THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



SEPTEMBER, 1885. 



THE RELATIONS OF RAILWAY MANAGERS AND 



EMPLOYES. 



By Dr. W. T. BARNARD. 

 I. 



THE problem how to secure the most effective and harmonious 

 relationship with their employes is one of rapidly growing im- 

 portance in the minds of those managers whose duties bring them 

 into close contact with the rank and file of railway service, and is also 

 beginning to force itself upon the attention of investors in this coun- 

 try, as it has already largely done in Europe. Though quite generally 

 the real underlying cause of strikes and labor agitations, among rail- 

 way people especially, is unequal enforcement of discipline, irregularity 

 in or unequal distribution of work, debts incurred through the mis- 

 fortunes rather than, as a rule, through the fault of the operatives, 

 inducing restlessness, etc., their discontent usually forces itself upon the 

 attention of the railway director in the first instance as a wages ques- 

 tion. As the successful and economical operation of a railway re- 

 quires a certain number of reliable servants thoroughly trained for 

 and skilled in their respective positions, considering the rapid exten- 

 sion of our railways, many years must elapse before the surplusage 

 so cheapens this class of skilled labor as, on the one hand, to induce 

 managers to relieve overburdened servants in busy seasons by dividing 

 their duties among a larger number than will barely suffice for current 

 needs, or, on the other, affords them security from strikes and unjust 

 demands through the presence of unemployed skilled artisans eager to 

 supplant the discontented. Meanwhile the necessity of meeting com- 

 petition and reduced earnings by improved machinery and increased 

 technical efficiency will constantly enhance the importance and value 

 of a permanent and zealous corps of employes with whom fair wages, 

 vol. xxvii. 37 



