Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 181, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1910 — NEW SYSTEM A GOOD ONE [ARTICLE]

NEW SYSTEM A GOOD ONE

Has Bean Found to Aid In Developing Bense of Duty Among Railroad Employes. Rules and regulations on railroads are formulated for the systematic handling of affairs, to the end that life and property may be protected and that the maximum benefits may accrue to all concerned as a ’result of the efforts expended. It is thought by many in minor positions that these rules and regulations are given arbitrarily by those in authority, and are simply devised for the inconvenience of those who are expected to obey them; and, again, that discipline in many cases is applied to satisfy some personal grievance the superior is accused of harboring against men under him.

Another important factor which has been instrumental to a great degree in developing a remarkable sense of duty is the operation of a system which represents the triumph of modern railroad operation over the old method of laying a man off for disobedience of rules and making his family suffer. According to the present plan a man receives so many' merit or demerit marks, according to his attention or Inattention to rules. The operation of this system is an incentive to railroad men to do more than merely observe rules and follow out instructions. If a man simply goes along doing his work without mistakes he does not receive any extra merit marks, but if he has received demerits in the past he has a chance to clear up his record, as five demerits are taken from the black side of his envelope if he does not violate any rules during a month’s time.

However, the value of the new system does not come from the chance it gives a man to observe rules and clear up his record, but from the many opportunities of performing unusually meritorious service. For Instance, merit marks are placed to the credit of employes for such actions as reporting a broken flange, rendering assistance in clearing a track of a rock slide, discovering and extinguishing fires in cattle guards and, in fact, any kind of assistance in cases of emergency which is not mentioned in the book of rules, but service which is of immensely more value to the company. This system has made railroad employes more ambitious for good records and has naturally endowed them with this most valuable qualification—a sense of duty.