The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-01
The "Hu,uan" Railroad Man.

The "Husnan' Railroad Man.
with the object Of making the rail-
road manager. the employee and the
public understand each other better.
Ivy l.. LEE. formerly an executive Of
ficer Of one of the greatest railroad
systems in the country, collects, IN
der the title of Human Nature and
Railroads &c. s. Nash and Company,
Philadelphia), a series Of addresses
that. without literary elaboration. pre-
sent a pretty complete statement of
the railroad problem" The public Is
reasonable. says Mr. Lee, and does not
expect the impossible. The man who
works for wages is fair. HE wants
to earn an honest days pay, and he
knows he can't be paid more thar his
work earns" But the public does not
understand the men who run the
railroads. 1T has come into contact
with some railroad men II doesn't APP
prove of. and 1t doesn't discriminate"
with reference to their attitude to-
ward the public the author classifes
railroad men in four categories: those
VINO believ the public has no right to
Know how the business is run: those
who think 1t makes no difference:
those who would welcome public inter-
est, but think it cannot be COM
manded. and those who desire such
interest and endcavor al once to
stimulate ard satisfy II. Railroad
mel have been standing aside, content
10 be Judged by the machines they
were running" They have failed TO
take cou Of fundamental currents
OF human nature which from time i'm.
memorial have been made the most
OF BY men who have influenced the
action OF Now the rail-
ROADS are In the midst OF a swirling
MOOD OF legislation and regulation.
most of IL punitive and restrictive
little OF 1t constructive and states.
manlke.' Last year in forty-two
state Legislatures 1896 bills regulating
railroads were introduced, and 23o OF
them were enacted.
railroad morality has been pretty
much the same as that of any Other
Dig business: railroad men have bee.,
neither worse nor better than the
average run OF people at any time
But this d~iagnostician finds three es-
sential evils which the public has
come TO believe to he 'embedded, in
the railroad business: payment OF diy.
ldends on wa;ered stock. rule" by.
wal street. n undue power" Mr..
CIinord Thorne. chairman OF the Iowa
Railroad Commission, whose ideas de-
serve attention only because of the in
huence which his office gives them
because unfortunately. they rep
resent the belief and intention OF a con-
siderable corpus of public sentiment.
said last March. referring to pub
Isned reports of railroad economies:
'Ihe discharge Of 10000 men sim
ply proves the colossal power OF a few
men that can throw 40. 1000 Door families
out OF the means of daily sustenanca."
That such stuffy ideas are mischief
ously widespread is evidenced by the
letter which MI. Lee received from
the head Of the school of finance and
business administration OF a large uni
versity,' to WHOM he had written that
he wanted one OF their best men TO
put on the railroad. The collegian
wrote back: 81 have been talking viii
a lumber Of the more intelligent grad
yates and ! find that the average man
does not feel any inclination to go into
the railroad business to-day" II that
really reflects the state of public mind
we shall have to alter our Impression
that Mr.. Lee defends his former pro-
~fession with almost too much zeal, ex-
a~Sgregating the other side.
The trouble Is largely "psychologi-
car; definite and real enough, but
spr1nging from misunderstanding and
from neglect TO combat the spread Of
false impressions. Some phrases help
to magnify and perpetuate these
errors. THE labor people were
very happy in their selection OF the
term full crew law. II we had re-
ferred to that from the beginning as
extra crew we would have made
considerably more Roadway" The
phrase what the traffic will bear"
has done harm. because it's popularity
accepted co~nnotation is "all' the traffic
VIII bear, So Mr.. Lee urges the rail-
road men TO watch the publicity" de-
partment closely. and see tina the
little, intimate human occurrences
are made known, as well as matters
OF policy and the statistical records.
Last winter the general manager Of
one railroad sent a notice to the track
foremen telling them that the track
workers ought to have ear mufiers
and ordering that special precautions
be taken to warn the men OF the ap-
proach OF trains. A little thing like
that does more to set and keep the
railroad right" with the public than
tables of statistics. To the accusation
OF Wall Street dominance no long and
labored argument can give so effective
IA reply as the simple statement of the
number Of individual small lot share
holders.
country, last spring, about sl2, 900 600.
The Pennsylvania system had to
charge about one-third of this sum
against its revenues. Fortunately
there was available a reserve fund sur
Plus: every well regulated railroad
should have it, and endcavors to keen
il up, but the accumulation is made
increasingly difficult by present day
legislation. Wages go steadily up; II
the Eastern railroads had paid in 1918
the same scale Of wages that they did
in 1910, the payment on this account
would have been $+S, 200, 900 less than
wage arb!trations have been productive
OF inequality between different classes
Of employees, Taxes rival wages in
aviation; in ten years they have adj
vanced, In the northeastern quarter
of the country, Ill per cent. "Ful
crew. or extra crew" laws have