Semi-weekly herald., 1914-01-05
30 ~ to avoid damage;

performance Of their respective dut-
les.
How has it worked out in practi-
cal operation Recently the supply
department Of the Pennsylvania cut
down its acquisitions ten per cent.
Perhaps cooperative economy is the
best way of designating this new
method of railway management
Without cooperation among the men
lit would not work. To save nickel
or dime day for the company,
each man must be shown that he is
|capitalized along with the rest of the
railroad property for a certain sum,
and il he is any use he must earn in
terest on that capitalization.
A big railroad management of an
eastern road took tbs men into his
confidence by addressing them in this
wsy, by personal interviews and
spesch when he could, and by letters
and circulars Then the former was
impracticable:
How much are you capitalized at?
Do you know? II not, stop minute
to figure it out. If you're getting
a salary of fifteen hundred dollars,
your capital value is thirty thousand
dollars, and you've got to earn five
per cent on that or drop to lower
capitalization. II you're earning on
iy eight hundred dollars a year, it is
because you have failed to earn five
per cent on any greater amount.
There is one sure way of getting out
Of the lower wage class. Raise your
capitalization! How? Show us that
you're earning more than five per
cent on your present rated capitah-
zation. Hereafter wages are going to
be based on this Individual cap
italization."
A concrete illustrations: A station
agent at salary Of sixty dollars a
month had record of wasting the
company's money through careless
ness or run of bad luck. Freight
consigned to or shipped from his
point had way of meeting accidents
that caused lot of damage suits.
The man was cautioned, warned, and
finally peremptorily fired.
Another took his position, with a
warning that he would meet similar
fofo ;f ho did NOT lnnt aftor tho ann,
pany's interests with greater care. He
made two years clean record, and
his capitalization went up to sixteen
thousand dollars; another year it was
advanced to eighteen thousand dollars
as the result of his earning capacity
Then came letter couched in these
words:
We cannot pay more than 5000 at
X. The business there will not war.
rant it. But we consider you worth
more than 5000 year, and you are
hereby transferred to W, with sal.
ary of $1,000.
The station agent who mishandles
q broom and wears it out beating the
dog or using it for baseball bat is
the same man who roughly handles
the freight and express packages, and
lays the foundation for endless dam
age suits. He also leaves the sta
tion with the drafts all turned on the
stove so that it consumes twenty per
cent more coal than actually needed,
and if by chance there is wind blow
ing through the room it is his lamp
chimneys that are always cracked by
it or blown off.
An employee can cost a railroad
more than his wages amount to thru
failure TO observe the rules of econ
omy. A fireman for instance, will
pile the coal SO high on his tender
that many big Jumps will be jolted Oft
as the engine rounds sharp curves or
jumps across switches. 1t doesn't
take many big Jumps of coal to make
a hundred pounds, and every hundred
pounds equals in cost the hauling of
one ton of freight twenty miles.
An engineer can economize on oil
in way that will make tremendous
difference in the final cost to the
road. A gallon of engine oil equals
in cost the hauling of ton of freight
fifty miles; gallon of car oil thirty
miles; and gallon of valve oil nine
ty miles. "How many gallons can
you save year," is the question put
up TO the engineers.
Trifles begin to assume the import
ance of big things when you multiply
them enough times. A gallon of oil OF
a shovel of coal saved here and there
will soon pay the wages of an extra
man. Fifty shovels of coal used un-
necessarily on trip means that the
company will have to haul an extra
ton Of freight two hundred miles to
pay for it.
An engineer can rough-handle his
engine so that he will not only waste
steam. and hence fuel, but he can jolt
and jar the locomotive so that the
mechanism will soon give out. Re.
wards are today offered on dozen
different roads TO engineers and fire
men WIN mai ka their revnIar trims mn