Confessions of a Railroad SignalmanFagan, James O. (James Octavius)
History
Confessions of a Railroad Signalman
Fagan, James O. (James Octavius)
Railroad accidents; Railroads; Railroads -- United States -- Employees
Rest-houses are another form through which welfare work in the direct
interest of the employee is carried on as part of the regular operation
of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The aim is to furnish a comfortable
and convenient place, open at all hours, to the employee coming in from
his run, whose first want is a bath, with plenty of hot water, and
subsequently a restful bed. The work carried on by the Railroad Y. M.
C. A. is of a similar nature. The old-time dark cabooses, dingy freight
cars, and decrepit coaches, serving as night-holes into which to crawl
for the sleeping hours till the time for the next run, are now nothing
but an unpleasant memory. The Railroad Y. M. C. A., with its commodious
lounging-rooms, bright and airy dining-rooms, clean lunch-counters,
well-appointed kitchens, billiard rooms and bowling alleys, general
assembly halls, libraries, attractive bedrooms and baths, is the
practical exemplification to-day of the fitness of things. The
disbursements of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for these purposes have
in single years exceeded fifty thousand dollars, and every penny is
profitably expended from the purely business standpoint. Bettering the
man betters his work.
Furthermore, incident to the administration of the Relief Department,
the company, through a corps of medical examiners and surgeons, closely
supervises the health of its employees and the sanitary conditions of
the places where their duties are performed. This corps is in charge
of a chief surgeon and chief medical examiner, both prominent in their
professions; and although the number of men in their charge exceeds
forty thousand, any complicated or persistent disability of an employee
secures the personal supervision of the chief surgeon.
This is surely a remarkable demonstration of what one corporation is
doing, and has done, for the benefit of its employees. It is very
doubtful if any government or any other industrial institution in the
world can show any such record, and one which extends over such a long
term of years. Fair and humane treatment of employees cannot be carried
any further.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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