And State Papers 161 



railroad men of the country. You, in your organi 

 zation as railroad men, have taught two lessons: 

 the lesson of how much can be accomplished by or 

 ganization, by mutual self-help of the type that helps 

 another in the only way by which, in the long run, 

 that is, by teaching him to help himself. You 

 teach the benefits of organization, and you also 

 teach the indispensable need of keeping absolutely 

 unimpaired the faculty of individual initiative, the 

 faculty by which each man brings himself to the 

 highest point of perfection by exercising the special 

 qualities with which he is himself endowed. The 

 Brotherhood has developed to this enormous ex 

 tent since the days, now many years ago, when the 

 first little band came together ; and it has developed, 

 not by crushing out individual initiative, but by 

 developing it, by combining many individual in 

 itiatives. 



The Brotherhood of Firemen does much for all 

 firemen, but I firmly believe that the individual fire 

 man since the growth of the Brotherhood has been 

 more, not -less, efficient than he was twenty years 

 ago. Membership in the Brotherhood comes, as 

 I understand it, after a nine months' probationary 

 period ; after a man has shown his worth, he is then 

 admitted and stands on his footing as a brother. 

 Now, any man who enters with the purpose of let 

 ting the Brotherhood carry him is not worth much. 

 The man who counts in the Brotherhood is the 

 man who pulls his own weight and a little more. 

 Much can be done by the Brotherhood. I have just 



