REMARKS OF
JAMES H. HUSTIS
President
BOSTON AND MAINE RAILROAD
BEFORE
THE NEW YORK
RAILROAD CLUB
ON
THE RETURN OF THE
RAILROADS
AT
NEW YORK CITY
February 20, 1920
Mr. President and Fellow Members of the New York Railroad
Club:
Tonight we are met to face the beginning of a new
epoch in railroading. Within ten days the railroads
which have been operated directly by the government
for more than two years and indirectly for a longer
period — for since April, 1917, and even earlier, their oper¬
ation has been subordinated to the direct needs of the
government rather than to individual activities — are to
be returned to private operation.
As to whether they are the same railroads physically
that they were at the beginning of the war will be
answered by different interests in different ways, but ex¬
cept as the answer may have a bearing on our ability to
meet the demands on the transportation machine, that
question need not seriously concern this membership,
made up as it is largely of those who, while having a
real responsibility for results have only an indirect respon¬
sibility for the plant with which they must accomplish
those results.
But as to whether they are the same railroads men¬
tally— if the term mentally may be applied to indicate
changes that may have been wrought in the personnel —
is of direct concern to us all, and it is with this phase of
the subject that I shall attempt to deal.
It seems particularly appropriate that my message, if
I succeed in developing one, should be before this Club,
for it was from one of its members that I received my
first instructions in the rudiments of railroading more
than forty years ago.
As a boy of fourteen I had succeeded to the job — we
did not call them positions in those days —of office boy
in the office of John M. Toucey, known to many of the
older men here as the General Superintendent of the
Hudson & Harlem Divisions of the New York Central.
4
The office looked out on the open lot where the Biltmore
now stands. Maud S. and the Vanderbilt cows used to
browse in that open lot. My first glimpse into the railroad
world is, therefore, of peaceful memory.
Part of the official family, which had but recently come
to New York when the New York Central had consoli¬
dated with the Hudson River Railroad, used the vacant
offices as sleeping quarters and in the early evening after
the Pacific Express — the one evening through train —
had left, these gentlemen would sit on the doorsteps of
the Grand Central and spin yarns about the great con¬
solidation, just completed, and others that might take
place in the railroad world. But I doubt if their imagina¬
tion went so far as to consider even as a possibility the
present magnificent New York Central System of nearly
13,000 miles and 170,000 employees — certainly not a
United States Railroad System of 240,000 miles and
2,000,000 employees, such as we are emerging from tonight.
But these larger problems of consolidations did not
then concern me. My problem and only problem was
to make good as office boy. I delivered and collected the
train mail and the railroad telegrams for everybody
everywhere, it then seemed to me, copied letters in the
tissue books, opened the mail, addressed envelopes, made
up certain reports and did such other things as fell to
my lot.
A young man who then presided in one of the offices,
the Car Department, took me under his wing the first day
I arrived and gave me advice as to what I should do to
succeed, particularly emphasizing the importance of being
accommodating to those who like himself were without
office boys. His plan was immediately put into practical
effect by using my services in various capacities, one of
my regular assignments being to go to Charles' grocery
store opposite the station to get his daily luncheon, which
consisted of crackers and cheese.
5
Whatever success I have since had in the railroad
business I have attributed and now publicly testify was
due in part to the advice of this young man, the father of
your Club. If I have strayed from his early injunction,
it is my fault and not his, but I do wish to offer the still
youthful Daniel M. Brady, the Club's father, as being
himself an exemplar of what he then taught — service to
others.
In its broader sense service must be regarded as the
keynote of real success, whether it be railroading, finance,
the professions or what not, but railroading is essentially
service.
Men such as I am addressing tonight who leave the
railroad service, to go into private business, usually
receive larger compensation, enjoy more leisure, and
have greater personal independence. But there is a
fascination about railroading that appeals to the imag¬
ination, and it is difficult to draw men away from its
service.
The changes that have taken place in the pastsevera
years have caused some of us, especially those who served
when the individual exercised greater power, and in con¬
sequence had a more potent influence in obtaining results,
to wonder whether after all it is worth while. It is perhaps
but natural that we should over-emphasize the advantages
of the old, and under-emphasize the advantages of the
new order of things, for there is a new order, and we are
short-sighted if we do not recognize that fact.
For instance, the men on whom we must depend to
run our railroads have been working for the Government.
Their outlook has changed. The condition of their em¬
ployment and their former relationships have been made
over. Their organization leaders have said that those
whom they represent are committed to the continued
government operation of railroads. Many clear-thinking
men believe such a step would be most unwise, and in
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the end would react on those who now favor it, and would
imperil our institution of free government. How far either
of these views are held by railroad men generally I have
no means of knowing other than as indicated in the state¬
ments of their spokesmen. How far it is necessary that
we concern ourselves with the broad question of Govern¬
ment operation is a matter on which you will find vary¬
ing opinions.
In a notable speech made at Boston recently the Hon.
Charles A. Prouty, for many years a member of the Inter¬
state Commerce Commission and now its Director of
Valuation, said :
" It is almost a quarter of a century since I first had to do in a
practical way with this railroad problem. Within a year after becom¬
ing a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission I said that the
only complete solution of that problem was government ownership,
and that while I would individually oppose it until private operation
had been fairly tried and clearly failed, nevertheless it would finally
come. My belief and position has never changed and is the same
tonight.
The real question is whether the government can operate these
railroads efficiently, and that question can only be answered by an
actual working test. When the war ended I urged that the railroads,
being in control of the government, be retained for a sufficient time
and under suitable conditions to make that test. I still think this
should have been done; but an overwhelming public sentiment has de¬
creed otherwise.
On March 1 private operation enters upon its final test. If it makes
good, it will become the permanent policy of this country. If it fails,
public operation in some form must come. I believe it will fail, but I
hope it will succeed and shall do everything in my power to make it
succeed.
Whether it is to be a success or failure depends partly upon the
carrier and partly upon the public. The carrier upon its side must get
over the notion that it is to have an unlimited amount of money with
which it can do anything it pleases and pay anything it pleases. The
expenditure of every dollar must be watched. There must be the
strictest economy, both at the top and at the bottom; and if there is
extravagance at the top you are certain to find it at the bottom.
7
The public upon its side must become thoroughly saturated with
the idea that the carrier has no dollar except what is contributed by
the public, and that no great business can be economically run without
sufficient revenues. If we are to further try the experiment of private
ownership, let us make that trial a fair one."
This is a sweeping statement but it is one that we
shall do well to heed.
If the demand for transportation continues on its
present scale, the task of producing it satisfactorily will
be a difficult one. The changed relationship with labor,
the shortage in equipment, and the inadequacy of facili¬
ties all combine to intensify the problems of management,
and, in addition, we must expect that the public will be
more exacting in holding the railroads to a higher stand¬
ard of service.
There never has been a time when cheerful patience
under difficulties will be more necessary nor when a more
attentive attitude will have to govern relations between
the officials, high and low, and the public. During the
war the public was invited to tell its troubles to Wash¬
ington. Now these troubles must be met locally. There
will be no "passing the buck." Whether the roads re¬
main under private operation or not depends in the long
run on the satisfaction of the public and its willingness to
support private operation.
The public is apt to base its judgment on failures
rather than accomplishments. That has been true as to
railroads in the past. It is also true today, for the public
is condemning government operation of railroads. As
Judge Prouty has said, "there is an overwhelming public
sentiment" that they be returned to private operation, but
that sentiment is based on the expectation that the change
will remedy most of the features concerning which the
public has found fault.
The government is big and impersonal but even it
could not withstand the pressure for relinquishing its con¬
trol of the railroads.
8
But we delude ourselves if we believe that the senti¬
ment referred to by Judge Prouty may not change.
Tomorrow we may expect the same critical attitude as
to private operation. The causes are not far to seek.
I have a friend who because of his special knowledge
of the railroad subject, and because of his independent
relations, is frequently called upon to speak on the so-called
railroad problem. He knows the subject thoroughly and
speaks interestingly. At present his addresses are pre¬
pared for the purpose of informing his audiences concern¬
ing the succession of events which preceded government
operation, the results under Federal control, the value of
that experience as a guide to the future, and the salient
features of the principal plans now under consideration
for the future conduct of the railroads.
Recently he came to me in disgust, saying the night
before at considerable inconvenience and with some dis¬
comfort because of weather conditions he had journeyed
to a place twenty miles from town to speak before a Board
of Trade. He used the forty minutes allotted for the talk,
which was listened to attentively and respectfully. He
was then prepared to use the remaining time for a discus¬
sion of the problem, which he had so thoroughly and so
earnestly presented to them. But in the discussion that
followed there was not one word about his paper. What
his hearers wanted to know from him was why the rail¬
road that served that town didn't get the "five eighteen in
on time," and why the railroad wouldn't provide seats for
all of the passengers. Nothing else was referred to. Not
a word about the broad aspects of the relation of the rail¬
roads to the State; not a single reference to finance or to
labor unrest. Not even a murmur on who is going to pay
the freight.
The life of that community, its household arrange¬
ments, and its evening social engagements, parties, lodge
meetings are all affected by the late arrival of that train.
9
It matters little to that community who operates or
owns the railroads as long as the "five eighteen" is oper¬
ated on time. It does matter if the "five eighteen" is not
run on time. Consequently the audience was not inter¬
ested in whether the Senate or the House Bill or the Plumb
Plan is a good thing for the country as a whole. But
they were in a very receptive frame of mind to hear one
who could assure them that there was a plan on foot to
run the "five eighteen" on time, and to provide seats, and
I doubt not that they would have enlisted in that cause.
There are many "five eighteens" to consider. To the
investor in railroad securities the "five eighteen" is the
protection of his securities; to the shipper and the passen¬
ger it is safe, efficient and reliable service; to the railroad
worker it is the maintaining of the best possible schedules
for wages and working conditions. To the publicist,
whatever he may be, it is the desire to try something new,
and so we go.
To all of these groups the first and strongest appeal is
to what concerns their immediate advantage.
There is neither time nor is this the place to discuss
the fundamental difficulties of the railroads as they now
exist and have existed for years. Neither will it profit to
discuss the advantages or disadvantages of unified control.
Whether the advantageous results claimed for it in com¬
bining terminals and ticket offices, or controlling the dis¬
tribution of freight equipment from the standpoint of the
nation as against a particular section of it, of preventing
congestion at the seaboard and large centres, of distribut¬
ing fuel, of standardizing equipment, could not have been
attained as well or better under private control need not
concern us except that we must see to it that none of the
advantages are lost. Likewise we need not be concerned
with the failures of methods or practices instituted by
governmental control except to avoid them.
10
The principal accomplishments claimed for this con¬
trol were that in the first year of Federal operation the
railroads moved more tons than were ever before moved
in a single year and, what is more important, they moved
the kind of tonnage which was most essential to winning
the war. Railroad operations during that period were
almost entirely free from labor disturbances; and the
Government guarantee of net income effectually pushed
all financial problems into the background. These are
the three important accomplishments. There were others,
but their importance is overshadowed by the volume of
transportation production and the freedom from interrup¬
tions of any kind by problems of labor and finance.
These were made more effectually possible because of
governmental control and unified operation.
Of course there had to be sacrifices of some sort. In
a broad way they may be charged with other unusual
expenditures to the cost of winning the war. In the first
place there is the deficit which for the 26 months is esti¬
mated at $600,000,000. This interests us as citizens and
tax payers, but as railroad men we are more interested in
other features of Federal control which have introduced
complications which are bound to add to the burdens of
those to be charged with the responsibility of administra¬
tion when Federal control ceases.
When in April, 1917, four days after war was declared,
the executives of all the railroads met in Washington and
created the Railroads' War Board, they signed a pact
that during the war they would coordinate their opera¬
tions in a continental railway system, merging during
that period all their merely individual and competitive
activities in the effort to produce a maximum of national
transportation efficiency. They carried out that under¬
standing in spirit and in truth, and when later the
Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States,
by proclamation took over the operation the reasons
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given were not that private operation had failed. As to
that he said that the " Committee of railway executives,
who have been cooperating with the Government in this
all important matter have done the utmost that it was
possible for them to do and have done it with patriotic
zeal, and with great ability; but," he added, " there were
difficulties that they could neither escape nor neutralize."
When after six months of operation under the former
executive heads of the railroads it was decided to com¬
pletely separate the corporate and operating activities of
the railroads a bureaucratic control was instituted and
has continued up to the present time.
In the control of the wires by the Government the
form of organization adopted for the operation of the
railroads was not followed, with the result that the organ¬
izations of the Telephone and Telegraph Companies are
now much more nearly normal as compared with the
prewar period than is the case with the railroads.
However, the winning of the war was the end sought,
and the form of organization and the best method of
carrying on the activities of the railroad had to be decided
by those on whom the responsibility rested. To this de¬
cision these was no dissent, and however desirous were
those in Federal control of leaving the direct manage¬
ment of the properties in the hands of local management!
the effect of such bureaucratic control became quickly in
evidence.
While the abnormal conditions incident to the war
necessarily meant higher operating costs, we know that
the introduction of central administration with its many
bureaus, etc., and its many employees, undoubtedly had
an indirect effect not only in increasing the expense of
operation, but what seemed even more important, from
our standpoint, in widening the gap between men and
management. To readjust that relationship is, as I see it,
our special problem. Upon us men who are assembled here
12
tonight more than upon any others will the success or
failure of private operation fall. As officers of the rail¬
roads our duty will be to furnish service, — safe, reliable,
expeditious. It will be our job to keep the "five eighteen"
running on time, and let the people decide whether the
railroads are eventually to be publicly or privately owned.
We may fail from causes for which we are not re¬
sponsible.
We will fail if we do not have the united and hearty
support of the two million men who make up the railroad
forces of our railroads.
Many are wondering how the men will measure up
and what will be their attitude. Recently we have had
some severe snow storms in New England, more severe in
their effect on train operation than any I have experienced
since living there. We have also felt the effects of the
influenza epidemic. It has been a time that has tried
men's souls as well as their physical endurance. Railroad
men were put to the test. There were slackers, of course,
as there always have been and always will be, and we
heard of men "laying down on the job." I had oppor¬
tunity of observing and of knowing something of how, on
one road at least, the men responded in the emergency,
and I want to say to you that they were not found want¬
ing. This willingness to do was not confined to depart¬
ments. Men did not consult their working agreements
as to their obligations. The old spirit was there to over¬
come difficulties.
Of course there is another spirit abroad with which we
must reckon and which is found in that minority who
have been misled into the belief that the pay envelope is
the only measure of loyalty. Their influence was felt dur¬
ing the war and has been felt since, and has been very
potent in encouraging indifference and idleness. I believe
hat this spirit is less in evidence on the steam railroads
than elsewhere. It would be difficult to imagine, for in-
13
stance, a railroad conductor who had been asked by a
woman "Is this where I get off?" replying "I don't care
a damn where you get off," but that did actually occur on
one of our State-run trollies last Sunday. I mention it only
as an occurrence which a few years ago would have been
regarded as an impossible incident in any transportation
service. Then there is the lack of interest and pride in
the work itself and again I believe there is less of this on
the railroads than elsewhere and that the men generally
may be relied on to respond to the spirit of service.
It is that spirit of service we must recognize and en¬
courage if the private operation of railroads is to endure.
How may it be accomplished ?
We can develop this spirit of loyalty and pride in
work well performed by demonstrating to the men that
we are all partners in a great public enterprise and that
all our interests are interdependent, but mere statements
are worthless unless substantiated in daily personal con¬
tact by square dealing, justice and real human interest.
The men are from Missouri and will not respond to
printed appeals to loyalty or to "Fourth of July" orations
on the duties of citizenship. They must be " shown " by
being taken into the confidence of the management.
Regulations and policies should be explained, suggestions
should be welcomed and given intelligent and sympa¬
thetic consideration and the facts as to the relation of
revenues and expenses should be made clear. There has
been a mistaken idea about the whole railroad situation
and it is appalling how little even successful business
men and those having large interests in their charge
understand the fundamental difficulties of the railroads.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the men themselves
are more or less in the dark on the whole subject. A
defensive attitude should not be adopted against griev¬
ances— certainly not until all the facts indicate that they
are unfounded. Not all grievances merit relief, but a
14
oiijc
majority are based on a sense of having been wronged
and in many cases a full understanding of the circum¬
stances will remove that feeling. Merit should be en¬
couraged and service beyond the requirements of working
agreements performed under the stress of unusual con¬
ditions should be appreciated and commended just as
strongly as lapses from duty are reproved.
The duty of creating proper relations rests on the men
as well as on the managers, but the initiative in develop¬
ing and broadening a relationship based on service and
mutual respect rests with us and I am sure that the men
of the rank and file will co-operate and will have confi¬
dence in us to the extent that we have confidence in them.
For more than five years the individual has been sub¬
merged. In civil, as in military life, we have acted en
masse with the not unnatural result that we are all
governed largely by what others say and do rather than
by what experience has taught us is right. We have been
flooded with words about, and frightened with predictions
of, the ills beyond. But difficult as are the problems ahead,
and they are many, if we will but have faith in ourselves,
and confidence that our neighbors and associates when
given the facts, are actuated by the same purposes and
motives as ourselves, many of the things that now seem
so complex and difficult will largely disappear. In any
event, I am certain that we will make more real progress
if we avail ourselves of the many everyday opportuni¬
ties for the application of well-tried and sound principles
of human relationships than by attempting to end the ills
of the world by dangerous short-cuts.
In the January Harper's, Kipling has a new poem on
"The Gods of the Copybook Maxims" which I commend
to your reading. The purport of the poem is that the
homely and time-honored phrases which we were taught
in our youth, and which, on a quantity production basis,
we inscribed in our writing books for the criticism of our
15
teaches, are being supplanted by other Gods who find
the precepts of the Copybook Gods "lacking in Uplift,
Vision, and Breadth of Mind." "We have left them to
teach gorillas while we follow the March of Mankind."
"In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
And though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money
would buy;
And the God of the Copybook Maxims said—' If you don't work you
die !'
Then the Gods of the Markets tumbled, and their smooth-tongued
Wizards withdrew;
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled, and began to think it
was true
That 'All is not Gold that Glitters' and 'Two and Two make Four,'
And the Gods of the Copybook Maxims limped up to explain it once
more ! "