New Britain Herald Newspaper, November 7, 1918, Page 5

PUBLIC BE PLEASED, to Give Satisfaction. By Theo. II. Price, Actuary to 1 States Rallroad Administra- on.) Washington, Nev. 7.—As you fall «oncernedly asleep in a Pullman which, with all its drawbacks, is least uncomfortable means of 1 -#vsling at night on land that has as been devised, dld you ever reflect on the number of persons and the ‘o piagity of the organization upon viiich yeu are dependent for the safe- d luxury in which you are able 1o your journey? The engineer the fireman, the conductor and brakemen, the Pullman conduc- nd the porter, the steward in the in France and on the high seas can not be adequately supported unless the rallroads supply sufficlent trans- | portation for the movement of troops RAILROAD SLOGAN and war materials and to keep the war industries of the nation going without interruption. The next purpose is to serve the pub- lic convenience, comfort, and neces- sity to the fullest extent not incom- Every Enon Made b,‘] Employes | (I:fa,t'l:lewtlrth the paramount demands In order to accomplish this, criti- 1 cisms and suggestions from the public will be extremely helpful, whether they relate to the service rendered by emploves and officials or impersonal details that may convenience or in- convenience patrons of the railroads. It is impossible for even the most vigilant management to keep con- stantly in touch with local conditions | and -correct them when they are not as they should be unless the public will co-operate in pointing out defi- ciences and disservice when they ex- ist, so that the proper remedies may be applied. 1 have therefore established a Bu- reau for Suggestions and Complaints in the Director General's office at Washington, to which the public is invited to resort. Aside from letters of complaint iining car and the walters are all| ,nq guggestion the public can render inore or less in evidence, and of their @ regence and the service they render ‘ou may be more or less conscious, | rut behind them and directing their ctivities is an unseen host of others on whose vigilance in the perform- wnce of their duties your life and comfort depend. There is the train dispatcher and ne telegraph operators, the track- walker who patrols the right of wnv day and night, and the section sung who must always be ready to repair any defects, the switchmen, nd the inspector who used to go hout tapping the car wheels with his le hammer at the end of each «f the engine and the machinist who ! répairs it, the oar cleaners, the ice- | the commissary chief who pro- fops the dining cars, the fticket at 1nd the station master. the “red | and the baggagema it any | of these fails in hix anncinted . the passenger is almesi certain <uifce or be inconvenienced. Back ! again there used to be the | cecutive officers, the president, the ' and the 'superintendent, oreés of other functionaries who the objects of relentless public | if their subordinates were or inefficient. Now that the zre under the control of the ment the operative duties of ad president and the vice v evolve upon a Federal : ~ . and his agsistants. They are | i-n responsible to a regional di- tor, wio is/the representative of | (tor General McAdoo at Wash- | i stom: but in other respects the serating organization is not much nunged and, because some people, getting the exigencies of the war, \ssyme that the Government is om- nipotent, they arc now disposed to be | 1065 rather than less, exacting in depan ling perfection of service from | e machine that is cslled the Amer- railroad system. Composed, as machine iss of literally millions of yaechanizal parts whose functioning Gepends ugpon the co-ordinated | wat-hfulness and care of thousands | fallible human beings, it Is really \-prising that more accidents do not ¢ecur. ard that the reaction of man | upen man does not result in irritation ner than is the case. When we consider that a loose spike, a {efec- tive rail, a misplaced switch, or a i <enal tay precipitate a trainfoad of people into eternity, and that . an innumerable number of eptkeés, rails, switches, and signals, to | say riothing of the aii brakes, coup- {ig@s, electric wives, and steam and wafer supply pibes. wath:an -engine having about 15,000 separate parts ihat make up a passenger train must 2l be as they should be if we are to 4 teach our journcy’s end ‘successfully srid ‘on time, it is little short of mar- velous that travel 1s as safe as it has become, and that under the strain to which 1hey are subjected railroad em- ployees are not oftener careless and impatient. Jt is greatly to the credit 5f ‘the executive oficers who through \# Jiree generations had bullt up the labrie that is called the American cailroad system that they should have iucceeded in developing the esprit de -ofps by which the men under them were animated. This had been ac- somplished in the fac® of many aiffi- sulties, including especially a mass of nampering legislation in 48 different tes; and-when in order to meet he exigencies of the war, it became hecessary for the president to put the .ransportation agencies of the coun- Ty under the control of Mr. McAdoo, ais first eare was to preserve and in- ;rease the spirit of idealism in the serformance of their duty that was ‘haracteristic of the Americans who 224 become proud of being called ‘railroad men."” . i There were not wanting those who sredicted a speedy decline in what \ss come to be called the ‘“‘morale” of te railroand army, and there were e who, professing to discern such 1 decline, persuaded others to look hrough glasses that were darkened | 3y a Aefoatist self-interest in the fail- ire ‘of Government control. The Director General, confident as 26 was of the loyalty of the men, did 1ot share this pessimism, but feeling severtheless that it was his duty to Jcertain whether it had any basis, he lotermined, with his customary di- rectne: to ask the public to tell him 'rankly how and where the service :ould be improved. Aceordingly he issued an order és- ablishing a Bureau for Suggestions \nd Complaints, and on the 34 of joptember, 1918, the following notice was posted in every station and pas- anger coach uhder the control of the United States Railroad Admintstra- Hoh: To the Publ 1 uesire your assistance and ¢o- speration in making the railroad jervice while under Federal control n the highest possible degree satis- actory and efficient. Of course, the paramount necessi- ¥es of the war must have first con- ndsration. ‘ Our gailant sons who are fighting a genuine service by sending letters of ccommendation of employees who are conspicuously courteous and efficient in the performance of their dutles. Nothing promotes the esprit of a great organization more than recog- nition from time to time of these em- ployees who perform their duties “faithfully and commendably. It is requested that all communi- cations be brief and explicit and that the name and address of the writer be distinctly written. Also give the time of day or night, the number of the train, the name of the railroad, and, if possible, the name of the employee whose conduct sion, the “hostler” who takes care | (05 O 4" 0r or whose services are commended, together with such other information as will enable me to take appropriate action. Please address. W. G. McADOO, Director General of Ralilroads, Bureau for Suggestions and Complaints, Washington, D. C. To deal with the letters which this notice was expected to elicit, five vice presidents, the general i .q men were selected and put under the direction of the writer. They include Ballard Dunn, assistant actuary to the United States Rail- road administration and | formerly | special representative of president's office, Union Pacific Railroad, Omaha; J. F. Jarrell, formerly editorial writer on Kansas City Times and Topeka Capital, and later with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Rail- road as editor of its industrial and agricultural publications and in gan- eral charge of publicity matters; T. T. Maxey, formerly of the Chicago, Burlington & .Quiney Railroad as ad; vertising agent; E. H. Lamb, formerly general agent of the Chicago & North Western Railway at Sacramento, Cal.; and Frank F. George, formerly secretary to the actuary to the TUnited States Railroad administra- tion. This bureau for suggestions and complaints, which a newspaper man hasg facetiously dubbed the ‘‘bureau of brickbats and bouquets,” is Mr. McAdoo’s latest application of his motto “The public be pleased.” It has now been in existence long enough to make it possible for those in charge of it to draw a cross sec- tion of the composite public mind as revealed in the many thousands of letters that have been received. The writers of these letters wun- consciously divide themselves into two classes—one comprising those ‘who are temperamentally censorious, and another which includes the people who believe that praise is a duty and that “criticism is best defined as an emphasis of the desirable.” The rhyme which runs— “Between the optimist and pessimist the difference is droll, The bptimist the doughhut sess—the pessimist the hole.” finds fresh application If not a_ few contrasting ‘letter upon the Ssame subject, but between the two ex- tremes there are many who aré evi- dently inspired by a public-spirited desire to improve the service that the railroads are trying to rénder and a patriotic willingness to subordinate their own convenience and comfort to the primary purpose for which the railroads were taken over, namely, the winning of the war. That this latter class is in a very large majority is one of the reassur- ing facts revealed by the experience of the bureau for suggestions and complaints. Some of the newspapér writers who have been vociferous in proclaiming the discourtesy and indifference of ncle Sam’s railway emplovees” would perhaps be surprised at the number of letters of commendation that have been received, and while a few of them are no doubt the re- sult of autosuggestion, it is evident that as a class the men and the in- creasingly large number of wohheh who compose the “rallway army” of the United States are loyal and enw thusiastic, anxious and willing to give the best that is in thém to the work in which they are enlisted. Perhaps a story written by a newe- paper reporter who started out to find the discourteous railway em- ployee and failed describes the ex- perience of not a few disappointed pessimists, Painless Dentistry In all cakes Guaranteed Crown and bridgework a Specialty. Gold Crowns. Porcelain Crowns. DR, R. E. BEARDSLEY. 353 Main Street. NEW BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1918, THE ROAD TG BERLIN The Doughboys--The Go Boys Are on Their Way YOU CAN FOLLOW THEM THE HERALD Has Received Another Consignment of WAR MAPS THE BEST VALUE IN THE CITY Over 5000 Towns and Cities, and a Key, so You Can Find Any Spot You Want in a Twink- ling TWENTY GENTS EAGH AT THE HERALD OFFICE Don’t Ask Your Newsboys to Deliver Them