Norwich bulletin., 1913-06-20

fore the joint inquiry before the In terState Commerce Commission ant the Connecticut Public Utilities com mission into the fatal express wrecl at Stamford came to a close this af Iernoon, General Manager Clinton l. Rardo of the New Haven road made statement, denouncing the method. used by the railroad mems organiza tions, as tending to break down tn, discipline on the road.
 He had taken the witness stand t( explain the agreement between the road and it's employees concerning the promotion of firemen to be engineers The agreement contains the rules as to hours of service, pay, etc. Under this agreement, spare engineers shal be run first in and out, so far as pos sible with the requirements of the ser vice, and. when engineers are assigned to temporary vacancies they shall re- main on the same. provided they are competent, until the regular engineer returns.''
 Engineers Protested Against Order.
 During the time this rule was in ef- feet. which was for years. said MT, Bardo, the promotion of firemen to the position of engineer was comparative 1y slow; thaI is to say they served a longer apprenticeship as fireman than they do now. Therefore they were better qualified. When Mir Bardo came to the road last February, an or der had been issued by a former gen. erai manager, to the effect that spare engineers who had had less than two years rating as engineers would not be allowed on through passenger trains, and that spare engineers with less than one years experience would not be allowed to run local passenger trains. This order was sent out and it was protested by the engineers.
 Engineers Amendment Accepted.
 conference was held and after ne- EotiationS extending over some weeks, the organization presented an amend ment to the order, reading that no en- Eineer who has less than one years roster rating as an engineer shall be allowed to run through passenger trains. Although not satisfactory, the rule was accepted, said MT. Bardo, as We were just getting our service on its feet, and l thought it was a step in the right direction"
 Then MT. Bardo entered into long statement of conditions on the New Haven He said when he came to be general manager. the train service was bad. and things generally were out of gear
 Cant Understand Changed Conditions.
 He, with other company officials, went to the lodge meetings of the men and talked over the situation. At an engineers meeting, we made an effort to find what had crept into our en- Eineers, and some of our forces em- ployed on trains" Up until a year and a half ago, he declared, the ser vice on the New Haven, from the standpoint of safety, compared with any railroad in the country, and he was at a loss to understand the change in conditions.
 After explaining that although En- Eineer Doherty of the colliding train in the wreck. had been considered com petent, he now knew that his ejudg- ment was bad-unjustif1ably bad.P He could not conceive how an engineer could do what he did
 Then MT. Bardo launched out into this statement. delivered with great earnestness:
 Railroad Manager Should Not Be
 Coerced.
 a-The general manager of a railroad should have the power to say what is right and wrong. and he should have the power to enforce what he says He cannot have the power if the (railroad) organization is going to point the pistol at him every time he attempts to do something which he knows. from his own best judgment, is the right thing to do.
 ~It is time that the public under stands that this question of railroad safety is one in which they are vftally interested, and if they are going to in- fiuence, If they are going to swerve; :; if they are going to have their minds fnfiamed and distorted by the news paper articles which have been pub lished in connection with this inves- tigation-if they are going to believe that kind of stuff, then they must ex- 7ect. If the standard of fitness they have set LID. that they are not going to ~1~ rnrr -fr-r for
 Small Per Cent. Makes All Trouble.
 There is a certain percentage of men in every organization-it may be five and 1t may be ten-who are going to take advantage of everything of that kind they can hear Of, and 1t IS that percentage of men to a, very large degree that contribute or create all of the unpleasant and undesirable things that take place in connection with the dealings of an organization anc us employers. The 90 per cent of the men mean to do what is right. It is the ten per cent. that keep everybody out
 The criticism which this railroad has passed under in the last year and a half. is enough to break down the discipline and the esprit de corps of any organization that ever lived. You cannot expect, if you are going to crit icise a railroad as this road has been criticised, but what that criticism is going to reach into the ranks. It is going to result in disloyalty. 1t is go- ing to result in insubordination. There is no use of talking, when a man sees that the man he is working for is be- ing criticised, he has got an axe to grind. and necessarily he Is on the other side of the fence.
 Public Must Take a Hand.
 ~Ehen the time comes if we are going rp have proper operation on these roads. the public must take a hand In ff and the men who are doing the work as far aae safety and maintenance of cur trains are concerned must un- derxfa1a they are working for the pub- lie They age not working for the rsilroad nor are they going to stay there simply because somebody says We =iils keep you there if ws ean.'
 fl hzre erery confidence personally i'm ffae men on the New Haven raii- read l believe in ttr1p, but WIS have got to do something which is gcirg fo prt down the bnre on this auss- ton Of discipline; or tnis question of having somebody other than the man who is in his final analysis going 10 be to say whether John Jones