The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-08-03
RAILROAD NEWS.
Frank FARRELL and His College
Rail Essays"
Santa Fe Man Furnishes Mate
rial to Students.
RELATION OF WORK
Respective Policy of Freight and
Passenger Officials.
/ 4 =
RELATION OF WORK
Other Items of General Interest
in Traffic World.

III 1Tdl11C w OFIUs
I F. farrell. publicity agent of the
Santa F'e at Topeka, has added new
feature to his department. FARRELL has
donned the cap and gown of a college
professor and in profound orations and
essays he writes of railroad problems
and the relation between the railways
and the dear people
Every college and every high school
has its prize debaters. In this day and
aga debates upon economical matters
appeal TO the more practical. The
problem of railroads, their power, their
influence and their relation to the gen.
eral public is a favorite subject.
Every day the Santa Fe general Of
hcials in Topeka receive questions on
railroad matters from students. But
the officials have little time to exploit
their own wrongdoings and since the
establishment of the publicity agency
under Frank farrell they have turned
over their requests to him.
Publicity Agent farrell calls his
stenographer to his side. pounds his
fists on his desk. waves his hands in
the air. throws back his head of long
hair and dictates essays arguments
and orations that call forth applause
from the college auditoriums.
Here is a sample of one of them
This United States is peculiarly a
country in which public opinion is all
powerful. legislatures elected by the
people enact laws which public opinion
favors. n change in the mind of the
whole people if rooted and persistent
may lead to a modification of the con-
stitution itself.
The development of the corporate
era has wrought changes in the indus
! trial and commercial structure which
| have been accompanied by disturbance
/ in the popular mind. This disturbance
was focused first upon the corporations
cd nc af,V-fea f1o
railroads.
TO comprehend his it is necessary
| to examine the points at which the
public and the railroads come in con-
tact, to have some understanding of
the railroad mind and of the popular
mind. 1t is not meant by this that
| there is a definite body of conceptions
peculiar to all of those who are en-
gagged in the railroad service. nor a
distinct body of conceptions held by
all of those who are not.
The freight service is the most i'm
portant work of the railroads. Although
it affects the whole population. that in
fuence in but small proportion is
| through the immediate personal ship
ment or receipt of freight. OF the 80
| million persons not directly dependent
upon the railroads, perhaps so million
more. or less are women and minors,
and very few of these have more than
infrequent occasion to avail themselves
| directly Of the freight service. Even
of the remaining 20 million or so male
adults it is but a small proportion that
have more than infrequent occasion to
avail directly of tie freight service, to
make a freight shipment in person or
| in person to pay a freight bill That
this is so is evident upon brief ref1ec-
| ton In mill or factory il is the ship
ping and receiving clerks that handle
bills of ladin" and sign invoices Of
| freight received. 1t is the traffic rep
| resentative or a member of the firm
who looks after the freight rates.
Even in & great manufacturing center
the number of factories is very small
| in proportion to the number of en-
ployees and the other inhabitants who
know next to nothing about freight
shipments and rates of freight. 1t is
likewise with the wholesale stores in
the great commercial centcrs. In the
smaller cities and towns where the low
ratio Of the number of shops and
stores to the number of Inhabitants is
apparent it is evident that freight bills
are paid by but few
Know Little About Freights.
I'm the farming regions the condi-
tions are becoming similar The farm
er Of a previous generation usually
shipped the products of his farm on
consignment to a principal market, but
| it is becoming more and more the Gus
| tom for large operators in grain. in
I meats ana in cotton, to make their
I
| through their representatives VINO also
/ arrange for the transportation. The
multitude Of wage and salary earners,
and of what are known as the pro-
| fessional classes seldom make or re-
ceive shipment of freight: they have
little or no immediate personal know
ledge of freight rates and classical
tions.
ut is otherwise with the passenger
| service, but the situation is not so radi-
cally different as at first might be sup
posed A general passenger agent Of
experience and discernment once esti-
mated that the travelling in the United
| States is done by about 5 per cent of
| the population. Men engaged in large
enterprises have frequent occasion to
| travel, especially between the great
! centers. Representatives of concerns
engaged in the buying and selling of
material. commodities and merchandise.
spend a great deal of time 'on the road
as do theatrical companies and other
| organizations that find their clientele
in divers and separate communities 1t
is only the more or less we'll to do that
make extended pleasure trips even so
often as once a year. People of mod
crate means go on occasional excur-
sions or now and then make visits II
relatives and friends within what is
usually rot a very extended radius
There is a certain flow of laborers from
one place to another. but they are fire.
auently under tne immediate guidance
of an employer or his representative
who arranges for their transpOr ,at1or
ana pays their fares. The great residue
of the population travel but little"
LOOKS LIKE UNION PACIFIC.
Midland Valley Employees Checks
Signed by Z. P. Officials.
Mcpherson. Kan Aug 3-That the