SIGHT AND HEARING OF RAILWAY EMPLOY :^S. 439 



the country following its example ; but the advice which might be ac- 

 cepted, if proffered in a practicable manner, has been hitherto urged 

 upon the officials by means of hostile newspaper articles, and agitation 

 for legislation to place their entire extra force at the mercy of State- 

 appointed examiners who might disorganize it and bring it into great 

 confusion. There seems to be a natural hesitation on the part of medi- 

 cal men to place the examinations for color-blindness in the hands of 

 laymen, and an equal unwillingness on the part of railroad officials to 

 submit their force to the inspection of a numerous corps of medical 

 examiners, but the solution is found in the use of the instrument 

 described, which merely enables non-professional persons to make a 

 record of certain selections and place them on paper, where they can 

 then be submitted to a surgical expert, who can as well decide upon 

 that evidence as though he were present at the examination, with the 

 understanding that all doubtful cases are to be examined by him in 

 person. 



What is gained by this ? The expense under the law passed in 

 Massachusetts and Connecticut was estimated to be from two to three 

 dollars per man, to be paid by the roads, and with a penalty of two 

 hundred dollars for the employment of any man not provided with the 

 certificate of an expert appointed by the Governor of the State. For 

 this sum, say three hundred dollars per one hundred men, the road 

 could be informed that from ten to fifteen employes were unfit for its 

 service ; no provision was made for the correction by glasses, or other 

 treatment of the trained men, otherwise so valuable, and no time was 

 allowed to replace men especially fitted for certain duties ; the roads 

 were to be thus taxed for the more than decimation of their entire 

 force, while the emj)loy^s were subjected to a pitiless scrutiny that 

 would end in the summary dismissal of about fifteen per cent from the 

 discharge of duties for which they had spent, perhaps, years of training. 

 It can easily be understood why such a law would be resisted by all the 

 political or other influences of the entire railway force in a State, from 

 the directors and presidents to the lowest employes, and should awaken 

 also the opposition of the holders of its securities. 



By the system adopted on the Pennsylvania Railway, the men be- 

 low their standard are detected unerringly by their own officials ; those 

 color-blind are sent to the surgical expert, and after his decision are 

 yet retained in the service where possible, being placed where their 

 defects can work no harm. Any valuable men below the standard of 

 visual power can be sent for treatment to their surgical expert, if the 

 officers so decide, or the men can elect to have their defects treated 

 elsewhere, upon the condition that they can pass the proper examina- 

 tion afterward. The one plan, it is evident, is expensive, irritating to 

 the whole personnel, and disorganizing, while the other is economical, 

 confidential, and orderly. By a wise liberality in aiding men to have 

 their defects removed by proper glasses, etc., the officers of the road 



