The sun., 1918-08-20
McAdoo's Lecture to some suilen
Railroad Men.

Mr.. McApoo's general order to
railroad employees on the subject OF
courtesy Is "a good piece" He serves
notice on the two millions that they
are not going to be permitted, even
IL they wished, to be sloppy or dis
obligng in their service to the nine
ty-eight millions just because the Gov
eminent Is running the railroads.
We do not believe that very
great percentage Of the two million
railroad employees are possessed by
the bad spirit which the Director
General strongly and justly con-
dennis. Conscience has the same
peaks and syalleys among railroad
men as among followers Of other vo'
cations. Yet, as Mr.. McADoo says,
he has heard complaints that the
public is not receiving as much cour-
tesy from railroad employees under
Government control as 1t got when
the railroads were run privately. The
shirker, whether he Is In the ticket
Office or in the freight house, NUT
tiers, in response to complaints OF de-
lays and incivilities. that Uncle SAM
Is running the railroads now" or
that "These are McADoo's orders"
Uncle SAM is indeed running the
railroads, and every American.
whether he uses the railroads or
works for them, should do everything
in his power to help him run them
well. They are the arteries OF war.
The man who hinders their operation
by being idle or impolite is a At com
panion for the holder German <xhQ
would derail train. The fact that
there is more than one opinion on the
broad subject OF Government control
has nothing to do with tho present
case. Those who object to that kind
of control may have their say when
the war Is over. Meanwhile America
is going to use the railroads to win
with. The public Is paying the sal
aries, recently raised, Of the rail-
road men, just as 1t Is paying the
expenses Of the war; and, as Mr..
McApoO remarks:
"'The public be damned policy will
In no circumstances be tolerated on the
railroads under Government control
1t would he we'll II the Director
General would have that piece Of wis.
dom printed on the pay envelopes Of
railroad men. 1t would look we'll on
a card inside Of every ticket otiics.
The meSaphone operators In passen-
ger stations might shout it once or
twice day 10 the gatemen. The
Government did not take over the rail-
roads for the benefit Of anybody but
the people Of the United States--the
same people who permitted Mr.. Nc
ADoo to increase the railroad mems
salaries by $475,OO0,000 year. Be-
sides this, the people are paying three
cents mile where they formerly paid
two cents. and they are paying rail-
road war taxes. They expect more,
rather than less. from the railroads
and the railroad employees.
Some railroads had fine personal
service before the day of Government
control, and some had sloppy service.
The railroads were not taken over
so that service like the Pennsylva-
MAS might be dragged down to the
level of the wretched service offered
by some badly managed railroads,
but In order that uniformly good SER
vice like that of the Pennsylvania
and other well managed lines should
prevail on all roads.
Mr.. MCADoo's statement that "every
employee who is discourteous to the
public Is helping partisan or
selfish interests to discredlt Govern
ment control Of railroads" does not 70
far enough. The evil wrought is
more than that. The wrongdoer is
helping 10 discourage and delay a
public whose whole energy Is directed
toward the winning OF the war.