In this State, which has just completed the first quarter-century of its existence, there are 5,117 miles of railway track, over which more than three million passengers and seven million tons of freight are annually carried; and nearly 700 locomotives and over 7,000 people are employed in conducting this gigantic business. You are representatives, therefore, of a great army of men employed in the mightiest work of modern times, and it affords me pleasure to meet and greet you. I know of no human vocation requiring greater skill, fidelity, sobriety, endurance and courage than does the work of the men who are employed on our railways, and I am glad to add that, in my judgment, there is no body of men in this country who more fairly and fully meet the requirements of their arduous and responsible station than do those who run the trains of our railways. And this is especially true of the men who ride at the front, on that marvel of modern mechanism, the locomotive. Theirs is the post of danger and of responsibility, and singularly brave, cool, thoughtful, watchful, intelligent men they grow to be. You will all, I presume, become locomotive engineers. The way to the engineer’s seat, I am informed, is from the fireman’s side. I hope promotion will not be slow. The engineers, it is said, are the best paid body of skilled workmen in America. I hope this is true. If it is not, it ought to be, for certainly no body of skilled workmen in America occupy a more responsible position, nor, in my judgment, is there a body of workmen in America who more faithfully and nobly discharge the duties of their post. The engineers and the firemen who ride with them are employed in a work that is not only arduous but dangerous as well; in a work that requires steady nerve, watchful eye, quick thought, prompt action, and at times, the undaunted and self-sacrificing spirit of a martyr.