The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-09-18
FINLEY WRITES
TO THE ENGINEERS
Unable to Attend Birmingham
Meeting
RAILROAD MANS DUTY
President of Southern Points Out That
They Are All Employees and All
Working for Greater Eff
ficiency in Service

local committee of arrangements for
the convention of the Brotherhood of
| Locomotive Engineers, which meets
here next month, is considered by the
local engineers to be a gem of rare
character. In it he outlines the rela-
ton of the railway employee and good
service to the railroad and good pay.
He presents the engineer as a man en-
gagged in great and an honorable bus
mess, and holds up to them an ideal
| of duty.
President Finley will be unable to
attend the convention but the letter
will be read before the brotherho od
Here 1t is in full:
Mr.. Charles K. Hall, Chairman Finance
and Entertainment Committee,
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
and Womens Auxiliary. 1910 Third
Avenue, Birmingham, Ala:
Dear Sir-I have received your let
ter of the Goth ultimo, inviting me
to address the district conference of
the Brotherhood of Locomotive En-
gineers to be held in Birmingham, &C.
tober 10 to 16 inclusive.
AS Mr.. Sewer has doubtless informed
you, have engagements for the week
| of your conference that will make 1T
| impossible for me to be in Birming
ham at that time. I appreciate, of
course, that you cannot change the
date of the meeting to suit my con-
| venience
| If circumstances were such as to en-
able me to do SO, I should be very glad
|
| ject suggested: Relations That Should
Exist Between Employer and Er1ploye."
This is a subject to which have given
much thought L am Convinced that the
ultimate interests of employer and en-
| ploye are in many ways identical, and
| that the prosperity of each depends,
In very large measure. upon the main
tenance of harmonious relations and
cordial cooperation between them.
In a railway organization it Is Gus
| tomary to speak of officers and en-
| ployes as distinct classes, but there
is no exact line of demarkation EN-
ployes are constantly being advanced
to the grade of officers and In the
broad sense of the word, we are all
employees" and are all engaged, in
our respective capacities, in carrying
on the great work of transportation.
The railroads, though privately
owned, are, in a sense, public high
ways. 1t follows, therefore, that we,
as railway employees, owe duties to the
public as we'll as to the companies
| by which we are employed. Our duties
| to the public are to make our service
as efficient as possible and to deal
justly, imNartially, and courteously
with all our patrons. Our duties to
| our companies are to serve them loyal
| 1v utmost pfflCienCY.
striving at all times to secure the best
possible net results.
| This is not only our duty, but 1T is
to the individual interest of each one
| of us, for the earnings of the rail-
ways constitute the funds from which
our wages are paid, and paying
power can be maintained at high
| level only when the companies are
prosperous. This is illustrated by the
present situation. In recent months sub
stantial advances have been made in
| the wages of most classes of railway
| employees. These advances will call for
| very large aggregate increases in the
| total wage payments of the companies
1t follows that each individual en-
| ploye is interested In the ability of
the company by which he is employed
| to maintain these higher wages. He
can aid in this by making his indi-
vidual work as efficient as possible and
by cooperating loyadly and intelligent
ly with all the officers and employees
of his company to make its service
| efficient and its operation profitable.
He can also aid by helping to bring
about a better understanding of the
true interest of the public in the rail-
WAYS of the country. l believe that
If all of us who are employed by rail-
WAYS would embrace every proper OPP
portunity to point out to our associates
and to those with whom we have bus
mess dealings the Importance to them,
individually, of adequate and efficient
transportation facilities and of railway
wage-paying and purchasing power, we
would, in a comparatively short time,
hiring about a more favorable public
attitude toward the industry upon
which we depend for our living. We
would hear much less opposition to
the railways being permitted to charge
| rates that are reasonably compensatory
lif every merchant who sells to rail-
way employees and their families, ev-
ery farmer landlord, manufacturer, and
| professional man realized the extent
| to which, directly or indirectly, his
prosperity is dependent upon the abil-
| ity of the railways to maintain their
wage paymentC and to buy the great
| variety OF COMMUNITIES VI dll klnuS
used in railway construction ond oper
| alton
In the section of the country rep
resented by your district conference
these tiers have come to be much
better understood within the past few
years, and there is much less unrea-
| soning denunciation of railways and
railway men. If, however, 1 had been
able to accept your invitation 1 should
like to have said to it's members that
we, railway employees of the United
States are engaged In great and hon
orable business, and that, without as
Stunning to be any better than our
neighbors-which we are Motive can
truthfully say that there is probably
no other business of any considerable
magnitude the managers of which de-
vote SO much attention, not only to
obeying the letter of the law, but to
doing what is ethically right and just,
as do the railway managers of the Unit
| ed States
Thanking you for your kind invi-.
| tation L am, yours truly,