Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-03-10

; Traffic Manager of the Pennsylvania
Railroad, made the following ADDRESS
before the Traffic Club of Baltimore
on "Confidence"-February 29,l9l6.
"Some time ago The Pennsylvania
Railroad displayed on bulletin boards
all over It's system large p s;ers asking
the people to give the Management
the t fl II their atvic4. The re-
%sponses to that bulletin were very
Interesting. A great many, of course,
dealt with some personal grievance,
but for the most part they showed a
most helpful spirit on the part OF the
publlc. The railroad issued that poster
in all seriousness, and 1t was met In
the same vein. This shows the public
is tolerant if it understands.
1--WE want the people along our ines
to know that the Pennsylvania Rail-
road is doing every thing it can to give
the best tervice possible and TO en-
courage the business of the territory
through which we operate. and of the
country at large. We want all the
ad vice and assistance we can get from
our people. We want the public to
understand, and to believe in, the
Mansg ment OF this Railroad. We
think they will, because the Manage
ment of The Pennsylvania Railroad be-
lieves in the public.
1.-THE thing that is needed in our
business life, and which L might say
has been lackingthe last few years, and
the thing which is particularly neces-
sary in the relations between the car
riers and the public, is confidence.
"The railroad companies have been
urged to take the public into their con-
fdente, but they can't take the public
into their confidence until the public
has confidence in them. / have tried
it and | know.
"You tell a man your cards are all
on the table and try to take him into
your confidence, but unless he has con-
fidence in you he suspt cts that there
are some aces up your sleeve.
"The first step in mutual confidence
between the carriers and the public 10
to restore the public's confidence in the
carriers. | realize perfectly that the
public's lack of confidence in the rail-
roads has been more or less justified ia
the past, due TO the practices of the
carriers, but let by cones be by-gones.
We must look ahead, not behind, 1t
is unfair to refer continually to the
abuses of times gone past, i'll an effort
to keep alive hostility toward the rail-
roads.
"There is still too much of an effort
to make personal capital out of throw
ing rocks al a railroad; it is a cheap
amusement, and often it wins the plau-
dts of the multitude, but is it fair :?
L. it conducive to the restoration of
mutual confidence, which I believe is
SO necessary in solving the railroad
problem?
"Our railroad company must have
rules and regulations, which we try to
make as fair and reasonable as we can
to the greatest number; these rules and
regulations will always, in instances,
bear hard on some particular situation,
and may seem unjust and on
able, but under the law these rules and
regulations must be non-dIscriminatory
and must apply to everyone alike.
1--WE are sitting up nights, trying to
frame all our rules to be fair to every
one. We want 10 run the railroad so
as to make the greatest number of
friends aud the smallest number of
enemies.
"We are now in the midst of a very
trying freight congestion, nece~ssitatlng
placing embargos today aid lifting
them tomorrow. Many people prob
ably think us mean and arbitrary,
some times, in placing these restric-
tons, but they wouldn't If they knew
how we are working TO protect the in
terest OF the shippers, especially those
local to our own lines. Our purpose is
a selfish one, II admit. We want to
make friends of our patrons. That
mean more patrons and more money.
III sometimes wonder if people real
ize how a railroad such as ours is being
ground continually between the upper
and neither m~illstones. Baltimore
wants something and tells us what
great things we are doing for Phila-
delphis and New York. Philadelphia
wants something and her papers chide
is about favoring Baltimore and New