New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-06-18
Unit System Inventor
Major Hine Tells How Hi
Plan Has Saved Time and
Efficiency for the Harri-
man Railway Lines.
By James Il. Morrow.

-HE leather-faced foreman of sail
road section called to man. say
l. ing: Here. drop that wheelbaTow
and take shovel What do YOU
know about machinery?
With this little fragment from the loud
monologues heard out on the tracks. Major
Charles Delano Ine illustrates the eco
nomic vice OF Overspeciaizauon. Man
he says, "exaggerates his speciality A
bookkeeper will stop work until an office
boy can he found TO FIJI his iAkstand. In
the government navy yards. until recently,
II carpenter needed a piece of IRON nc
would not borrow it of the machinist, but
would wait until it could he bough: and
brought I'm from outside.
Professionally, Major line is an organi-
cation expert-a specialist himself. Rail
roads. ordinarily. are his employers. bl.
he will work anywhere if the task IS big
enough for man of MS parts. Last sum-
mer he had desk at the White House
for two months. Half OF each year. how
ever. he exclusively gives TO the Hartman
lines out on the road and at terminals
and accounting centres. ] saw him just
after his return from Mexico, where ne
was called TO mOdernize the methods q
its great system Of goVernment-oNned
transportation. To-day he may be in New
York Tomorrow he may be in 81. Louis.
At the end of the week he may be on the
Pacific Coast. lie travels more than fifty
thousand miles a year, and his acquaint-
ance starts in the Offices of presidents ami
managers and extends 10 the men who run
the trains and keep the rights Of way free
from weeds and grass.
Efficiency, possibly. is an overworked
word. The Germans do not think So
Neither do progressive business men in the
United States. only an efficient army,
whether with guns or with pig icon, cot
ton. machinery, pork, beef wheat and corn
can win the battle for which II was trained.
Major Hine is a military man-ne resigned
from the army to become brakeman.
What he might have done 70 "reraTe the
country against his enemies bearing arms
he is now doing agains; its competitors
for the trade OF the universe. While other
efficiency engineers are devlsins ms TO
produce cheaply. he is taking up the sla *
in conveyance 50 that bushel Of wheat,
a sheep or q steer may be hauled from
the West 10 the Atlantic seAboald without
any loss Of time in motion.
Edward H. Hartman" he sad 10 me,
was the Napoleon Il railroads He had
70 predecessor and he viii never have a
successor. julius kruttschnitt. director Of
maintenance and Opefat ion of the Hart
man system-tnc linton Pacifc, the Oregon
Short Line. the Oregon Railroad * Nav
igation Company and ths Southern Pacific
is the Won Moltke of rail transportation
called ON him one day and explained
my unit plan of organization. Ne baggainod
the next day on the third day l started
for California. to De gone for six months
l didn't have time TO scn1 home for a,y
clothes. All the baggage l had was my
suitcase"
So began a revolution IN the way Of
Going things on one Of the worlds greatest
railroads But Hire had been soldier and
a yalise was as good As trunk. Si'cc
then he has put his scheme Of smplihca-
tion.into operation on twenty-throe of the
thirty-one divisions constituting the IIarii-
han sysem.
What Is the unit system for corpora
tions?' ] inquired
1T l. the abandonment Of awkward and
founds bout methods by which time s.
squandered and efficiency is impaired. 1t
gives the individual man a chance to think