The Wilmington morning star., 1945-10-10
Fair Enough
Nv wEsTBROOK PEGLER

w. 10 nassenoers for suggestions as to how
the railroads should be run anu ooserVe
that the New York Central IS DONG tne same.
It appears that the railroads, SeheraAy' ap-
prehend that the public Will feIleiiiDei u,e
discomforts of travel during the war ana mold
drudge and. possibly, take to the buses or
planes. although, at the worst, the clVlnans
in the Pullmans had only to LOOK Out the
windows at the troop trains or recan' II tiey
had any experience in European traVel' the
margin of our worst over Europes pest IN
normal times to realize how well OH we were.
I think the new salesmanship OF the rail-
roads in the passenger department., goes IN
for little 100 much hand-hololhg anu oaoy
kissing and is attempting the lmposslOle' Alt
er all, the 1irst and final purpose Oh uie lall-
road is to take the passenger sa1ely from
here to there and it never Will be aple TO
provide the luxury of mansion lie IN the
cramped quarters of train. Not many OF US
are accustomed to luxury at homes anyway
and if. the railroads give us just comfort
safety and privacy for those VINO IKE IT, we
should be willing to settle Tor tnat. 1here are
gregarious souls, however, VINO IKE W Stilhe
up conversations and discover that 1t IS
small world after all so it will not do to
abolish the open car. Such passengers get
claustophobia in the cells, however soft the
beds and chairs and pretty the tones of the
upholstery.
One error of our railroad people up to the
time of Pearl Harbor was that IN some hauls
they were trying to compete WIN the planes
in speed. They went too fast, ana Whatever
statisticians may say in decimal polnts ABOUT
the casualty rate per million passenger miles,
when an engineer sleWs the dishes of the
tables and rolls the guests In their Dunks on
the curves he is going too fast They were
doing that every day and night and the ex-
preience is not only uncomfortable but IN
flood season, when the ground is spongy and
the road-bed is working, it is alarming as
well.
I hope thew will be able to assure us soon
that their regular, professional operating
crews are back and that the old sense OF
responsibility, the caution and alertness mat
had come to be characteristic, will be re-
vived. You lust can't run railroads safely
with casuals in the crews and it takes years
of training and experience to teach man
that an act of monkey business that might
be harmless in a factory or an office may
cause a terrible smash somewhere out in the
wilds.
I suspected that dumb carelessness or 1azi-
ness was responsible tor several bad rear
end collisions within the last year or so and
could see no other explanation one day
when. on a single track line, where war
minutes apart, a passenger came up from
the last car laughing at wonderful joke on
our flagman The flagman had got down at
the last stop and had been left when we
pulled out We couldn't back up to get him
so the brakeman or conductor had to take
over and there was much argument as to
whether the engineer did or didn't get signal
that he was back aboard. Anyway, he wash t,
L4l frIr
Railroad men that know are just hell on
caution and that slogan "Safety first was
dinned into the very souls of the regular
crews, the best of whom not young. The
overland buses lack the same sense as many
of us have noticed in close scrapes with the
juggernauts in tight places, and In AVIATION
the passenger service is still to large ex-
tent in the hands of speculative promoters
preoccupied with politics, personal publicity
and night club life and without the tradition
or responsibility for human life that is always
in the mind of the railroad executive. Avi-
alton hasn't the maturity of the railroads in
the responsible brackets and both industries
know it.
year or so ago I was talking, or listen
ing, to Henry Kaiser and trying to keep him
on the subject of loW-lived hoodlum who
was running the United Auto Workers in
war plant that Henry had been asked to
straighten out Henry flaps around, and the
first thing knew he had fellow bring in
lot of pictures of the choo-choo car OF the
future, painted in beautiful colors, which
looked more like jobs for the n1illiners than
the steel workers. They certainly were pretty
and a passenger in that brave world OF the
future might feel that he was Vanderbilt
or Soviet commissar for day, amid SER
wants, heavy linen and crystal service: But
remembered what an old, practical railroad
man had told me about a small batch OF
candy cars that had been whipped up as an
experimental order which certainly were
great for style and beauty but sagged at the
ends so the couplings didn't meet
Me, 1 don't care whether the outside is
shiny, like new dime, and gaily striped 'ke
son-Writer's shirt or there are movies or
CAMERON in which to listen to radio CO.
medians from Hollywood playing gin and dis
cussing their fabulous earnings, if it stays on
the track and doesn't into the train ahead
or get hit by the one behind. IT. then, for
extra, they keep the air-conditionlng in
shape and shake together a fair supper and
the lights work, that will be just fine.
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