The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-02-06
EVER TIGHTER
GROW RAILROAD
RESTRICTIONS
PITTSBURGH AND LAKE ERIE
FIRES MANY MEN FOR Off
DUTY DRINKING.

certain correspondent of the Lib
eral Advocate announces that ne
writ to his congressman. General
Sherwood. asking the names of the
various railroads asserted by Captain
Hobson to forbid the use of intoxtcat-
ing beverages by their employees.
General Sherwood replied: Il ex-
pect that the sentence referred to is
merely a statement to strengthen his
(Hobsons) arguments, as there is no
record any place Of the fact that l can
find"
We hasten to the rescue of the cor
respondent and General Sherwood.
Dispatches of the week bring the fol-
lowing information:-s.s
1.-THE Pittsburgh and Lake Erie rail-
road, a subsidiary Of the New York
Central, on January nth summarily
dismissed 1913 employees reported to
have disobeyed recent general order
against drinking ON duty or Off"
Colonel Henry l.. Stone. general
counsel of the Louisville and Nashville
, railroad, In letter to the Methodist
Temperance society, says: I'm the
fiscal year ending June 80, 1912, for
1854 miles Of railroad in the United
States there were 1,690,709 employees
representing 95 per cent of all the
mileage of railroads In the United
States who came under the general
rule:
THE use of intoxicants by en-
ployes while on duty is prohibited.
where they are sold is sufficient cause
for dismissal
There are in the files of the
Temperance society letters from all
of the leading railroads of the United
| States. asserting that this rule Is Wig
| orously followed up and enforced.
This enforcement has been especially
rigid since the famous Lackawanna
wreck. on July 4, 1912, when william
| Schroeder, engineer, celebrated indie
| penderSce day with one drinkonly
! one. Schroeder was a reliable man
| with twentythree years of good SER
| vice behind him. Possibly he had
read glowing accounts of how France
and Germany have solved the liquor
| problem with beer and wine. Pos
| siby he had been converted to the be-
| lief that temperance was not absti-
hence, but moderation. Anyway, his
| state of mild responsibility. brought
on by one drink destroyed a hun
dred thousand dollars worth Of prop
erty and plunged hundred homes
into mourning
To quote further from Colonel Stone,
of the Louisville and Nashville rail-
| road:
"All employees in train service are
required TO make written application
containing this pledge:
"I hereby apply for a situation
! as. land, II accepted, agree.
to abstain from the use Of intoxicat-
ing liquors, and to avoid saloons or
places where liquor is Sold
I'm the agreement between the COM
pany and its locomotive engineers and
firemen is the following provision:
Engineers or firemen drinking in
toxicating liquor on duty, or allowing
It to be drunk on the engine, or being
under its influence on or off duty, or
frequenting places where 1t is sold
will be dismissed from the service of
the company
Likewise In the agreement between
the company and its conductors
brakemen, firemen and baggagemen
Is the following clause:
ANY train employe drinking intoxi-
cants on duty, or being under Its in
fluence on or off duty, will be dis
missed from the service Of the COM
pany.'
I'm the company's bylaws. under
the head of General Regulations the
following requirement applies to all
of it's employees:
No person addicted to the use of
hie"N'NaS'HS vi Inns. -. siiall US Ell
ployed or continued In the service of
the company
THE number OF the Louisville and
Nashville railroad company's en-
ployes to whom the foregoing rules
apply, as reported to the Interstate
Commerce commission OF June 80,
1910, was 32,232''
Colonel Stone continues: I'm the
Interest of and for the protection of
human life and property. the saloon
has expressly and definitely placed
under the ban Of the steam railroad
companies in this country. and the
doors Of employment in their service
have been firmly shut In the faces of
all those who have become the vic
Tins or habitues Of that unmitigated
curQa M rncHarp s{,,iIi1a<i