States bureau of
education, on Education for Efficiency
in Railroad Service" which Commits
sioner Elmer E. Brown has submitted
to the secretary of the interior. In his
letter of transmittal, Commissioner
Brown says the subject of educational
preparations for definite occupations in
life, and particularly for the several
trades, is under serious considera ton
in the United States. The relation of
trade education to general education is
one of the important aspects of that
question This relation was summed
up by President Nicholas Murray But
Ter, of Columbia University, in saying:
What science and practical life alike
need is not narrow men, but broad men
sharpened to the point"
THE advance made in the present
decade in the subject of education for
railroad service is very surprising to
those who may not be informed" says
Mr.. Ea ton. Ideas of practical men on
the subject are now less indefinite and
conflicting. The relation between edu-
cation and efficiency in railroad service
is coming to be generally conceded
The large educational value of the rail-
road service itself is, being turned to
systematic practical account, and the
value of educa tional agencies in pre-
pairing for specific industrial efficiency
is better understood
Two Million Men Employed.
The railroad service in the United
States will shortly reach a total of
100000 men. 1t is the largest and
most highly organized example of as
sociate effort in an epoch conspicuous
for industrial and commercial concen-
tration. Education in a broad sense
must always be a large factor
In the course of railroad develop
ment there was a first era. which was
the era Of railroad building. There was
next an era of CO. ordination of the
railroad service to the commercial and
financial conditions as a whole with
which the railroads were called upon
to deal.
Next came the era Of Internal adj
justment on the physical and mechani-
cal side perfection of the machinery,
cutting down grades, strengthening
bridges. increasing the train unit. And
now has come the era of sociological
adjustment. The human part of the
machine is quite as vital as the steel
and wooden part in producing efficien-
cy and so in increasing the income.
"The most practical and efficient rail-
road manager today is now squarely
up against the problem which he is
attacking in one form or another. of
education, of himself, his staff, the in
dividuals in the rank and file, and the
rank and file as a whole. This is the
last and highest and most comprehen-
sive stage of the function of admins
trations 1t implies, for instance. an
eager. resourceful, self-respecting in
dividual thruout the working force CO.
ordinated with a keen appreciation of
the social character of the work, which
expresses itself in loyalty not to
person OF. a local group, but to the in
come account of the railroad-nor vet
/ to one income account, but to the ag-
| gregate of the income accounts of sew
| eral years. These income accounts
showing steady, healthy growth over
several years, become at the same time
the terms Of largest service to the com
munity, the stakeholder and the in1i-
vidual employee.
"A not of warning may at this time
seem to be premature. but certain tend
encies are already foreshadowed which
should not go unchecked When the
railroad manager comes fully to realize
how his new found tool Of education
enables him to shape almost absolutely
to his purposes the working body, there
may arise the danger that railroad
specialization in education be carried
too far.
IF the railroads, when they come
very generally to instruct their en-
ployes. turn their back upon the pro-
fessional teacher, severely divorcine
their work in subject matter and in
method form and at the same time
substituting it for the work of the reg
ular established educational agencies
of the grammar school and high school,
grades, the result can only be what
the psychologist calls arrested develop
ment' for the learner
Railroads as a whole, thru a repre-
sentative body such as the American
Railway Association, should in a com
prehensive way take up the matter OF
the education of railroad employees. A.