Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-05-26

and tie skin required = become 4
successful engineer IS e less ssan
hat demanded OF ; competent dentist
Of an able LAWYER
Engineers Responsibility kNesedS
Deeter's
II Is a. aSiem Of secial justice that
the payment received Ter any service
should DEFEND in part upon the re.
spanSih.lity involved. The skilled sar-
reon Is certainly entitled = , greater
compensation than the wanlSn Aho
gaaps ID the hospital aaans. In no
ather profession il the world. not
even excepting the medical profession.
Is man entrusted ~ith greater re
sponsihility fer the lives q his fellow.
men than is the engineers N the lee0-
motive cab. How Vel he discharges
this obligation Is Indicated BY the
report = the Interstate Commerce
Commission for 1927. which shows
that fatalities On American railroads
are less than for the past % years.
ii. 23a.77l passengers being carried 10
one killed. Whenever wreck does
occur II is the men uho run the trains
and net the passengers who usually
pay the price. Indeed. the serupulouS
carefulneSs Of engine and train serv.
ice employees Is such that enc imnof-
tant transportation line carrying So
n00, O0o persons a year has not fatally
injured enc passenger in more than
four years. There are 81 times as
many people killed BY automobiles in
the United States, according 20 the
1920 census, as there are passengers
killed on the railroads. The law rec
agnizeS the great responsibility FOR
human life entrusted 10 the engineer,
and holds him strictly accountable for
lis exercise. There Is grim truth in
the lest that il doctor makes mis-
take he buries IL. but ii an engineer
makes a mistake, he goes 10 jail Tor
IL. Train service employees are obliged
To perform their work with dlligensc
which precludes the possibility Of
carelesSness or negligence.
An engineer is not only responsible
fer the lives placed in his care, but
also for the millions Of dollars worth
of railroad property which he handles
every month of his service. President
M. c. Byers of the Western Maryland
Railroad recently stated: AN engi-
neer running train OF 1870 coal cars
virtually mas ptNtto0'fVNN WIN ~
property in his care, ard for this rea-
son, IL no other, the members of the
Brotherhoods should have compare
lively high wages
Low Wages Will Demorallse Trans
portation System.
IL the American people permit the
wages of railway employees TO be
beaten down in order To pay dividends
on railway stocks, which have been
VIGOROUSLY watered. the people them
selves viii be the losers. Railroad
service demands an exceptionally high
degree of skill, carefulness, and re-
sponsibility. Wages paid in this serv-
ice must be sufficient To secure the
very best human material. Low wages
will Inevitably demoralize our trans
portation system. The actual figures
presented by the Railroad Labor
Board prove that even the most
skilled railroad employees are not over
paid, and that many of them are re-
ceiving less than the clerks In dry
goods store. Finally, the railroads
themselves would ppptit il they would
devote less effort To beating down
wages To the lowest possible level and
little more effort to cultivating the
good will of their employees.