The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-22
RAILROAD NEWS.
Officials Give Out All Informa-
tiOn on Wrecks.
Old "Tight-News'' Ideas Have
Been Abandoned.
DOOR is WIDE OPEN
Erstwhile Peevish General Man
ager Is Now Genial.
Other Items of General Interest
in Traffic World.

The old idea held by the railroad
school of the past that all informa-
! ton concerning wrecks and accidents
should be kept from the newspapers
and the public, has been abandoned.
Now days when newspaper man
steps into the office of the busy gen
eral manager and asks for informa.-
ton on a reported smash-up the Off
ciaI reads to him the dispatches that
he has received from the sce.ae of the
wreck.
Two examples or this advanced step
| in the relation between the railroads
and the public are on hand in Topeka.
The last two weeks have set forth
proofs of how railroad men have been
reconciled to the fact that straight
from the shoulder statement is all to
their advantage.
For instance:
Wednesday noon Rock Island
train went into the ditch at McF7ar-
land, Kan. A special filled with ply
sicians and officers of the road flew
from Topeka to the scene of the
wreck. And the newspaper reporters
flew to the office of the general man
ager.
In the old days the face of a news
paper reporter in the outside" office
of the general manager would have
| been a sign for action-on the part of
the G. M. Iron clad rules were out
against the newspaperman who dared
| the road had a train in the ditch.
/ Wednesday it was different.
The assistant to the general man
/ ager-the general manager was in the
wreck-Was debating a message TO.
| his head office in Chicago when a
inewspaperman arrived. Instead of
glaring at his stenographer and turn
ing his back on the news hunter the
J official continued his dictation-the
I dictation of a message that told all
In a1fE If 10
Then turning to the reporter he
said:
Did you get that?"
And all the newspaperman didn't
get the official repeated
/ Then after the claim agent had COW
cred the scene and had obtained the
| complete list of the injured the off
cial turned it over without whim-
per to the newspapers.
And the editors of the newspapers
| who were reporters in the old days,
and who were used to dealing with
| the old ideas in railroad offices shook
/ their heads and vowed that the sal
airy of the railroad reporter should be
raised.
Another instance:
The Santa Fe had a wreck out in
New Mexico. Their fast California
limited hit a light engine.
Associated Press dispatches from
the scene of the wreck said that the
ton on the seriousness of the acct
dent. But it happened the Officials
mentioned were not real officials after
ALL
The Santa Fe headquarters offices
: in Topeka heard of the refusal of the
employees in New Mexico. They
stormed.
Wait a few minutes said the as
sistant to the general manager when
the newspaper reporters fIocked
} around his desk. "I'1I get the informa-
ton for YOU
And in fifteen minutes every detail
of the wreck was given out from the
operating heads themselves.
Some people think it is only to the
advantage of the newspapers-this
change in policy 1t is true that the
newspaper boys appreciate and vel
come information of this kind-but
there is a railroad side.
Referring back to the wrecks men
toned:
The first reports of the Rock Island
wreck stated that several people were
killed. That the vice president and
general manager were fatally injured
and that the train was burning.
If the newspapers heard these re-
ports few years ago and the railroad
officials refused to make any state
ments whatever, the average newspa-
per would have printed the entire
story as a rumor.
1t would have gone out over the
; country in this manner in glaring
/ headlines. The next day more would
} have been printed about it. And fin
ally after the story had been printed
every day over the country for a week.
Z the facts would be known. But the
reading public would still have in
mind the horrors of the first story
and the railroad would suffer.
AS it was the Rock Island officials
told every word as it came to them
officially and one or two stories COW
cred the wreck. And not a person
was killed-not even seriously in
jured.
It is like a Santa Fe official said
the other day:
Print everything we can get you
the first day-and the next day the
home team will win a doubleheader
and everybody will forget about it,
(Meanwhile the newspaper reporter
who convinces his editor that he has
done wonders in obtaining inside in
formation-this reporter will make no
complaint If his salary is raised.)