The men very much prefer to take punishment on the installment plan, in the dark, to any settlement on a cash basis in open and above-board fashion. Discipline in the dark, on the installment plan, has all the facts, experience, and records of the past and present, and the probabilities of the future, arrayed against it. When you ask the manager how it happens that the United States does not recognize the efficacy of the mental method on the installment plan, and treat _him_ as the Brown system treats the employees, he merely shrugs his shoulders. When an infraction of the “safety-appliance law” or the “nine-hour law” is brought home to a manager, the action of the government or the law recognizing the superior efficacy of the mental treatment might reasonably be expected to say to him, “I give you ten demerit marks. Your mistake has enlightened and purified you; go back to your desk.” A manager is surely as susceptible to mental influence and suggestion as an engineman or a conductor. Yet there is not a suspicion of the Brown system of discipline in the actual fines and imprisonment which the government has agreed upon as the best and quickest way to enforce obedience in the interests of the public welfare. The general introduction of the Brown system on American railroads has been brought about by the “irritation” of the men when their pay or their time has been interfered with. This was, in general, the power that gave the impetus and encouragement to the movement. The exact amount of “irritation” in loss of money to employees for one month has been figured out by one railroad, as follows:-- _Engineers_ Discharged 4 Merits 0 Demerits 455 Amount saved to the men $1706 _Firemen_ Discharged 2 Merits 10 Demerits 1265 Amount saved to the men $263 _Conductors_ Discharged 4 Merits 10 Demerits 485 Amount saved to the men $1523 _Operators_ Discharged 10 Merits 0 Demerits 310 Amount saved to the men $514 _Trainmen_ Discharged 21 Merits 0 Demerits 696 Amount saved to the men $1553 That is to say, a certain number of men had been awarded “demerits” for offenses instead of suspension with loss of pay, which in one month would have amounted to $5559. Of course, most of this amount would have been earned by spare men, but this consideration by no means allays the “irritation” of the regular men.