Msm 1 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, AND METHODS Prei'ared Under the Direction of the Railroad Depart- ment OF THE International Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations A000natt0n '^vtm New York: 124 East 28th Street London : 47 Paternoster Row, E. C. 1915 Copyright, 1915, by The International Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations CONTENTS II History and Field of Work . II I First Association 12 II III Beginnings in North America Development following the Civil War 13 14 IV Beginning of Association Work for Railroad Men 16 V Supervision of Railroad Asso- ciation Work 19 VI VII VIII Polity System Work The Extent of Railroad Asso- ciation Work 22 24 IX The Field of the Railroad As- sociation 25 Organization . . . . 31 I II III IV Forms of Organization The Board of Management The Membership The Committees 3 31 35 37 39 4 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE III The Railroad Secretary .... 43 I Essential Qualifications 44 II Additional Serviceable Qualifi- cations 48 III Three Practical Questions 49 IV The Railroad Secretary (Cont'd) . 55 I His Religious Life 55 II His Intellectual Life 56 III His Relations to the Church 57 IV His Social Relations 60 V His Relation to Fraternal Soci- eties 60 VI His Relation to Community Life 62 VII His Relation to Reform Move- ments 62 VIII His Association Relationships 64 V Business Administration 73 I II Importance Features of Proper Business Administration 73 74 III IV V Membership Tickets The Secretary's Responsibility The Secretary's Personal Fi- nancial Integrity 82 82 83 CONTENTS 5 CHAPTER PAGE VI Membership 87 I Purpose 87 II Organization 88 VII Religious Work 93 VIII I Object 93 II Plan and Organization 94 III Standards 96 IV Bible Study 97 V Meetings 100 VI Personal Service and Evangel- ism 103 VII Meetings Outside the Building 109 VIII Conservation of Results III IX The Association's Outreach 112 X Conclusion 114 )CIAL Work 117 I Importance 117 II Aim and Plans 117 III The Approach to the Problem 118 IV The Spirit of Social Work 120 V Duties of the Social Committee 120 IX Educational Work 125 I Survey of the Field 125 II Form of Committee Organiza- tion 126 6 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE III The Instruction Section 127 IV Library and Reading Room 129 V Extension Section 131 VI Association Publicity 133 X Physical Work 137 XI Restaurant Management . . .143 I Location 143 II Construction 143 III Decorations 145 IV Equipment 146 V Purchasing 148 VI Receiving 150 VII Preparation and Service 152 VIII Competent Employees 153 XII Boys' Work in Railroad Communi- ties 157 I Importance 157 II Methods 159 III Duties of the Boys' Work Com- mittee 161 XIII Special Groups .165 I Foreign Speaking Railroad Men 165 II Colored Railroad Men 166 III Street Railway Men 167 CONTENTS 7 CHAPTER PAGE IV Railroad Construction Camps i68 V The City Association in Rail- road Communities not Served by the Railroad Association 169 VI Yard Men 171 XIV Building, Equipment and Mainte- nance 175 I How Buildings are Secured 176 II Features Essential in a Building 177 III Care of the Building 182 IV Sanitary Suggestions 183 V Fire 185 VI Repair Fund 186 XV The Railroad Company .... 191 I The Association and Corporate Support 191 II The Place of the Railroad Company 192 III The Secretary and the Railroad Official 193 IV Obligations to the Railroad Company 193 V The Association in Times of Strike 195 VI The Association and Receiver- ships 196 8 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE VII The Railroad Company and Other Welfare Work 197 Appendix 201 Bibliography 205 I HISTORY AND FIELD OF WORK RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK CHAPTER I HISTORY AND FIELD OF WORK George Williams, the founder of the Young Men's Christian Association, was born in Somerset, England, in the year 1821. His father was a pros- perous farmer, but the son, showing no special ca- pacity for farming life, was, after the usual years of schooling, apprenticed to a draper — dry-goods dealer — in the nearby town of Bridgewater. His family were church people but he himself apparently knew little of religion beyond church attendance. Among the employees of the Bridgewater establish- ment were several earnest Christian young men, and the example of their useful and happy lives resulted in his becoming a sincere and faithful Christian. The few years at Bridgewater were filled with re- ligious activity, and with other Christian young men Williams held meetings at which a number of his I fellow clerks were led into the Christian life. 12 RAILRO.^D ASSGCIAriON WORK I. First Association In 1841 George Williams, then twenty years of age, went to London and found employment in the drapery house of George Hitchcock & Co., ^2 St. Paul's Churchyard. In this establishment were eighty young men who lodged at night in the small and ill-ventilated bedrooms in the store buildings, and who were without any facilities whatever for self-improvement. With scarcely an exception these young men were profane and profligate; and the ear- nest-spirited young man found himself in a strange environment, not another professing Christian being employed in the house. He prayed for a companion and soon one like-minded with himself came into the firm's employ. Together they prayed and lived their helpful lives and one after another their fel- low employees were invited into their bedroom meetings for Bible study and prayer. Soon others were led into the Christian life, and the bedroom be- came too small. With some measure of fear they asked for the use of a larger room. To their sur- prise their employer cheerfully granted this request and from that time became their friend and patron. After consultation a meeting was called for Thurs- day evening, June 6, 1844, to consider the possi- bility of extending like efforts to other mercantile houses. Twelve young men were present and a simple form of work was organized under the name HISTORY AND FIELD OF WORK 13 " Young Men's Christian Association." Work was at once begun in other dry-goods estabhshments ; later on a secretary or " missionary '' was employed, and in 1849 ^ library and reading room was opened. In 1 85 1, W. E. Shipton became the paid secretary of the Association and the work at once assumed a broader scope and more aggressive spirit. One of his early acts was the distribution of evangelistic and Association literature during the great indus- trial exposition held in London in 1851, and in this way the work of the Association became known in other lands. II. Beginnings in North America The Young Men's Christian Associations on the North American continent are a direct outgrowth of the London society. A letter from London pub- lished in a Boston paper led to the organization of an Association in that city December 29, 1851. A similar organization was effected in Montreal, No- vember 25, 185 1, but of this nothing was known in Boston for more than two years. Within the next two years Associations were formed in twenty Amer- ican cities, including New York, Chicago, Washing- ton, Buffalo, New Orleans and San Francisco. Through the efforts of William Chauncey Langdon of the Washington Association, these Associations were affiliated and met in their first International Convention in Buffalo, June 7, 1854. At this meet- 14 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK ing a central committee for correspondence and vis- itation was appointed and a Young Men's Christian Confederation of the United States and the British Provinces was effected. During the next six years, annual conventions were held and there was gradual growth in the number of organizations. In New Orleans in February, i860, occurred the final gath- ering of the original Confederation. The Conven- tion held in New York in November, 1861, was a meeting of the Northern Associations to consider Christian work in the army. At this meeting was formed the United States Christian Commission, an organization which ministered to both the bodily and spiritual needs of the men in the army, sending out during the period of the war 5,000 Christian helpers to camp and hospital, and distributing over $5,000,000 in money and stores. A somewhat sim- ilar work was done by the Southern Associations, but in no such organized form. III. Development Following the Civil War The first convention held after the war had ended met in Albany in 1866, and at this gathering an Executive Committee was selected for a term of three years with headquarters in New York City, where it has since remained; provision was made for calling state and provincial conventions, and work for young men as the distinctive purpose of HISTORY AND FIELD OF WORK 15 the organization was so forcibly insisted upon, that it has scarcely been questioned since. Conventions followed in Detroit in 1868 and in Portland in 1869. At this latter Convention was adopted what has since become known as the " Port- land Basis," restricting the management of the As- sociations to men who are members of evangelical churches (See Appendix B). By this Conven- tion the Executive Committee (which later became the International Committee) was authorized to em- ploy a secretary for editorial and other duties, and in December, 1869, the Committee secured for this service Richard C. Morse, who in 1871 was elected General Secretary of the International Committee. It was also through the efforts of Mr. Langdon of the Washington Association, that the Associa- tions of the world met in their first conference at Paris, August, 1855, and adopted the historic " Paris Basis '' (See Appendix A), which has since been the bond of unity between the various national Association bodies sending representatives to the World's Conference, having as its executive agent the World's Committee, with headquarters at Ge- neva, Switzerland. Following the Portland Convention the North American movement continued to advance in num- bers and in the quality of its work. The Interna- tional Committee continued to increase its staff of i6 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK secretaries, state and provincial organizations were effected and strongly supplemented the work of the International Committee; and largely under the leadership of these supervisory agencies in the United States and Canada, the work has developed to its present extent and efficiency. IV. Beginning of Association Work for Railroad Men 1. Work on the Union Pacific Railroad The first employed agent of the International Committee — its Senior Secretary, Robert Weiden- sall — was called in 1868 from employment in the Omaha shops of the Union Pacific Railroad then in course of construction. He was employed by vote of the Detroit Convention of 1868 "to aid in the organization of Young Men's Christian Associa- tions on the line of the Pacific Railroad and in such other sections as might be determined upon.'* Beginning at Fremont, Nebraska, he organized in it and other towns on the line of the road several Associations. Some of their members were Rail- road employees. But no Railroad Associations or branches composed wholly of these employees re- sulted from this effort. 2. The First Railroad Association Railroad Association work as known and carried on today dates from Cleveland, Ohio, where in 1871 HISTORY AND FIELD OF WORK 17 a railroad men's prayer meeting was conducted by railroad employees. Of the origin of this first enterprise the following interesting incident is told concerning one who was at this time, and for some years, the most prominent leader in this group of railroad men and in the de- velopment of the work elsewhere. One day in the year 1871, the body of a man who had been accidentally killed on the railroad was being carried out of the Union Railroad Station at Cleveland. Someone in the crowd asked who had been killed. The reply, in an indifferent tone of voice, was : ** Only a railroad man." These words reached the ear of a train dispatcher, Henry W. Stager, and deeply impressed him. *' Something ought to be done for railroad men,'' he said to him- self. He was at that time the wayward son of a praying mother. He had recently stood in another crowd on the street listening at an open air meeting to a young Christian business man of Cleveland, Henry A. Sherwin, for whom he had great respect, and who was talking in that gospel service as an active worker in the City Association. As a result of these two impressions. Stager was led to call upon his mother's pastor. Dr. Chauncey W. Goodrich, and ask him whether he would come to the station Sunday afternoon and speak to rail- road men, if Stager himself would get the boys to- gether to hear him. Dr. Goodrich knew how anx- i8 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK ious his mother was about this son, and was sur- prised and moved by such a request from him. He gladly consented. Stager gathered a good audience. With the help of Dr. Goodrich and other ministers, a series of Sunday meetings was held. Stager was converted. The ministers counselled him to place the care of the work in charge of the City Associa- tion. This was done, the Association taking charge through its Committee on "Missionary Labor'' with Stager as a member. Meanwhile the depot master had become interested, and a prayer meeting was held weekly in his office. The interest grew steadily. The secretary of the Cleveland Associa- tion, Lang Sheaff, was among the workers : a social and reading room, located in the station, was asked for. An active member of the Railroad Commit- tee, George W. Cobb, consented to become Railroad Secretary. His name is first on the roll of Rail- road Secretaries. The leading representative of the Vanderbilt system at Cleveland at that time was James H. Devereux, President of the C. C. & L Railroad, a road now known as the Big Four. He was also an active member of the Protestant Epis- copal Church. He entered heartily into the project. The room needed was granted and well equipped as both a reading and social room. This was ac- complished during the spring and summer of 1872. In 1878, with the hope of securing the interest and cooperation of more of the railroad men, it was HISTORY AND FIELD OF WORK 19 thought wise to make the railroad work an indepen- dent organization; and this was done with the cor- dial consent of the City Association. It is interest- ing, however, to note that three years later, at the request of the railroad men themselves the former organic relationship with the City Association was restored. At the close of the first year's work in Cleveland, the following lines of effort were re- ported: railroad meetings, temperance work, visits to sick and injured, employment bureau, relief of destitute, library and reading room, distribution of papers, monthly socials, and delegation work. This delegation work consisted of sending out groups of Christian Railroad men to hold meetings in nearby railroad communities. For some years the railroad work grew slowly. In 1873 Association work for railroad men was undertaken in Chicago, and in Erie, Pennsylvania. In Poughkeepsie in the same year the International Convention recognized this work by allowing the representative of the Cleveland railroad branch five minutes in which to make his report and appeal. V. Supervision of Railroad Associatio'n Work At Richmond in 1875, at the request of the Cleve- land delegates and with the promise of their finan- cial support, the employment by the International Committee of a traveling secretary for the extension 20 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK of Railroad Association work was authorized, and Lang Sheaff was selected. He spent five months in visiting railroad centers, and among the important results of his work was the organization of Asso- ciation work for railroad men at Altoona, Pennsyl- vania, and at the Grand Central Station, New York City. Out of what was accomplished at New York City grew a permanent direction and development of As- sociation work among railroad men. This was ow- ing to the enlistment — at that time and for the rest of his life — of the active and generous inter- est of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. He was then Treasurer of a division of the New York Central Railroad, and had recently become a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Association. With the cooperation of General Secretaries Morse of the International Committee and McBurney of the City Association, his attention was called to the work. A room was secured in the Grand Cen- tral Station, and Mr. Vanderbilt became Chairman of the Railroad Committee of the New York Asso- ciation. Through his cooperation the International Committee secured support for a permanent Rail- road Secretary, Edwin D. Ingersoll, who began work in 1877. Mr. Vanderbilt became the Railroad member of the Committee looking after that depart- ment of the International work. After vigilant direction for a dozen years of the HISTORY AND FIELD OF WORK 21 work at the Grand Central Station, Mr. Vanderbilt erected for it at the edge of the Railroad yards a fine Railroad Association building, costing $125,- 000. After it had been occupied only five years, because of the growth of the work he doubled the size of the building. At the time of his death in 1899 he was planning its further enlargement. Equal success attended a similar experiment by the Pennsylvania Railroad at its headquarters in Philadelphia. Here, in 1894, with the cooperation of President George B. Roberts, and the officials of that system, an admirable building was erected and two years later doubled in size. During this first period — 1872-91 — of Asso- ciation Railroad work efficiency and achievement at more or less isolated railroad centers, was the feature which gave the real promise of permanent usefulness in this department. The agency of supervision had strongly promoted this beginning of a permanent anchorage for the Railroad Department. But this achievement clearly pointed the way to a wider efficiency to be obtained by establishing the work at all desirable points along the line of each Railroad system. This long step in advance was taken during the second period under the leadership of the Interna- tional Railroad Secretary, Clarence J. Hicks. Such a system work was first wrought out by him on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. 22 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK VI. Polity There are three points in the poHty or plan of organization of the North American Associations that should be noted : 1. Local Organisations These are usually independent and self-governing. 2. International The Associations of all groups (as City, Rail- road, Student, etc.) send delegates to a triennial Convention which elects as its representative a body known as the International Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations. This Committee has its headquarters in New York and carries out the instructions of the International Convention, main- taining an advisory and cooperative relation to all the North American Associations. In addition to the triennial International Conven- tion, representing all departments of Association work, the Railroad Associations hold a special con- ference of an inspirational rather than a legislative character, meeting usually every three years. These gatherings have been of great value in strengthen- ing the work among railroad men. 3. State Under the leadership of the International Com- mittee, for the purpose of closer supervision, there HISTORY AND FIELD OF WORK 23 has been organized in nearly every state a State Executive Committee, and which is the representa- tive of the Associations in that particular state. In Canada the Canadian National Council bears a somewhat similar relation to the Associations throughout the Dominion. These two agencies of supervision thus exist as independent and coordinate bodies, each related di- rectly to the local Associations, and working to- gether under rules of comity which were first defi- nitely formulated at the Grand Rapids International Convention of 1899 ^"d later at the Buffalo Inter- national Convention of 1904 (See Appendix F). The Railroad Associations exist as an integral part of the North American Association movement and as such send delegates to the International and State and Dominion Conventions on the same basis as the city, student, rural, and other groups of Asso- ciations. VII. System Work Most of the Railroad Associations in existence at present are on Railroad systems where the policy of the companies is to cooperate with their employees in organizing and maintaining these Associations. Consequently it has been greatly to the advantage of the Associations to keep in close affiliation in order that their work may be thoroughly inter-re- lated and as far as possible unified so as to most 24 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK helpfully appeal both to officials and other employees of the system. This has led to system organiza- tions and stated conferences, which by the interstate interests involved, naturally are related to and as- sisted by the International Committee. An illustration of this desire of the Associations on a railroad system to combine for more effective service, is the formation of the New York Central Lines Federation, composed of thirty-eight Railroad Associations in eight different states and provinces. The International Railroad Secretary assigned to these Lines is, ex-officio, the executive secretary of the Federation. The result of this grouping has been most helpful, especially to the weaker Asso- ciations and to those remote from railroad head- quarters. VIII. The Extent of Railroad Association Work At this writing — 191 5 — there are 250 Railroad Associations in the United States, Canada, and Mex- ico with a membership of over 84,000, occupying 196 buildings, valued at $6,025,000. They report an annual current expenditure for the past year of $1,682,386, and employ 576 secretaries, assistant secretaries, membership, religious, educational, and physical directors, a number of whom are on the pay-rolls of the railroad companies. Railroads con- trolling practically eighty-five per cent of the mile- HISTORY AND FIELD OF WORK 25 age on the North American continent are making regularly monthly contributions toward the main- tenance of the work of the Railroad Associations and Departments. IX. The Field of the Railroad Association The large army of men employed in general ad- ministration, and a still greater number of men en- gaged in maintenance of way and structure, and the 400,000 men employed in maintenance and equipment, together with the 750,000 men employed in the transportation department — a total of a million and a half men — constitute the North American field of the Railroad Young Men's Chris- tian Association, and in so far only as it reaches this army of men with its sympathetic, plain, and prac- tical methods of Christian brotherhood and helpful service, administering to the needs of body, mind, and spirit, does the Association measure up to the possibilities of this field. It is for the economic, social, physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual wel- fare of this great army of men that these Associa- tions have been established at 250 division and ter- minal points in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Within the buildings that these Associa- tions occupy are found many if not all of the helpful and advantageous privileges of a well-conducted club; and many of them are so furnished and con- ducted as to give one altogether the impression of a 26 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK Christian home. The man coming in from a long, hard run, tired and dirty, finds bath rooms, a restau- rant operated not for profit, clean and comfortable rest rooms and beds, social rooms comfortably and attractively equipped. Library and reading rooms await his leisure and contribute to his intellectual needs. Moreover, he finds that all these privileges and the kind sympathetic service of the secretary in charge are vitalized and made attractive by the spirit of Him whose name the organization bears. These Associations are operated in a true spirit of coopera- tion. Here officials and employees meet on a com- mon platform, uniting in bearing the cost of build- ing construction and Association maintenance. The Associations offer very much more than ma- terial comfort and physical convenience. They pro- vide the railroad employee with opportunity for mental stimulus and spiritual development. The field of the Railroad Department of the Young Men's Christian Association is two- fold: first, all the railroad men in North America ; second, all the railroad man — physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual. A beginning only has been made in oc- cupying this field. The present membership rep- resents a little more than one twentieth of the great army for whose welfare it exists, and while it is true that a great many not in its membership are benefited directly and indirectly, it is also true that the larger majority of railroad men are yet un- HISTORY AND FIELD OF WORK 27 reached by the organization. The Association that does not win the railroad men and all the railroad man for Christ and the Church is not worthy of its place and opportunity, no matter how complete and attractive may be the equipment, how popular it is with the officials and with the men, how adequate are its financial resources. Unless it perseveres in a faithful, intelligent, aggressive, and constant en- deavor to attain the moral and spiritual purpose, its field is not fully occupied and its possibihties are unfulfilled. II ORGANIZATION CHAPTER II ORGANIZATION The independence of the individual Association is a fundamental principle of the Young Men's Christian Association. Such independence, of course, does not interfere with a unity of purpose and a fine spirit of harmony in the work as a whole. The various sections of the movement — such as the City and the Railroad, and the Student, and the In- dustrial — all are busy upon one definite and world- wide work for all classes of men. In a city the several organizations are generally branches or departments of the city unit. Thus, with a single aim the City Association is able to adapt itself to the needs of men of all groups and types of employment. I. Forms of Organization The following forms of organization, adapted to various types of fields, have been found serviceable in the development of Association work among Railroad men. 31 32 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK I, The Railroad Association This is the usual form of organization at a divi- sion point or terminal where no city Association exists. It is an independent, self-governing organ- ization. The constitution of such an Association should be simple and brief, yet covering adequately the following points: (i) Name and object of organization. (2) The membership qualifications and annual fee. Five dollars is the usual annual fee for a ticket that is universally interchangeable with other Rail- road Associations. Some Associations issue for three dollars tickets covering local privileges only. The general opinion is that a uniform rate of five dollars is desirable, and seemingly affords the only basis for a standard membership. (i) The Board of Management, This body is chosen from the membership by the active members of the Association, at a time specified in the consti- tution. Usually the Board is divided into three groups, one group being elected at each annual meet- ing to serve for a period of three years. For this purpose it is best to make the number constituting the Board some multiple of three. (2) The Officers. These should consist of a President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Record- ing Secretary, elected by the Board at its first meet- ing after the annual election. ORGANIZATION 33 (3) Standing Committees, These are appointed by the President subject to the approval of the Board, as early as practicable after the annual meeting. 2. Joint or Combined Associations In smaller places where no city Association exists, and where the railroad and town interests are closely related, it has been found possible to do a combined work for railroad men and town men. In such cases, however, assuming that the corporate support is extended by the railroad companies, the building should be located, planned, equipped, and managed primarily in the interests of railroad men. Great care is necessary in the management of such a joint Association that the young men of the town do not monopolize the privileges to the exclusion of the railroad men. Under such a plan of organization a proportionate share of financial support should be raised among the townspeople. 3. The Railroad Department or Branch In cities which have the metropolitan or semi- metropolitan plan of organization, the special work for railroad men should be organized as a depart- ment or branch of the general or city Association. This practice was made obligatory by the Kansas City Convention of 1891 (See Appendix D). In- 34 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK stead of a Board of Directors elected in the usual way, a Board of Management, usually nominated from the Railroad Department, is appointed by the President of the general Association with the ap- proval of its Board of Directors. Since 1889 the Evangelical Test is applicable to members of a Board of Management (See Appendix C). The Depart- ment is governed by its own by-laws, but conducts its work as an integral part of the Association move- ment of the city. As the general Association is legally liable for the financial obligations and morally liable for the type of work done in all the branches, it follows that the Board of Directors is entitled to full reports, at stated periods, of conditions and work done in the Railroad Branches. 4. Provisional Railroad Associations In cities where, for the time being, organic rela- tions cannot be established with the city Associa- tion, or at isolated division points where there is a temporary lack of men qualified for service on the Board of Management, the State, or International Committee, or Canadian National Council is author- ized by the Buffalo Convention of 1904 to become directly responsible for the conduct of the work, and to appoint the members of the Board of Manage- ment (See Appendix F). It is the policy to reorganize these temporary As- ORGANIZATION 35 sociations on the regular basis as early as practicable. II. The Board of Management The Board of Management of a Railroad Asso- ciation or Branch should be composed of not less than five men. Nine is a preferable number, and in exceptional cases a larger number may be used to advantage. These men must be chosen from the membership of the Association, and are eligible for the position only so long as they maintain member- ship standing. Since this group of men is responsible for the Association with all its interests, it is of the utmost importance that they be the most able and influen- tial men available. They should, as far as practicable, represent the various departments of railroad service, and also the different denominations represented by the churches in the community. It is sometimes advisable to have an Executive Committee, composed usually of the officers of the Association, with authority to act in emergencies when a full board meeting cannot be secured, such action to be passed upon by the board at its next regular meeting. I. Qualifications of a Member of the Board of Management (i) He must be a Christian of unquestioned 36 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK moral character, a man who lives out his reHgion in e very-day life. (2) He must be a member of a Christian Church, according to the Association test of active member- ship. He should magnify the Church, and in his Association work recognize the fundamental unity of Association and Church — commending the Asso- ciation on this ground to the sympathy and support of the Church. (3) He must be a man who can listen with patience and understanding to the ideas of others and who can fall in cheerfully with the decision of the majority. (4) He must be one whose interest in the Asso- ciation is deep enough to make him give the neces- sary time to the task in hand. The duties of the post are serious, in study and in constructive plan- ning; and some sacrifice of time and energy is un- avoidable. Regularity in attendance on meetings is indispensable in a Board member. (5) He should surely be one who is willing to contribute to the Association something in addition to his membership fee. 2. Duties of the Board of Management ( I ) The modern Railroad Association engages in extensive welfare work demanding considerable equipment and organization. The work is a large business enterprise. The Board should set an ex- ORGANIZATION 37 ample of decision and regularity in its own meet- ings, and insist that every detail of the business of the Association should be carried on in a manner above reproach. The Board is responsible for the standing of the Association in the community. (2) The Board should recognize in the Secretary, not a clerk, but a responsible and expert executive officer of the Association. It should counsel with him as such and be always sympathetic with him in his endeavor to fulfil his exacting task. They should see that he has opportunity to keep abreast of the movement by attendance upon Conventions and Conferences, and the Summer Schools, recognizing such as a legitimate charge upon the Association if it is to have the advantage of the world's experience in Association work. The Board should grant the Secretary a reasonable vacation each year. (3) The Board must take upon itself the re- sponsibility of keeping ever prominent in the work the ultimate aim of the Association — winning men to Jesus Christ and relating them to the Church. The Board can do everything in keeping to maintain the proper balance and essential emphasis in the various activities of the Association. III. The Membership Good results should, and no doubt do, overflow the immediate bounds of every Railroad Young Men's Christian Association building. Yet the As- 38 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK sociation which seeks to do a strong and telling work must recognize that its great opportunity to serve the Kingdom of Christ is in and through its mem- bership. It is, therefore, essential to inspire the members to self -improvement, to the cultivation of Christian character, and to service for others. De- velopment of the individual members multiplies the power of the Association and sets in motion forces for good that will continue until the end of time. The Railroad Association endeavors to avoid em- barrassing distinctions between those members who are professing Christians and those who are not, andy as a rule, the same form of ticket is used for both classes. It should be appreciated, however, that it is the evangelical church membership test for voting and office holding which insures an Association against drifting away from its religious purpose. This test is also necessary if the organization is to be a part of the general Association movement. Christian men should be solicited to join for service rather than for benefits, since to this class the Association must look for its chief strength and its volunteer working force. Information as to church affiliation should be secured on the application blank and kept in the membership records. The custom of interchange of tickets fosters the ORGANIZATION 39 brotherhood idea, and helps to develop the spirit of a world-fraternity. As a purely commercial proposition the privileges afforded could not be offered for the fees paid. The partnership of the Railroad Companies, which makes possible the work, should be understood and appreciated by the entire membership. There should be a spirit of real cooperation to maintain the Association and to make its work successful in every respect. Every member should be made to feel that he owes the Association more than his membership fee. It should be assumed that he is in sympathy with its Christian purpose and that he is willing to render some service in its accomplishment. IV. The Committees Notwithstanding the fact that no two Railroad Associations or Departments are alike, experience has demonstrated that, as a rule, there are certain well-defined lines of work which may be successfully promoted in all Associations and as rapidly as pos- sible men should be discovered to assume definite responsibility through committee service in carrying out the regular work of the Associations. The fol- lowing Committees consisting in the main of from three to five men are found in many of the Railroad Associations: Business or Finance, House, Mem- 40 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK bership, Social, Religious, Educational, Restaurant, Physical, and Boys. Each committee should, wher- ever possible, meet monthly. Occasional confer- ences, rallies, or banquets of the united committee force, with reports and brief addresses, will stimu- late interest. As helpful, however, as committee meetings may be, the vital thing is to get the indi- vidual at work. In some of the more remote rail- road terminals where regular meetings cannot be held a helpful committee service is still possible by working through individual effort. The prospective committee man should be given a definite idea of the nature of the work to be required of him and his acceptance should be confirmed by official appointment and notification. The securing of best available men to assume com- mittee responsibility is a vital matter to the Associa- tion membership. The kind of work to be done should be considered with the fitness of the man for the work. The prospective committee man should be told by the chairman of the Association's responsibilities and needs and the part expected of him, together with the probable amount of time required and what per- sonal expense, if any, is involved. It should be the aim of the Association officers and their executives to draw into fellowship and leadership the very strongest and best men in the community. Ill THE RAILROAD SECRETARY CHAPTER III THE RAILROAD SECRETARY The Railroad Secretaryship is an office of en- larging opportunity and significance, offering, as it does, an opportunity for the investment of life service by men eager to serve God among those who construct and operate the railroads of North America. There is no scarcity of men willing to enter this vocation; but, as the movement grows in numbers and extent, there is found to be increasing difficulty in securing men whose abilities, training, and unselfish lives, combined with certain essential personal qualifications, give promise of fruitful and continuous secretarial careers. The secretary is the salaried executive officer of the organization ; he is employed to spend his entire time in the interests of the Association in its work for the physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual wel- fare of railroad men. He is the organizer and director of the Association activities and forces, he is responsible for keeping in the forefront the true purpose of the organization and for commending it to those who judge it largely from the personality 43 44 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK of its employed force. While it is impossible here to describe fully all the qualifications desirable for this important position, it will be helpful to con- sider some which time and experience have demon- strated to be essential. Any man lacking these would do well to pause before thinking seriously of this vocation. I. Essential Qualifications (i) Christian Character and Purpose, A well- grounded Christian character, which is daily nur- tured by Bible study and prayer; complete personal commitment to the cause of Christ and to the high- est interests of railroad men; a faith courageous enough to stand firm in fields where there are few Christian associates but many enticements to com- promise and sin — all these are fundamental. Without such essential soundness, the most brilliant social and intellectual gifts amount to very little. (2) Good Health. The railroad secretary must spend long hours at his work, he must carry a heavy financial and administrative burden, every day he must face experiences that are a persistent drain upon strength and sympathies. To perform prop- erly these varied and exacting duties, a man must have health. No man without it is justified in en- tering the railroad secretaryship. (3) Business Ability, The modern Railroad As- sociation is an important business enterprise. The THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 45 secretary is responsible for the expenditure of large sums of money, which must be so distributed as to render maximum service; and he is held to the closest accounting for all funds. There are ad- ministrative problems by the score rising every day. Just those qualities that are needed for handling im- portant commercial enterprises are required in a suc- cessful secretary. He must guard against v^raste and extravagance. He must be ever alert for every legitimate means of increasing revenue — in times of business depression this fine quality has saved not only the credit but the very life of many Asso- ciations. Without a real talent for business, a secre- tary cannot successfully conduct a Railroad Associa- tion. (4) Leadership. The secretary who tries to do all the work has mistaken the aim of the Association and the nature of his own calling : he becomes merely the paid agent of an institution instead of being the leader of an association. He who cannot draw out the volunteer forces, inspiring men to work and dis- covering for them powers they never knew they had, is not fitted for the office of railroad secretary. The real leader very frequently is the most inconspicuous man in the procession: he is the man who takes his satisfaction in having put others in prominent positions, who is always persuading men to bear re- sponsibility for themselves, and who cares for the applause of men only when it goes to some one else. 46 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK The real leader never robs another man of the price- less privilege of service. Such leadership is abso- lutely necessary in the work under consideration; for its whole aim is, not to get things done, but to make men. (5) Love for Men, Those who, on the one hand, have looked upon the railroad secretaryship as a mere job and those, on the other, who have thought of it as a pleasant and profitable sinecure, have invariably paid for their mistakes with dismal failure. The results of this type of work do not always show like a dividend on a director's state- ment, and there are many disappointments and dis- couragements. A true love of men, next to supreme faith in God, is the prime force that will keep the secretary's spirit calm when the treasury is low, popularity apparently on the wane, and difficulties surely increasing. Since the aim is to make men, the man who does not really love men and earnestly desire to help them in Christ's name, cannot get through the long, hard grind, while if he has this flame of eager comradeship the darkest days are made bright and purposeful. (6) Tact. After all, tact simply means an ability to put one's self in the place of the other fellow. It does not involve mere diplomacy, it simply means active sympathy. He who has this quality can see all the truth in conflicting interests, bring together antagonistic personalities, and say the difficult, THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 47 necessary things in the kindest possible manner. The secretary's work is so much with ** people '' that he must have a fair measure of this kind of sym- pathy. (7) Industry. In the railroad secretaryship there are long hours and much hard work. The demands are irregular and exacting. It is well to face this condition at the very beginning. He who is a stickler for his specific rights and who takes down his hat the second the whistle blows will not be content in this work. (8) Thrift. As a general rule the size of a man's job in Association work is determined by the man and not by the enterprise. The job is con- stantly above and beyond the man. This means that every minute of time, every ounce of strength, every cent of money, must be conserved up to the very limit. The secretary need not be a miser to have a clear sense of thrift and an understanding of the principle that only he who husbands his resources of all kinds can stand the stress of a great crisis. These qualities are some of them inborn, while some are liable to be more or less undeveloped in early life. All are distinctly capable of cultivation. At least the possibility of these qualities should be clearly evident before a man seriously thinks of the secretaryship. They head up in that vital force, so powerful and yet so hard to define — personal- ity. 48 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK II. Additional Serviceable Qualifications The foregoing qualities are considered by the ma- jority of men of long experience to be essential re- quirements for this calling. There are others, how- ever, that are of great value. Some suggestion as to these may be of assistance in opening up lines of careful self -development in the interest of the widest efficiency. (i) Personal Appearance, The ordinary forms of polite society, while not the most important things in life, indicate and help to maintain proper self- respect. Dirty shoes, soiled linen, and an unshaven face have often stood between a really earnest man and his largest usefulness. It is easy to lapse from a slovenly person into slovenly work. The secretary may well keep a careful observance of the simple conventions of the best men among whom he works. (2) Teaching Ability, The day may have gone by when ability to teach may be regarded as a funda- mental requirement of the secretary, but this quality of imparting truth by the teaching method is a valuable asset. A secretary who can properly lead a group in Bible Study will find many occasions when he may put his talent in use. (3) Public Speaking, Many successful secre- taries have lacked this gift. Nevertheless, the abil- ity, which is often the result of faithful effort, to express one's thoughts clearly and forcefully in THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 49 public, is of value and, when used within reasonable limits for Association purposes, is useful both to the Movement and to the speaker. (4) Attractiveness. Artificial sentiment is. wholly disgusting but an ability to win the love and respect of men arising from a genuine desire to be friendly is a real asset in the secretaryship. \To win and permanently hold the love and respect of strong men, it is necessary first of all to merit them; and then also it is necessary that each man overcome the excessive reserve that is natural to us all, and be willing to share the best things of his life. The quality of " attractiveness '' is a by-product of sin- cerity and unselfish love. It would be possible to add to this list of qualities, but he who possesses the qualifications mentioned as fundamental and also some of those classed as de- sirable, has a working basis from which he may, if he will, develop a life rich in helpfulness to men. III. Three Practical Questions There are three practical and important questions that suggest themselves to the thoughtful inquirer regarding the secretaryship. I. Remuneration The secretaryship requires a man's entire time and undivided attention and does not offer financial re- turns equal to those of certain business and pro- so RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK fessional callings. It is well to face frankly this fact at the outset. It is true, however, that the average secretarial salary is somewhat higher than that of the average teacher or preacher. A compe- tent man is sure of an income sufficient for his needs, and in addition, finds a larger reward in the joy of the work. The Association pays for and is entitled to the secretary's entire time and strength, and in the faithful performance of his duties he will find no time to devote to other lines of work to add to his personal income. 2. Length of Service Whether the secretaryship is a life calling or not is dependent largely upon the individual. The great question is not so much, " How many years will I spend in this service?'' but, "Does God want me there now and have I any real contribution to make in that office for my fellow-men?" So long as a man's heart keeps young, his body reasonably strong and his spirit unabated, years tend to increase rather than lessen his value as a secretary. This is par- ticularly true of the Railroad Department where most of the work is among mature men. It is safe to say that, subject to the limitations of all callings, the railroad secretaryship offers a life work to a man possessing the qualities for that office. The dead- line has no fears for the live man. THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 51 3. Preparation and Training There is a growing feeling among the leaders in this movement that a man ought to have as a foun- dation at least a high-school training or its equiva- lent before entering the secretaryship. This may sometimes mean that a man will defer his entrance for a year or two while he devotes himself to special study. It is true that some men have succeeded with very limited educational equipment; but successful secretaries under such conditions are exceptional, and only unusual gifts should lead a man to offer himself for this service without this preparation. As the Railroad Department grows, it is becoming clearer that technical preparation in addition to high school or college training is desirable. The secre- taryship is becoming an office of such varied duties that technical training greatly increases the proba- bility of success. Four ways of obtaining such training are open to men looking forward to the secretaryship as a life work. (i) Personal study. This is the least desirable method except as an essential part of the other methods, but better than none at all. Diligent read- ing of Association literature, attendance upon Asso- ciation conventions and conferences, interviews with Association leaders, and participation in the activi- ties of the nearest Association will prove helpful. 52 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK (2) Experience as cm assistant. A man who se- cures a position as an assistant for two or three years has an opportunity to study the Association at close range and to gain valuable experience. Men have frequently accepted such positions at low salary because of the opportunity afforded for observation and training. (3) Summer schools. Railroad Secretarial Schools are held yearly in different parts of the United States and Canada. The course covers three seasons of from two to four weeks each. Technical instruction is furnished by competent teachers. Examinations are held and diplomas or certificates granted. The price for instruction is as low as is consistent with good work. If a man is not a gradu- ate of one of the regular training schools, he should not be encouraged to enter the secretaryship until he has had instruction in one of these summer schools or agrees to take such a course at the first opportunity. (4) Technical training. The establishment of Railroad Department training courses at the Asso- ciation Colleges will be increasingly recommended to the thoughtful young men desiring to more effi- ciently fit themselves for their chosen work as Secre- taries. The courses cover a period of two years and pro- vide for a diploma and degree. Information and catalogues may be obtained upon application to the Association Colleges. IV THE RAILROAD SECRETARY (Continued) CHAPTER IV THE RAILROAD SECRETARY (Continued) The personal life of the secretary will largely determine the value of his work as an employed officer of the Railroad Young Men's Christian As- sociation. As water never rises above the level of its source, so his work will never rise above the level of his real self. It is not the purpose here to lay down an exhaustive or rigid code of conduct but rather to suggest some of the habits that have in part contributed to the highest usefulness. I. His Religious Life No man can succeed as a secretary who becomes careless or indifferent in regard to the following vital points : I. Bible Study He who becomes so interested in organization, machinery, and reports that he neglects daily syste- matic study of the Bible is not fit for the secretarial office. 55 56 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK 2. Prayer It is the history of the movement that, without exception, the men who in the secretaryship have rendered enduring service have always been men of prayer. 3. Personal Work An unswerving determination to endeavor to lead men into the Christian life and into active Christian service is the measure of the secretary's desire to live up to the responsibilities and opportunities of his calling. 11. His Intellectual Life The railroad secretary must be a student. His work demands it both as a technical task to be mas- tered to its utmost detail and as an opportunity for leadership among men of knowledge as well as ex- perience. Academic training does not always make a student, and many of little academic training have by persistent effort become men of sound education and culture. The three great qualities of a true student are a desire for truth, persistent industry, and a passion for accuracy and precision. These do not apply to books alone. But books are the stored-up experience of the past. Through them we are enabled to know what were the mistakes of the past, we can begin where our THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 57 forefathers left off, and best of all, it is possible to actually become friends with the great men and women of all ages in the messages they have sent down to us. Read regularly, and then use up the odd moments of the day by having a book near at hand. Ten or twenty minutes every day and a little here and there besides will mount up in a year. Read broadly: the reading of the Bible will be made more interesting and profitable if there is a wide touch with other great writers. Truth is many-sided; we easily be- come blind by steady gazing. Read carefully: precise and accurate knowledge is the thing needed in this world; better a page grasped than a chapter skimmed, better a fact possessed than a hundred generalities hastily scanned. Read with others: it is a good thing to join a Chautauqua or local reading circle. Cultivate acquaintanceship with men of large information: in every community, however isolated,, there are always a few men whose companionship means intellectual stimulus. The faithful student brings to his work a mind stored with useful knowledge and disciplined to mental effort. III. His Relations to the Church There are some things for which a secretary must stand and also some things he should be very care- ful to avoid. S8 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK 1. What Should He Stand For? (i) Church membership. This is indispensable. Practical loyalty to the Church of Christ by the secretary himself must precede urging other men to similar allegiance. It is well, where possible and not inconsistent with denominational conviction, to unite with a church in a railroad neighborhood or one largely attended by railroad men. The matter of the transfer of his church membership should be given prompt attention by the secretary upon enter- ing a new field. (2) Church attendance. This is essential to his own spiritual health and also as an example to other men. It is well to attend one's own church at one service and to visit others in turn as frequently as possible. (3) Church support. The secretary should sup- port the church of his choice by his cooperation and financial aid. The fact that he is in Christian work increases his responsibility in this respect, and he should give cheerfully of time and money according to his ability. 2. What Should He Avoid? (i) Criticism of pastors and churches. Such criticism usually springs from partial knowledge and often reflects unjustly upon godly men. Concern- THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 59 ing Christian workers and institutions a secretary may well keep silent where he cannot praise. (2) Church office. Experience has demonstrated that it is wise for a secretary to avoid holding any church office that will lessen his freedom in attending and cooperating with other churches. This is es- pecially true in small railroad fields where churches are few and all need his sympathy and cooperation. (3) Preaching. While occasional gospel talks and Association addresses have a useful place in the program of the secretary, he makes a mistake if he allows himself to become looked upon as a preacher through the frequency of his filling pulpits or the unconscious assumption of ministerial affectations or manners. To fill a pulpit for a period of weeks involves probable neglect of Association duties if a man properly prepares for such services, while to present inadequately prepared addresses is an insult to an audience. Secretaries should never preach, and only on rare occasions occupy pulpits; and at such times only deliver simple gospel or Association addresses. (4) Church factions. Participation in any church division is unfortunate. Some secretaries have lost influence with a large part of the member- ship by becoming entangled in church disputes. A secretary should be broad in his church sym- pathies, glad to assist any effort whose purpose is to 6o RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK help men and extend the Kingdom of God. He should remember that the Church is not confined within the walls of any building or the limitations of any system of doctrine. IV. His Social Relations Every community, however small, has its social life; and this is as distinct and important an activity as any others in the community. Its effects are deep and far-reaching. To every Christian man this social life presents a duty and the secretary will also find there a great opportunity. The ideals of balance, wholesomeness, and Christian sacrifice are much needed in the affairs of social intercourse. The busy secretary will have neither the time nor the inclination to spend many hours in mere diversion, but at many points he may render service and in- crease his own efficiency by mingling with people. Needless to say, the secretary should be conversant with the ordinary forms and conventions of good society, so that he may cast no reproach upon him- self or the important office it is his to represent. V. His Relation to Fraternal Societies Brotherhoods, fraternities, societies and various clubs are found in practically every railroad com- munity and it often happens that a majority of the men within the field will be members of some one or more of these organizations. In his relation to these THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 6i fraternal societies the secretary may take one of several positions. 1. Non-recognition This is a short-sighted attitude, for whatever af- fects men in large numbers is worth careful thought and consideration. 2. Active Antagonism Experience has proved that this course leads to Association loss and regret. 3. Enthusiastic Cooperation In view of the many duties devolving upon the busy secretary, he will probably have neither time nor inclination for enthusiastic endeavor beyond the Hmits of the Church and the Association. 4. Discriminating Sympathy This would appear to be the wise attitude for a secretary to assume in his relation to these organiza- tions. The following suggestions may be helpful : ( i ) Never condemn save under grave conditions and for sufficient reasons. (2) Seek opportunities for help- ful contact; diligent search may reveal many more such opportunities than at first observed. (3) Praise where praise is deserved; to do this is only fair and will be appreciated. (4) Remember that 62 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK good men belong to these organizations and that many of them are doing much good. VI. His Relation to Community Life The secretary is a citizen, has a relation to the civic Hfe of the community, and cannot avoid his share of responsibility for civic welfare and right- eousness. He should have pride and interest in the community he serves and gladly cooperate, where feasible, in efforts towards its further beautifying and enlarging. He should be ambitious for its prog- ress and development. It is a serious mistake to see and dwell only upon the faults and shortcomings of the towns in which Associations are located, thereby offending good people to whom these places are dear. Wherever he may be placed, the wise secretary applies to himself the words of Paul, " I am a citizen of no mean city." Vn. His Relation to Reform Movements A difficult question frequently confronting a secre- tary is what his relation should be to various moral and reform movements. It is clear that he must be neither a coward nor a faddist. He is the former when he shrinks from acting upon his honest convic- tion and the latter when he rushes pell mell into every movement which calls itself " reform '' irrespective of its real merit or purpose. Consideration of the following questions may help a young secretary in THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 63 deciding wisely how far to participate in these move- ments. 1. Is It a Real Reform? Not every appeal that bears this name will stand the test of investigation. 2. Will It Help Railroad Men? The secretary is employed to work definitely for men of this calling. 3. Would Participation in This Movement Injure the Association? So long as a man remains a secretary he should place the Association interests above personal desires and sometimes above personal convictions. In his attitude he would certainly be regarded as a repre- sentative of the Association and he has no right to involve other men without their consent. 4. Is This a Movement Concerning Which Good Men Generally Agree? The practically unanimous judgment of the thoughtful and interested railroad men of a com- munity is almost a safe guide. 5. Will Time Permit? Few secretaries succeed in even approximately meeting the demands upon them in the work for which they are directly responsible, and can seldom afford any digression that is not important and im- 64 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK mediate. The best investment a secretary can make of his time is to do the work for which he is em- ployed. The mission of the Association is big enough to challenge the best there is in any man for the term of his natural life. It will be altogether to his credit if he concentrates time and attention upon his own inspiring task. 6. Shall a Secretary Accept a Place of Leadership in Reform Movements? Even if the questions already raised have been answered satisfactorily in the affirmative, it remains the first duty of a secretary to use other men in places of leadership in his own work or elsewhere whenever possible. Where reform movements are concerned there are invariably men competent and willing to assume places of responsibility, and the wise secretary finds his largest usefulness in leading such men into service. VIII. His Association Relationships In addition to the general relations already re- ferred to, a secretary has certain Association rela- tionships with secretaries and volunteer workers. To the consideration of such relationships attention may well be given. I. To Officers and Directors Men who are selected by Associations or specially THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 65 appointed to positions of responsibility, should re- ceive from the secretary due recognition. He should realize that the offices they hold carry with them responsibihty and power, but he should remember that these men are busy and do not expect to have their time taken up with matters of minor importance which a competent secretary ought to be able to adjust. The less men are bothered by minor affairs, the more willing they are to sacrifice time and strength to promote matters of real moment. A wise secretary is constantly cultivating these men by bringing to their attention news from the Associa- tion world and keeping them informed concerning the progress of the local Association. Some secre- taries make the mistake of cringing before men in office and fawning upon them. A secretary who is faithful to his opportunity is working upon a basis of equality with these men, an equality in which each should be glad to give preference to the other. 2. To Members The relation of a secretary to the membership should be characterized first of all by a spirit of per- sonal friendship. He who cannot win the friend- ship of the men whom he serves will never be able to enter into the highest privileges and joys of the secretarial office. No other duty is so urgent that it should be permitted to stand in the way of this. He should be an inspiration to the men, calling them 66 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK to larger service by the daring leadership of his own life. He will do well to cultivate in himself in his relation to other men the quality of patience. Many railroad men who have stumbled at first have been led by patient secretaries into lives of real service. 3. To Associates and Employees A proper understanding of the relationship be- tween a secretary and his associates and employees may prevent much sorrow and difficulty. He is not unjust when he expects service more than commen- surate with the salaries received, but he should do what he can to assure them such adequate remunera- tion as may be within the ability of the Association. He should be ambitious for their advancement and rejoice in their larger opportunities, even though their departure may involve him in some temporary inconvenience. He should be anxious to have them share in Association conferences and conventions and receive fair treatment in the matter of holidays and vacations. He should take pleasure in en- couraging them in their work and should not hesi- tate to admonish them kindly but firmly when occa- sion calls. He should be willing to spend time in training his younger men. Above all, the relation of the secretary to his associates and assistants and to the entire membership should be one of spiritual leadership. He should find the way in which he can THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 67 best enter into their inner lives, guide them in their difficulties and point out the path to victory. 4. To Agencies of Supervision Every secretary has an important relation to the Association agencies of supervision. He who fails to recognize such relationship does so at the loss of much that would be helpful to him and to the Asso- ciation he serves. The following suggestions may be of value : ( i ) He should keep fully informed as to the work of the World, International, and State or Provincial Committees. (2) He should see that their work is given publicity in the Association, the Church, and the community. (3) He should en- deavor to secure support for them from the Associa- tion treasury and from individual givers, and should personally participate in this privilege. (4) He should avail himself of their experience and counsel : this will save him from many unnecessary mistakes. (5) He should be free from unfair criticism. The demands for supervision are many, while but a limited number of men are devoting their time to this important work. (6) He should aid wherever pos- sible by counsel and service. 5. To Conventions and Conferences In connection with his relation to supervisory agencies there naturally comes the question of con- 68 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK ferences and conventions. His right relation to such gatherings will involve, first, cordial cooperation in securing delegates from the Association; second, participation either in the program or working force of the convention so far as practicable; third, loyal attendance at sessions; and forth, local utilization of convention suggestions upon return home. The secretary whose relation to conferences and conventions is marked by these characteristics will find the Board of Directors cordial in their approval of his attending such gatherings. 6. To the Secretarial Problem One of the problems in the Railroad Department today is the discovery of competent men for the secretaryship. A secretary has a relation to this problem from which he cannot escape. He should be eager to discover capable men for the secretary- ship and, having discovered them, to bring them to the attention of the supervisory agencies and do what he can to lead them to a favorable decision. He should encourage in every possible way Association Colleges and Summer Schools that they may become increasingly effective and useful. 7. To Other Secretaries No secretary lives unto himself. His work at many points comes in contact with that of his fellow secretaries in other fields and, unless a right relation- THE RAILROAD SECRETARY 69 ship be established toward them, embarrassment and misunderstanding are likely to ensue. The Secre- tary in his relation to his brother secretaries should be free from the critical attitude — to speak ill of a fellow worker is unprofitable, unkind, and un-Chris- tian; from jealousy — it is better to rejoice in a fel- low secretary's achievements than to fall prey to jealous resentment; from selfishness — every secre- tary will face hours when selfishness will become a real temptation, but to succumb to such a temptation will mean injustice to others and loss of character to himself. While a secretary should be free from these and other faults in contact with his fellow secretaries, there are certain qualities that should characterize friendly and brotherly relations. He should rejoice in their successes. He should manifest brotherly interest in them; a note of greet- ing sent to a young secretary or a word of sympathy in time of trouble, or just a note of fellowship are all evidences of comradeship and affection. He should profit by the mistakes of other secretaries. He should give credit to other men who do good work. He should be appreciative and charitable toward the work of his predecessor. 8. To Change of Field Most secretaries have occasion sooner or later to face the question of a change of field. It is essen- ^o RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK tial for a man who is facing this question to be in the spirit of prayer, for so much is at issue that un- wise action will be followed by useless regret. He should be free from haste and give ample notice of any change of position, for he is bound to consider not only his own interests but primarily the exten- sion of the Kingdom of Christ among men. He should carefully consider the needs and possibilities of his present position. By such an investigation, men have found the larger possibilities of the fields in which they have been working for years. Being convinced, however, that a change is desirable, he should then enter upon his new field courageously, daring to undertake hard problems, determined to conquer discouragement and bound, by God's help, to win victory. V BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION CHAPTER V BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION I. Importance Amid the mass of reasons that are given for the frequent changes in the general secretaryship, one stands out clear and alone. Though various con- siderations may affect the situation, the chief reason why men drop out of the Association secretaryship is because of failure due to poor business administra- tion. A neat building and a well-arranged program of Association activities are undoubtedly necessary in the conduct of successful work, but everything falls down if the secretary cannot prove his ability as a successful business administrator. The secretary is the confidential officer of the As- sociation, trusted with the responsibility of the busi- ness policy. In the final reckoning, it is he who is accountable for the money invested in the enterprise. The religious work of the Association is the center of the undertaking: that is quite true. But it must be remembered that lax business methods are not compatible with true religion, and also that the con- tinuance of the specifically religious work depends 73 74 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK absolutely upon the soundness of the business foundations. It can be easily understood that no excuse of pressure of other work will serve the secre- tary who fails at this vital point. II. Features of Proper Business Administration 1. A Comprehensive Plan The general plan for the year's business adminis- tration operations ought to be worked out and put down in black and white. This is done always in the affairs of large corporations and in the conduct of the vast and complicated business of the modern civilized nations. Business operations are by their very nature precise, and they are successful only when planned with precision. Every railroad secre- tary should give the most careful attention to the planning of the business administration. *' It is one thing to plan your work, and another to work your plans." The plan must be made to be zvorkedj, and if this is not possible then a new plan is needed. But an intelligent plan consistently car- ried out will result in a systematic, comprehensive, and effective business administration that will win the confidence of the railroad company, the member- ship and the community. 2. The Budget A railroad Association must have an operating in- BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 75 come that is a little larger than the operating ex- pense. There is always a double process going on : first, extending the income to meet the real needs of a progressive work ; and second, cutting expenses so as to bring them within the actual realized income. Unless there be known in advance approximately the amount of income and the amount of expenditure, how is it possible to bring these two figures together with any assurance that the Association will be square at the end of the year? A budget is absolutely necessary. In a budget the estimated income and expenditures are put down in detail. Month by month the secretary should check his work by the budget; so that if the estimated ex- penditures are being exceeded, a readjustment may be made in time to correct the overbalancing of the Association's financial standing. This budget will necessarily be based upon the operating income and operating expense of former years. The budget should be prepared by the secretary in cooperation with the finance committee and should be adopted by the Board of Management at the be- ginning of each fiscal year. If for any reason dur- ing the year the amounts appropriated are found to be insufficient, no one has any authority to incur expense beyond the appropriation unless the appro- priation is increased by action of the Board. The following outline of a budget is suggested as a proper distribution of the various items of income 76 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK and expense. It is based upon the Uniform Book- keeping System now largely used by the railroad Associations. The general plan of classification will be found adaptable to the needs of any Association large or small. The general arrangement should not be changed. Suggested Budget estimated expense estimated income Administration Salaries Office expenses Telegraph and tele- phone Conferences and conventions Auditing State and Interna- tional Commit- tees Miscellaneous Maintenance of Building Labor Supplies Repairs and replace- ments Baths Billiards Bowling Bundle Laundry Commissions Contributions Discount Dormitory Interest Lockers Membership Miscellaneous Railroad Appropriations Restaurant Salable Mdse Candy and gum Cigars and tobacco General Refreshments BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 77 ESTIMATED EXPENSE ESTIMATED INCOME New equipment Vending machines Heat Miscellaneous Light Water Insurance Miscellaneous General Expense Interest Loss on Collections Taxes Miscellaneous Departments of Service Baths Billiards Bowling Bundle Laundry Dormitory Labor Supplies Laundry Repairs and Re- placements New equipment Miscellaneous Educational Religious 78 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK ESTIMATED EXPENSE ESTIMATED INCOME Restaurant Labor Food supplies General supplies Ice Repairs and Re- placements New equipment Miscellaneous Salable Mdse Candy and gum Cigars and to- bacco General Refreshments Vending ma- chines Miscellaneous Social 3. Adequate Accounting There are several functions of accounting. Among the more important are the following: (i) To indicate where losses and gains occur. In order to determine the result of operation as either a gain or a loss it is necessary to record all items of income and expense, not simply the cash received and disbursed. If this is to be ac- BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 79 complished, the following books will be necessary: Cash Receipts Cash Pciyments Voucher Register — (for the recording of all bills when contracted) Journal Ledger Bookkeeping conducted on the basis of cash re- ceived and disbursed will not show a complete state- ment of income and expense, because all cash re- ceipts are not necessarily items of income and all cash payments are not necessarily items of expense. Even though they were items of income and ex- pense they might relate to a period previous or sub- sequent to that in which they were recorded, there- fore such a statement would not be an actual statement of income and expense for the month. Because of these conditions it is necessary to have other books than those recording cash receipts and payments. (2) To make possible statements of financial standing. With a system of bookkeeping based only on cash receipts and payments it is impossible to show inventories, accrued accounts receivable, prepaid expenses, accounts payable, unredeemed coupons, notes payable at the bank, etc., all of which enter into a statement of financial standing. There- fore, to make possible a true and complete financial statement, we must have books that will accommo- 8o RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK date these accounts and show their monthly fluctua- tions. (3) To offer accountability of moneys handled. Care should be taken in recording cash receipts and payments to indicate fully the transaction to which they relate, to the end that a satisfactory account- ability may be rendered. 4. Banking Without exception all money received from what- ever source should be promptly deposited in the bank to the credit of the Association in the name of its treasurer. All accounts of the Association should be promptly settled by voucher check signed by the treasurer after the proper approval certifying that the expenditure is within the budget appropriation. To facilitate the payment of small incidental ex- penses, for which it would not be convenient to draw a voucher check in the usual way, the treasurer is authorized to advance to the secretary a petty cash fund out of which these incidental charges can be paid. A careful record of such expenditures should be kept, and on presentation to the treasurer of a statement, substantiated by proper evidence of pay- ment, the sum so expended will be restored. 5. Auditing In addition to the Auditing Committee of the BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 8i Board of Management there should be a regular audit of the Association's accounts at least once each year, and by an expert accountant, at the expense of the Association. A similar audit should be made whenever there is a change in the secretaryship. 6. Bonding As a safeguard to the Association as well as an evidence of businesslike methods a surety bond should be required from the secretary and treasurer and all employees handling cash, the expense of which should be borne by the Association. 7. Deduction Orders Some railroad companies grant the use of deduc- tion orders, for which coupon books are sold and membership tickets are issued. This practice in many instances works to the disadvantage both of the men and the Association. It encourages the men to live on credit and to live extravagantly. They are much more prodigal in the use of coupons than they would be if they were paying cash. The Association is liable to loss on collections, as many times it is impossible to know whether the man who signs the order has sufficient time to his credit to cover the deduction. Where coupons are used it would be better to honor them only for membership, meals, and beds. 82 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK III. Membership Tickets Experience has proved the necessity of giving as accurate an account of the issuance of membership tickets as of the handling of cash. Too firm a stand cannot be taken for the strict enforcement of a pol- icy that will insure such accountability. A properly kept membership record and one that may be accurately checked, should furnish the fol- lowing information: Name, position, division or department, cash or pay order deduction, date when fee is due and when paid, number of annual card issued. If refund is made for any part of fee paid, date, check or petty cash receipt number and amount of refund should be given. It is very important that membership tickets be numbered consecutively, signed by the Chairman of the Board of Management and issued by the Treas- urer in lots of not more than twenty-five at a time and never countersigned by the secretary until ticket is given to the member. The annual ticket should never be issued until the full amount of the fee has been paid. IV. The Secretary's Responsibility Shirk it as he may, refuse it if he will, in the final analysis, as the paid executive officer of the Asso- ciation, the responsibility for the proper business management rests primarily with the secretary. Di- BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 83 rectors are men engaged in other callings, and the time and attention which they give to the Associa- tion are in the nature of volunteer service. It is probable that more criticism has been aroused in Board meetings because of incomplete financial re- ports than by any other one cause. It is absolutely essential that at the regular Board meeting a true financial statement should be presented. One item that should be available at every Board meeting is a complete list of all outstanding bills, and the cor- rectness of this list should be vouched for by the secretary. Inability to exhibit these facts in a sim- ple, orderly, and convincing fashion has cost more than one man his position. Simplicity and accuracy should characterize the business administration of every organization bearing the name Christian, and this condition will only obtain where the secretary appreciates his responsibility, not only as religious leader, but as a business administrator. V. The Secretary's Personal Financial Integrity The secretary's personal integrity is his most valu- able business asset — looseness here will bring dis- credit and dishonor to the Association. The influ- ence of a professed follower of Christ in any com- munity is determined even more by his unimpeach- able honesty, his living within his income, and his promptness in paying his household and other bills, 84 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK than it is by his church membership, or his pubHc profession. Unless the former are present the lat- ter become a reproach. Whatever his salary may be, his living expenses must be within this amount. That he may meet his obligations requires that he should receive his salary when due. This should be done even if the Association must borrow money temporarily to meet salary payments. VI MEMBERSHIP CHAPTER VI MEMBERSHIP I. Purpose The membership of a Railroad Association should properly be a great partnership and should be regarded as such. If it really is so, every member will be on the Membership Committee, every mem- ber will be out asking others to come into the part- nership. To be sure what is everybody's business is nobody's business; nowhere in our modern life in America do we trust to haphazard methods to se- cure sound results ; but it is well to begin at this end of the matter. The body of the membership should always be viewed not as a field to work in, but as a tool to work with. Every member, even the man who is not a Christian, should be made to feel that his membership means an opportunity for service and not primarily the opening up of privileges. He may not be able to do a great deal for the Association at the beginning, but at least he might try, during the first three months of his membership, to bring in one new member. 87 88 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK Many organizations* nowadays take in members simply by the payment of a fee without any process of instruction, initiation, or recognition. Thus, the new member has really no part in the organization nor any idea of its aims and significance. The As- sociation should do otherwise. Personally and by means of printed matter, the new member should be thoroughly instructed in the terms of his partnership and made to feel that, as each member does his part, the Association will succeed. In the whole question of membership, the impor- tant thing is to make the membership actually a part- nership and to make each member understand that he is a partner. II. Organization If the general situation is as previously outlined then the appointment of a Committee on Member- ship will not result in taking the burden of promot- ing the Association off the individual member. That burden will be lightly and gladly borne by the man who feels he is a partner. But if this spirit does not exist, the entrusting of the task of enlisting new members to a small committee will surely end in the members caring very little about such work. Under the proper conditions the Committee of Membership becomes simply the organizing and di- recting force of a whole body of eager workers. The Committee is needed to prevent missing whole MEMBERSHIP 89 groups of probable members in some cases and the overlapping of effort in others, and to keep the worker ever on the alert. The Committee should have a Chairman charac- terized by patience and energy, and the Committee should have upon it a sub-chairman from every de- partment of railroad service or affiliated service com- ing within the field. This Committee should survey carefully this whole field and make sure that every point is covered. Each sub-chairman in charge of a department should then gather around him workers who can really accomplish things in influencing their fellows. These have the two-fold purpose of fostering the spirit of brotherhood and partnership among the members and of keeping always alive the desire to reach out for others. Properly these men can help train the members in approaching others, indicating the general method of presenting the work and pointing out clearly the value of a high and uncom- promising proposition. The Association should provide for this service the proper membership application blanks and the proper forms for recording the receipt of money. The Secretary of the Association generally takes charge of membership books and all such records. Beyond the service of securing new members, ex- perience shows that permanent membership growth depends largely upon the immediate relation of a 90 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK member to some active work within the Association. A sense of cooperation in effort is the soundest basis for real partnership. If an Association is in first-class working condi- tion — the building clean and attractive, the spirit brotherly and homelike, and the whole atmosphere dignified and stimulating — experience shows that a steady-working committee, using direct and indirect efforts, can accomplish better results than are ob- tained in a " quick canvass " for new members. There are times when critical conditions make the " quick canvass " desirable, but generally future work is made very difficult by the use of such a method. All organizations for enlisting new members will, of course, fail of real success if members cannot be led to feel their identification with a great brother- hood, now world-wide, having at its heart the spirit of true friendship. VII REUGIOUS WORK CHAPTER VII RELIGIOUS WORK I. Object The Christian motive runs through all the work of the Railroad Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association. It is just this that differentiates it from those organizations commonly known as Rail- road Clubs. Every part of the work of the Asso- ciation is Christian, *' religious" in the best sense; every piece of service, be it ever so simple, is done in the name of Christ : but the full measure of the Association's purpose would not be fulfilled if it failed to carry on a direct and vigorous and intelli- gent Christian propaganda. This is the crown of the Association's effort, this is the realization of its religious aim. Put briefly, such work should have for its two- fold aim: (i) To bring men into a saving rela- tionship to God through Christ; (2) To develop Christian character and Christian service. Every- thing that is done can be made to further this aim. 93 94 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK II. Plan and Organization The only safe policy to follow in any work of importance is to plan every detail carefully well in advance. The program of religious work in a Railroad Association should be worthy of the wide mission of the organization and include every form of useful efifort that can be successfully carried out in its field. This program should be put in writ- ing, so that the progress of the work may be checked up from time to time. Also, it should be drafted in the summer, preferably during July or August, and should be ready to be put into opera- tion not later than the first of September. A very simple organization may be found quite adequate to the needs of the work, but it must not be neglected. At many points it may be very dif- ficult to get together a Religious Work Committee; but, even if only three or four men fit to serve can be found, such a committee should be formed. Only thus can a beginning be made of enlisting the membership in the most serious business of the As- sociation. This Committee should cooperate with the secretary in planning and executing the pro- gram of religious work. One simple arrangement has been found useful in many Railroad Associations. It involves a Com- mittee divided into four sub-committees, each hav- ing a sub-chairman in charge. RELIGIOUS WORK 95 Suggested Organization for Religious Work I. Suh Committee on Features Within the Building, 1. Meetings. 2. Lobby Talks. 3. Bible Study. II. Suh Committee on Features Outside the General Building. Chairman i. Shop meetings and classes. FOR 2. Neighborhood and Home Bible Study. Religious ] 3. Bible Study by correspondence. Work 4. Special meetings in churches. 5. Extension. IIL Suh Committee on Individual Christian Service. 1. Personal evangelism. 2. Care and visitation of sick and injured. IV. Suh Committee on Work for Men in Home and Foreign Lands, Some Railroad Associations are employing spe- cial religious work secretaries who give the whole or a part of their time to the promotion of religious work. Wherever possible, this plan is strongly to be commended. Of course, such a secretary is not employed to do all the religious work; he is an or- ganizer of the forces, freed from other responsibili- ties so that he may devote special study to the specifically religious problem and may thus help to promote plans that will include all the staff and all the membership. The results of such an arrange- 96 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK ment justify absolutely the wisdom of setting aside a man for this work. The Association should be prepared to spend money freely on the prosecution of religious work. Strangely enough, some Associations that will pay ten dollars for a prestidigitator will balk at spend- ing the same amount to secure a speaker for a re- ligious meeting. The title '* Christian '' is written over the door of the Association, to promote the spread of our faith is the Association's chief func- tion. What possible excuse can there be for a mean policy in this department? There are many legiti- mate expenses connected with this work and a thor- oughly adequate provision should certainly be in- cluded in the regular budget. III. Standards The railroad man's habits of work are by their very nature irregular. The Association is called to meet the railroad man at and in connection with his work. All plans must therefore be based upon the principle of extreme flexibility. Take the man where he is when it is convenient for him. Meet- ings should fit the needs of time and place, Bible study should be so arranged that little groups may meet as occasion offers; everything should be made as easy as possible for the men in whose interest the whole of this enterprise is being carried on. It is RELIGIOUS WORK 97 only fair to say that the employed officers should be ready at any time to make way for a great religious opportunity. Some attempt has been made to standardize the religious work of the Railroad Association. The following is a suggestion : 1. At least two meetings a week of an evangel- istic character, either within or outside the building. 2. At least one Bible group meeting a week for every one hundred members enrolled. 3. At least one interview each day with a mem- ber who is not a Christian, the object of the inter- view being to lead him to a definite decision. 4. A missionary fund, however small, for the work of the Young Men's Christian Association in foreign lands. It is more than probable that this method of standardization will be improved upon and greatly extended within the next few years. In the mean- time. Railroad Association secretaries may test their Association quite accurately by putting this standard upon their religious work and ascertaining whether they are above or below standard. IV. Bible Study The Bible is the storehouse of Christian knowl- edge and the creative center of Christian power. The recognized principle that no organized Associa- tion can fulfil its mission unless it maintains at 98 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK least one weekly Bible group, is believed in today more firmly than ever before. There is no more certain method of making a lasting impression upon men than by assembling them as regularly as pos- sible for the study of the Scriptures. The Bible group in all branches of the Association has been a prime agent in winning men to the Christian life; and men so won generally prove staunch and per- severing Christians, for they have taken the step in knowledge and understanding and have taken into their lives a safe-guard against the difficulties and temptations of the future. Wherever there is any considerable body of resi- dent men, the organization of a Biby Study Depart- ment — working under the Religious ,Work Com- mittee — should be attempted. A few successful methods are noted here: I. The Bible Study Club This method has been worked out with wonder- ful success in many Railroad Associations. The men meet for supper and a time of social fellow- ship, then they go at once into one or more Bible groups. Where there is a regular attendance of twenty to twenty-five men, there should be at least two groups. The informal discussion or conversa- tional method is the most successful among railroad men. RELIGIOUS WORK 99 2. Every-day-in-the-year Club The idea of this form of Bible study was orig- inated by Dr. Bull in the columns of Association Men. It has been remarkably successful among railroad men, and is capable of large adaptation and expansion. Every Association should make a vig- orous effort to organize and maintain a club of this character. 3. Bible Study by Correspondence This method has proved itself completely. Re- markable results have attended this form of Bible study where men at isolated points have been reached for the Christian life solely by this agency. The work should be carefully supervised by one of the qualified employed officers of the Association. It will not succeed without careful and constant pro- motion. The man in charge should be prompt in sending out lessons and answering letters. He will be called upon for personal advice frequently and should be able to give it with authority. A careful enrollment should be kept of all students in good standing, and the number of lessons returned per week may be counted as average attendance. Dis- tance is no barrier in the prosecution of this work, provided the supervising officer does his work methodically. 100 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK V. Meetings Meetings are valuable in two directions: they promote a social spirit, and they enable a number of men to be reached at once with the Gospel mes- sage. They should be arranged so as to reach the largest number possible. This should determine the time and place of such meetings. Frequently it will be found that a meeting outside the Associa- tion building will reach a larger crowd than one within its walls ; in such a case, the secretary should not hesitate to make use of the larger opportunity. Meet the men where they are. It is, however, a wise principle to hold regular meetings in the Association building. Even if these meetings are small they help to maintain the Association in its place as a distinctively religious organization. The atmosphere of the building is toned up by the singing of hymns and the forceful presentation of the Christian message within the reach of every frequenter of the place. The Committee on Religious Work should study the situation with special reference to seizing every opportunity, within and outside of the building, to touch men with the life-giving message of Christ. One caution is to be observed. A religious meet- ing should be definitely religious. Nothing is gained by thinning-out the message. The speaker who wins men is the speaker who has Christian con- RELIGIOUS WORK ' loi victions and who speaks them but in a straightfor- ward manner. There is compromise enough in the life of every Christian, since we all are human; let our witness to truth be clear and unmistakable. Certain special types of meetings have yielded ex- cellent results. 1. Meetings for Prayer Sometimes it is possible to arrange for a suc- cessful weekly meeting for prayer in the Rail- road Association. Even a small meeting may help greatly in developing the spirit of intercession and thus training men in the most important type of Christian service. It is hard to see how a successful work can be built up unless there is real prayer — each man meeting God simply and in his own par- ticular way. A well-planned observance of the week of prayer has often resulted in a great stimulation of interest in prayer. 2. Informal " Social Sings " There is nothing men like better than to gather around the piano to sing old familiar hymns. Such a little gathering can often meet successfully on a week night and may be followed by a short talk. It is sociable, familiar, and often makes it possible to strike closer home with a personal message than is ever possible in the larger and more formal meet- 102 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK ings where there always is a certain restraint in spite of every care. 3. Lobby Talks In the social rooms, either at noon or during an evening hour, when the men are gathered about, it is often possible to introduce effectively a short " lobby talk." The plan in such a case is to omit singing, Scripture reading, and prayer, and have the exercise take the form of a short address, not over fifteen minutes long, on some aspect of character building. When the occasion is thus informal and social, it is often possible to drive home strongly pertinent sug- gestions regarding the problems men face every day. 4. Special Meetings When the proper leader can be secured, and a proper basis laid in personal work, a series of evan- gelistic meetings held daily or several times a day for a short period will undoubtedly produce real re- sults in the lives of the members and in the com- munity. Easter week is a good time in which to hold such a series. A special effort at such a time helps to gather in the results that should follow a year of persistent effort. Such a series may be held in the Association building, and it has frequently been found advantageous to include both the men and their families in the invitation to attend. One awakened member in a family frequently leads sev- RELIGIOUS WORK 103 era! of the others to decide for the Christian Hfe at such a time. It is needless to add that such an effort should be begun and sustained in prayer. Neither the speaker nor the workers can of themselves save any man ; it is God who must work these miracles in the human soul. Therefore, it is imperative that the staff and Christian members should endeavor as best they can to create the conditions of obedience and waiting upon God under which, as experience shows. He can best work through men for His high purpose. VI. Personal Service and Evangelism After all, comparatively few men are able to preach the Gospel to large audiences with compel- ling power, but every Christian can do a kindly act or say a friendly word in the interests of the man next to him; and, indeed, the preacher's power is often the result of faithful and quiet men who go about dealing hand to hand. Through the power of personal friendship almost any result can be achieved in the lives of men. Beecher once said : '' The longer I live, the more confidence I have in those sermons where one man is the minister and one man is the congregation; where there is no question as to who is meant when the preacher says, * Thou art the man.' " Personal service is the kind of service that really 104 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK counts, and personal evangelism is the final ex- pression of service to our fellowman. It is not a forced method of work; it is nothing unnatural; it is offering to the man we would help the best we have. So it is that we should approach a fellow- man simply and naturally and win our way into his real self, taking care that we do not break into the sanctity of his soul before we have invited and won his respect and affection. Beginning with the Sec- retary at the head of the Railroad Association down through to the last member, there should be culti- vated the desire to be constantly reaching out to- ward men who are not Christians in the endeavor to offer them that Gospel which has really seized hold on the heart and life of each one. At this point above all the secretary must lead. He must be able to reach men himself, and he must be ever alert to see that no man in any department of his Association — physical, social, educational, or what not — shall be passed over. Out of the mem- bership he can surely draw men in addition to his staff who can be trusted to help so that no man who is not a Christian will pass through the year with- out having the great opportunity offered. I. The Training Group for Personal Workers Every secretary will probably find it best to or- ganize a special group for training in personal evan- RELIGIOUS WORK 105 gelism under the leadership of one who can furnish competent instruction and inspiring example. The Yoke Fellows Band is probably the best known form of such an organization; the members to engage regularly in conversations with men, and report their experiences at a: weekly meeting. Such a group will find it profitable to study such books as Stone's *' Recruiting for Christ/' Jowett's " Pas- sion for Souls/' Trumbull's " Individual Work for Individuals." The members of the Band should be kept diligently at their task and those unwilling to fulfil their covenant should be dropped. Those who engage in this work should be made to feel that it is a work of pure Christian friendship, that it must be carried on in a spirit of true courtesy and consideration for the sacredness of the lives of men. At the same time it is necessary that they understand that this is not a question of theory but a very practical matter. Tact is desirable, but con- tact is imperative. They must be up and at their job. When a man has taken all the precautions he knows how to take, he must go ahead in earnest and risk the chance of making some mistakes. This work is a habit to be cultivated. If not worked, it falls into disuse. 2. First Steps in Personal Evarugelism This work is not easy. Experience, however, io6 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK suggests many ways in which the purpose of Chris- tian friendship can be fulfilled and the way opened to deeper things. Here are a few : (i) Every man may join in the service of the Association by inviting others into the membership or asking them to attend meetings. Both these ap- proaches often lead to a deeper friendship and an opportunity to raise easily and naturally the ques- tion of allegiance to Christ. (2) A simple gift of a wholesome Christian hook or pamphlet has before now made it much easier to talk — discussing the considerations dealt with by the author. (3) The practice of writing to a friend a heart- to-heart letter has helped some workers who are backward in conversation. Remarkable results have followed such correspondence. Here is a wide field for personal evangelism capable of in- finite extension. 3. The Regular Interview Unless the secretary has a definite plan for the interviewing of members who are not Christians, the work is likely to go by the board. He should have enough regular interviews to cover the field. A permanent memorandum, always before his eye, will serve to keep him keyed up to his duty, the ap- pointments being entered at once upon a daily cal- endar. Experience shows that this work does not RELIGIOUS WORK 107 suffer by being carried on in a business-like manner. Often these interviews may be accomplished best in a system of house-to-house visitation. This is among the most successful plans yet evolved for pre- senting the claims of Christian life and service. It is preferable that two men go together and the evening is the logical time. The basis of contact, here as elsewhere, must be that of friendship, and there must be no air of superior goodness on the part of the visitors. The issues should be stated frankly, difficulties met by constructive suggestion, and the necessity for decision courteously pressed. Remarkable results have attended work of this char- acter. Accurate records should be kept of all men who are interviewed with relation to the Christian life. This record should be kept strictly up to date and the various men should be followed till they have become identified with some church. 4. Difficulties (i) Most of the difficulties encountered are in the personal character and life of the man who is not a Christian. The personal worker has to oppose to such difficulties the attractiveness of his own life, and the reality of his spirit of service and Christian experience. His one reliance is in frankness and sincerity, reporting only his real experience with Christ and the possibilities of a life with Him. It io8 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK cannot be too often repeated that true friendship wins the day. " Jesus sought to make His disciples specialize in friendship." The gymnasium, the social room and the evening classes are all wonder- ful opportunities for the forming of such relations. Every human friendship that is true and unselfish is a picture of the Divine. (2) In spite of all the men who, as Dr. Stone has put it, are making their poor minds bear the responsibility of their indulgent bodies, there are many honest doubters to be met with in the day's work. The mistake is generally made of trying to settle all a man's doubts at once with a set of logical answers. Such men ought to be encouraged to begin with what they have and act upon it at once. Real doubts must be worked through. Christian experience develops out ajid up and the doubts slough off. Where a man has grasped, however inadequately, the great fundamental of Christian belief and life, and is endeavoring, however imper- fectly, to fashion his conduct according to the teaching and example of Christ, he should be en- couraged to declare himself. With his face toward the light, he will have no difficulty in adding to his belief as he goes on. Encourage the sound habit of putting truth to the test of life. For the man who is merely making his doubts his excuse, frankness, however gentle, is necessary. Great good will often be accomplished by showing RELIGIOUS WORK 109 him the folly of self-deception and the futility of trying to deceive others. 5. Personal Service in Times of Difficulty and Sick- ness Those who are sick or injured or in any other trouble should certainly appeal to the Christian spirit of service. A small group of the most alert and tactful Christian men in the Association should be appointed to the important work of bringing cheer and encouragement to railroad men who may be sick or injured. By keeping in touch with rail- road offices, hospital authorities, company physi- cians, and the homes of railroad men, information may be quickly secured. It should be generally known throughout the community that care and visi- tation of the sick and injured is a part of the Asso- ciation's work. It is understood, of course, that this unselfish form of individual service is not lim- ited to the membership. Such unselfish service freely rendered makes it all the easier to present the Christian message when the time comes. It shows forth a kind of Chris- tianity that appeals to every kind of man and woman in the community. VII. Meetings Outside the Building I. The Field Every place where a considerable number of the no RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK men are congregated, and where leisure is afforded for thirty minutes at some hour of the day or night, may be considered a promising field for religious effort. Shops, yards, freight houses, and the like, are challenges and opportunities. 2. Getting In It is of the utmost importance that every such effort should be sanctioned by those in authority be- fore anything is done, and permission and co- operation should be sought. At every point in the work, the counsel of those in charge should be sought. Two general lines of service have been success- ful: (i) The Meeting. This usually consists of music, prayer, and a brief evangelistic address. A committee of the workers employed can accomplish wonders if really behind the effort. (2) The Bible Group. A weekly Bible group handled by a skilled leader can be established in many an unpromising place. Such groups should follow a definite line of study, deal with central Christian facts, and be carried out with business-like promptness and decision. The leader must be a leader rather than a teacher, a friend of the men without a trace of the air of patronizing. 3. The Home and Neighborhood Bible Groups For some railroad communities, it is possible to RELIGIOUS WORK in promote Bible groups in homes. A successful class will be the best advertisement for this type of work. As a general rule it has been found advisable to hold a meeting of prayer and song for the men and women together followed by separate groups — one for the men and one for the women. Bible groups may often be established in railroad boarding houses. Tactful and skilled leaders are necessary for such groups. VIII. Conservation of Results It is certainly to be expected that out of the regu- lar program of religious effort there will result the bringing of men to the point of Christian decision. Earnest and prayerful effort among vigorous men seldom fails ultimately to produce large results. But he who has decided for the Christian life has made only the first step on the road; he is at the beginning of his experience. The Association would but poorly perform its work if it left a man just there. The Christian life is a great struggle and a great adventure, and to live it in its fulness is no simple task. The Association should endeavor to confirm each man in his decision and help him to meet temptation successfully and advance in Christian character and service. A few suggestions in this connection may well be put down here. I. Each new convert may well be tied up to some 112 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK Christian man who will be a friend in the first diffi- cult months of the new life. This insures that no accidental neglect shall occur. 2. Each new convert should be urged to add to his Christian knowledge and experience by faithful attendance on a Bible group and the Association meetings. He needs knowledge in order to grow. 3. Each should be given some piece of definite service at the very earliest opportunity. Every small piece of work done for the Master means a renewing of allegiance to Him, and gives an oppor- tunity for the expression of the newly- found re- ligious aspirations. Beliefs which do not issue in action soon die. The new convert should be kept busy in the interests of his fellows. 4. No man has gone the whole way till he has entered the church of his choice and thus made himself a part of the permanent and fundamental Christian institution commissioned to make over this life into the Kingdom of God. By every means in its power the Association should press the im- portance of church membership and especially bring every new convert into church fellowship at the earliest possible opportunity. IX. The Association's Outreach I. Deputation Work Frequently it has been found possible for an As- sociation to form a band of strong Christian mem- RELIGIOUS WORK 113 bers who are able to go out themselves to conduct services at nearby points. Gospel songs and simple, sincere testimony are sufficient to make up the pro- gram of such meetings. This means a large serv- ice in many cases, and is a great thing for those who participate. 2. The Foreign Field Each Association should plan to have a real share in the promotion of Association work in non- Christian lands. Interest may be aroused and stimulated by holding occasional public meetings in the interest of Foreign Work, by the distribution of printed matter, by the use of the bulletin board, and in various other ways. In some sections of the country the Railroad Associations on one system have united in assuming the support of a secretary. The money is usually secured from the rank and file of the membership. 3. The Home Field Coupled with the promotion of foreign work should be the furthering of the program for exten- sion work in the home Association field through the State and International Committees and the Cana- dian National Council. In inviting men to cooper- ate, a real service is rendered them. The Committee in charge of such work may well arrange for occa- sional meetings during the year for the presentation 114 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK of the united work of the North American field, in the United States and Canada, which may be fol- lowed by giving men a personal invitation to have a part in the promotion of the general work. X. Conclusion The foregoing outline is only suggestive. It is not comprehensive enough to include every Associa- tion and is intended simply for a fairly systematic summary of some of the leading lines of work now being successfully prosecuted. It is presented in the hope that it may help to lead to a more serious con- sideration of the central objective of the Association. The religious work of the Association is never com- plete. It ought to be constantly expanding just as fast as the means and the men will permit : we should never be satisfied! VIII SOCIAL WORK CHAPTER VIII SOCIAL WORK I. Importance The Railroad Association conceives all of its work socially. The fundamental objective is Chris- tian and religious, but its methods even in this de- partment as in others are social. The development of the social spirit is absolutely essential if the work is to be successful; and the religious, physical, and educational departments will all be working at a disadvantage if this spirit remains undeveloped. Some experienced leaders maintain that the efforts directed toward the definitely social service repre- sent the weakest side of our work. Lately, how- ever, much attention has been given to this depart- ment ; and there is much to encourage the hope that soon this fundamental consideration will take the place to which it is entitled. II. Aim and Plans The social program of a Railroad Association cannot be fixed. It must be very flexible, and must be constantly changed and adapted as it develops. 117 ii8 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK As long as men's social needs keep expanding, the Association will have to expand to meet those needs. As a matter of fact, there is no well-developed philosophy of Railroad Association social work. There has been a good deal of navigation without chart or compass, as is evidenced by the wreckage floating about in the sea of Association experience. Every secretary should, approach the question with all the patience and wisdom he can muster, and per- sist in experimentation. For there is much need for the discovery of fixed principles, and every honest investigator may have a part in establishing these. Results are slow in this field: it is necessary to caution against the " do-good-quick " method. Plan carefully in this work. Check up results constantly by comparing with the plan — which ought to be reduced to writing — so that every step of progress may be noted. III. The Approach to the Problem In order to meet the social needs of railroad men, it is necessary to know just what those needs are. Study their social condition — what creates that condition, wherein it strengthens character, wherein it weakens character. Try to see the di- rection of its development. The worker must with- hold himself from the fascinating pursuit of solv- ing the Social Problem and devote himself to the simpler task of understanding social conditions. SOCIAL WORK 119 Such a process requires patience and resolution, and above all scientific temper of mind combined with dispassionate common sense. Daily experience in contact with railroad men is the basis of any such knowledge. The social conditions of railroad men to a certain extent reflect the social conditions of society in gen- eral. This is the age of social unrest, and every- where social reform and social reconstruction are in the air. This spirit is disturbing and yet en- couraging, for it does not create problems but ex- poses them. The Railroad Association secretary is a phy- sician seeking to alleviate the social ills of the rail- road men and their families. By the methods of social pathology he must discover the nature and cause of the ailments before a cure can be effected. History counts as well as present condition, and there is no panacea for all evils. Any physician bears a great responsibility and his remedies must be applied to the deep-seated causes his diagnosis has revealed. Failure to appreciate the fundamen- tal importance of social intelligence has caused the failure of many secretaries. The Association must aim to meet every social need that lies within its range of service. If it fails to do this, it must answer for social perversion, for neglect surely produces perversion. Sin's easiest approach to the railroad man is through his social 120 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK nature. Experts affirm that his patronage of the saloon and his practice of other harmful habits are a result primarily, not of physical desire, but of social neglect. IV. The Spirit of Social Work The Association must attract by its sociability. And sociability is a condition rather than an act ; a spirit, rather than any form. Real sociability can spring only from a genuine love of men and a de- sire to show that love actively. Love is the ful- filling of the law socially as well as morally. To attract by sociability, to create a social atmos- phere, to be ** social '' — means sacrifice of self to the common good. The secretary must learn the Master's love and show it in social relations as He did. His social aim must always be to bring men into the Kingdom of God and lead them to know the Lord of the Kingdom. Social life must be spiritualized and religious life socialized. A conviction of the necessity of a proper view of the whole roimd of social relations will develop the methods necessary to promote a wholesome so- cial life within the Association and in the com- munity. V. Duties of the Social Committee I. Committee Meetings (i) Regularly, and at least once a month. SOCIAL WORK 121 (2) Chairman responsible for securing at- tendance. (3) Chairman and General Secretary to pre- pare in advance a concise list of points for consideration. (4) Chairman to report monthly in writing to the Board. Responsibilities (i) Attend committee meetings. (2) Share their plans for the year with the President and General Secretary. (3) Cooperate at every possible point with the other committees. (4) Individual members of the committee ac- cept responsibility for directing given phases of the work; for example, one man responsible for pool and billiard tournament, and one for new members' reception, one for special entertain- ments, etc. (5) Further develop the spirit of home and friendliness within the Association. IX EDUCATIONAL WORK CHAPTER IX EDUCATIONAL WORK Every Railroad Association is under a definite obligation to provide some form of educational fa- cilities for the members. The extent of this obli- gation varies, being determined largely by the local conditions governing the other activities of the As- sociation. The obligation is sometimes evaded, but it should be recognized that it does exist; and it ought to be seen according to its merits. In some cases this might only involve a larger use of the reading room and library, the promotion of a read- ing course, or the giving of a series of practical talks ; while in other cases it would involve a heavier program with a schedule of classes for instruction in various subjects of interest to those in railway service. I. Survey of the Field The first duty of an Educational Committee is to determine the extent of the educational field of the Association with the opportunities and limitations involved. This may be determined by a survey of the field, looking into a local condition affecting 125 126 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK educational work. The survey might well include a determination of the occupied local field, such as public night school, commercial school, correspond- ence school, schools for railroad employees, public libraries, and lectures, perfected by others. It should include a determination of the unoccupied field as suggested by the number of men who are employed in local shops, offices, and road service, and by the nature of the work required of the men and boys. Such an investigation aids in determin- ing (a) the kind of instruction needed, that is, whether general, commercial, or industrial; (b) subjects most likely to be in demand; (c) kind of instruction that should be given, that is, day or evening; (d) mistakes of educational agencies; (e) library efficiency; (f) types of talks and lectures desired by men; (g) clubs which can be formed naturally among them. Whatever the possibilities of the educational work of an Association may be, such work should be in charge of an educational committee, responsi- ble for the conduct and promotion of educational activities. 11. Form of Committee Organization A suggestive form of committee organization is shown in the following paragraphs. The chairman and at least three others should constitute the Educational Committee. EDUCATIONAL WORK 127 1. Instruction section (instruction given in the building) . 2. Library section (library and reading room). 3. Extension section (lectures, practical talks, and classes to meet the needs of non-English speak- ing employees and others). Sometimes excellent committee men have been developed from among those who are holding the more responsible positions with a corporation. On every railroad may be found young men holding good positions who are constant students, readers of good books, and some of them would welcome an opportunity for service in this department. III. The Instruction Section This section is responsible for the conduct of all features of instruction given in the building or in any place selected for that purpose. The program should continue the year round, providing local con- ditions will admit of it. Perhaps the heaviest work would occur during the winter or early spring months, but the summer and fall should receive due consideration. Motion pictures or stereopticons may be used on the veranda or other open spaces on the premises in the cool of the summer evening. The work of this section of the Committee includes the planning or preparation of advertising matter and solicitation of students, the consideration of the qualifications of instructors employed upon the rec- 128 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK ommendation of this committee, and matters of ad- ministration in connection with these educational classes, lectures, talks, and clubs, conducted in the building as Associational educational features. The educational program of each season should include a series of lectures and practical talks, planned far enough in advance to be connected and constructive. Some subjects that have been popu- lar with men in road service in the nature of prac- tical talks or discussions are: Break-downs; Sig- nal Service; Train Rules; Electrification of Equip- ment; Locomotives; Air; Coal; Fire Boxes and Boiler Construction ; Lubrication ; Proper Handling of Explosives; Safety First; First Aid to the In- jured. It is desirable that some official of the company or companies interested be present to help guide these discussions so no conclusions may be reached at variance with the policy or practice of the com- panies concerned. Very satisfactory results are obtainable by mak- ing use of films of a semi-scientific nature. Many of these may be secured from reputable firms with- out charge. Travelogues in motion and still pic- tures are popular and truly educational. Many of the great railroad systems have an Intelligence Bu- reau with a fine equipment of slides descriptive of the scenery along their route. Usually an applica- EDUCATIONAL WORK 129 tion by the Association for their free use will be honored by these companies. IV. Library and Reading Room I. The Library All efforts that tend to make the library and read- ing room a center of educational influence consti- tute the legitimate work of the library section of the Committee. This section should be familiar with the methods used by Public Libraries to popu- larize their use. In cities where there is an up-to- date city library, many Associations are not buying new books, but are cooperating with the city libra- rian, making the Association a repository, with practically no expense to the Association. It should be the policy of the Committee to retire obsolete books and keep only the best on the shelves. When it comes to adding books to the library there must be some fixed rule to avoid complications. It has proven satisfactory to have a certain sum vouchered monthly or quarterly to the Educational Committee for the purchase of new books. A plan that is sometimes followed is to have a special fee charged for books just added to the library for which there is a large demand, this to continue until the books are from sixty to ninety days in the service. 130 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK The Committee should fix upon a policy as to the class of books that are to be added to the library — whether science, history, poetry, fiction, biography, etc., and endeavor to determine the right proportion of each class. It is well to remember that a library is not properly judged by its total number of vol- umes, but by the average number of times its books have been loaned. Reading Clubs for cultural pur- poses may be promoted with proper effort. Certifi- cates following examinations or Reading Courses are issued by the International Committee on re- quest. Another type of helpful work done by the Com- mittee is to arrange for talks in the parlors of the building on the lives of the men and women who have written the books on our library shelves. 2. The Reading Room One of the first duties of the Committee should be to endeavor to standardize the reading material — monthly, weekly, and daily. The needs and tastes of those already using the room and the prob- able wants of those not patronizing it should be carefully considered. A well-balanced list of publi- cations should be the aim of the Committee. Space should not be given to ultra-propagandist publica- tions, and publications that are prone to create di- vision between members should be excluded from the files. Too large a list of publications is not EDUCATIONAL WORK 131 wise. It is a safe rule that no publication be added, whether by gift or purchase, until it has had the approval of the Committee. Great diligence must be exercised to keep the files free from publications surreptitiously inserted by outsiders. Bulletins neat and brief attract the at- tention of discerning men and are much appreciated. Book reviews and periodical bulletins serve a good purpose when posted in properly designated places in shops and offices. It is well to remember that an obsolete bulletin has a tendency to spoil the effect of a new one. Properly marked covers for all weekly and monthly publications are a necessity in a well-organized reading room. Newspapers very largely form the basis for building up a constituency in the reading room. More than one copy of a favorite paper should be provided if the demand justifies it. V. Extension Section The work of the Extension Section is to reach and influence men educationally wherever they may be found within the territory of the local Associ- ation. This includes educational lectures and prac- tical talks, given at the noon hour or other times in round-houses, shops, freight houses, yards, con- struction camps, or neighborhoods. Regular programs may be carried out with suc- cess in the various centers during the noon hour. 132 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK When such work is contemplated, the management of the company should be consulted and the plan outlined, an endorsement secured, then a competent committee from the shops should be selected on whom much of the responsibility should be placed. The stereopticon and motion picture ]:nachine are very popular in this type of meeting. The committee chosen should be of such standing and strength as to assume very largely the manage- ment of all the meetings. Such topics as a study of Contagion; First Aid; Safety; Thrift; The Bal- lot and Voter; Tuberculosis; ^Welfare Agencies and Their Work in Our City; Immigration; European People ; Asiatic People ; Travelogues — America and Abroad; United States Mint; Post Office De- partment; the Army and Navy Department; and similar subjects may be made very entertaining and instructive. The promotion and conduct of clubs that may be formed naturally among any group of men and that foster some educational features is another type. Clubs for the study and practice of thrift offer ex- cellent opportunity for the Association to prove its true interest in the wage-earner if wise leadership be furnished. Following thrift lectures, good re- sults may be obtained by organizing members into groups for the putting into practice of the teachings of the course. Opportunities frequently come for cooperating EDUCATIONAL WORK 133 with the railroad companies in the conduct of some of its welfare work. Some such subjects as Safety First, First Aid to the Injured, are most common. Frequently splendid service can be rendered by or- ganizing clubs of employees, engaged in the same department — such as the Interchange Department of the master car builders. At the noon hour in shops, clubs for the study of American history and current events have been successfully promoted. The Apprentice Club meet- ing on company time and premises under Associa- tion leadership is another productive form of service and is very much appreciated. These classes also may be conducted in the Association building, after working hours, with good results. The promotion and conduct of educational classes in outside points where such service can be rendered, is another type of work. In both the club work and the class work, the securing of competent leaders and teachers lies within the province of this Com- mittee. One of the opportunities for service is the teaching of English to the foreign born. VI. Association Publicity To keep the Association before the general public in the most efficient manner, a systematic plan of publicity should be adopted. The daily newspaper and religious publications offer splendid opportunity for keeping friends advised, and creating new in- 134 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK terest. The issuing of the annual and other reports that are for informing members and supporters should be assumed by this committee. An excel- lent opportunity is offered by the use of the com- pany bulletin boards for the posting especially of such information that is of general interest and calculated to give a more thorough knowledge of the Association work. Letters to the membership, regarding special, future, or past events have a strong tendency to create a more intelligent and sympathetic support. The foregoing form of Educational Committee organization is sufficiently flexible to allow the use of any portion of it as may be desirable. It may be necessary, however, in the case of small Asso- ciations, to have a general Educational Committee, consisting of but three members, charged with the promotion and conduct of such educational work as may seem possible under local conditions. The work of this committee would naturally include the collecting of the annual periodical list, promoting reading courses, practical talks, and lectures of an educational nature. X PHYSICAL WORK CHAPTER X PHYSICAL WORK Railroad men need physical exercise as much as any other group of men, in order to develop and maintain that health and strength so essential to insure efficiency and hence success in life. There was a time when most road and shop men secured all the physical activity they craved or needed in the course of their daily duties, but con- ditions have been changing in recent years until now but a small proportion of them are called upon for physical exertion in the ordinary routine of their work. This explains why during the past few years there has been a great increase in the interest of railroad men in gymnastics and athletics, particu- larly the latter. The gymnastic class work that has been so suc- cessful in City Associations has not proven as satis- factory for road or shop men, although giving splendid results among office men. The reasons are quite obvious. The office man has regular working hours indoors and his employment is of a mental type. When the day's task is over he feels the 138 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK need of muscular activity and the gymnasium class held at a regular convenient time best meets his re- quirements. While the shop man has regular hours largely of indoor work, there is sufficient physical exercise in his job to take away the keen edge of desire for more, unless the element of recreation or competition enters into it; the result is that only a few shop men participate in regular class work in the gymnasium but many are keenly interested in athletic games and competition. The road men, however, have such irregular periods of being at any one place at any definite time that it has been found more difficult to develop any class or group work among them. These con- ditions are now fully realized and methods are being discovered and tested for meeting these problems so that at many division points and terminals large numbers of railroad men are participating in base- ball, both indoor and out, tennis, soccer, football, track and field athletics, lawn bowls, croquet, as well as volley ball, basket ball, and bowling. Swimming and camping facilities are being utilized wherever they are conveniently obtainable. To successfully promote any of these features leadership is essential. A camp, a field, a swimming pool or a gymnasium without a leader is like a school without a teacher. Experience has demon- strated that the most successful leader is some mem- ber of the staff who has had both training and ex- PHYSICAL WORK 139 perience in promoting physical training. A man of initiative and adaptability who has the ability to get close to railroad men, is essential. The best equipped man who can be secured is needed for this work and success can be looked for in proportion to the type of leadership and faciHties provided. A group of five or seven interested and progres- sive men will be needed as a Committee to cooperate with the leader in this work. It is important that there should not be frequent changes in the per- sonnel of the leadership. This is comparatively a new line of activity and progress will necessarily be slow. Frequent changes will result in set backs and a failure to profit from the experience of others. In some fields it may not be possible to find a suitable member of the staff as leader. In such instances a volunteer or a committee of volunteers can successfully promote a limited number of recre- ative or competitive physical activities, particularly where local surroundings make certain activities easy to arrange, such as baseball, athletics, or camp- ing. Emphasis should be placed upon the recreative and health phase of physical exercise rather than the combative. The competitive spirit should be introduced to stimulate interest, but should not be given chief prominence. The desire to win medals or to win at any cost should be eliminated. Group and team contests of various kinds are proving of 140 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK great interest at many points. Advantage is being taken of the natural groupings of the men, such as Office vs. Shop or Road Men, or Carpenters vs. Boiler Makers or Machinists or Blacksmiths. A course of preparatory training can be arranged which will make the series of games, league, or tournament more than a single effort. Handball is a game that is particularly well adapted to road men as it can be played by a few men at any time. It gives splendid all-round exercise and in addition holds the interests of players for many years. Vol- ley ball is another game that is suitable to all types of men and can be played by a few or many for a short or long time. Both of these games are popu- lar either in or out doors. XI RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT CHAPTER XI RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT Leaders in the Railroad Department of the Young Men's Christian Association are placing proper emphasis on the importance of the restau- rant in the Railroad Association. Where this fea- ture of the work is properly conducted more men are found using the privileges and taking a vital interest in the various activities of the Association. The restaurant creates a social atmosphere in the building, renders a real service to both the men and the railroad company, and ought to provide a small net revenue for Association purposes. I. Location The restaurant should occupy rooms in the main building, but not the most prominent. They should be easy of access and so located as to be in full view from the general office of the Association. II. Construction The most essential features are economy in serv- ice, and sanitation. Each department should be 143 144 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK roomy, light, and well ventilated. These conditions are necessary for successful operation. 1. Kitchen This should be fire-proof throughout. If the main building is of brick this is easily accomplished ; if of wood, concrete should be used for the walls of the kitchen, hollow tiling for the partitions, and patent plaster for walls and ceilings. Floors should be of hard wood, with concrete base under range. 2. Serving Pantry This should be located between the kitchen and the lunch and dining rooms. It should be easy of access to both, carefully arranged and equipped, and presided over by a competent employee. 3. Lunch Counter and Dining Room The lunch counter is more economical than the dining room. However, under certain conditions, tables may be used to advantage. The lunch coun- ter should be of the most approved type — this does not imply the most expensive — built for sanitation and quick service; of horse-shoe pattern with cherry or mahogany top; body of counter placed on iron brackets or supports eighteen inches from floor; drawers on inside for linen, silver, etc. ; a buflFet and urn stand between counters. RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT 145 4. Store Room This should be substantially constructed ; of ample size to hold several months' supply of foods; ac- cessible to kitchen; with one outside entrance; well ventilated and lighted, and perfectly dry ; with con- crete floor with good drainage to permit hosing down. 5. Refrigeration Proper refrigeration is of utmost importance. The best is the most economical. Sufficient space should be employed, with different compartments for certain food materials. Many of the larger Asso- ciations are installing refrigerating plants. These should be thoroughly investigated before installa- tion. 6. Comfort Facilities for Employees Separate rooms for male and female workers should be provided and conveniently located. 7. Cashier's Desk This should be located so as to command full view of lunch counter and dining room; also, the supervision of cigar counter, fruit, and candy stands. III. Decorations A pleasing color scheme should be used through- 146 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK out the entire department. Furniture and decora- tions, such as painting, shades, curtains, should have a relative correspondence to each other that will be pleasing to the eye as well as serviceable. IV. Equipment 1. Kitchen Ample refrigeration ; a sufficiently large and sub- stantially constructed range; a supply of aluminum cooking utensils; a steam table of approved type; three sinks, for pots and pans, vegetables, silver and glassware ; a good dish-washing machine ; vege- table parer; bread and meat slicers; serving tables; meat block ; bake ovens ; and other necessary equip- ment with suction fans and canopy over same. 2. Auxiliary Store Room Shelving; sufficient covered containers for all loose materials; small scales; measures; desk with proper books and report blanks to keep careful rec- ords of all supplies issued. 3. Lunch Room Coffee urns; tea and milk containers; sufficient refrigeration; glass or screened compartments for bread, pies, cakes, and all ready-to-serve foods; buffet for display purposes; comfortable stools fas- tened to floor proper distance from counter and from each other; brass rail running entire distance RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT 147 outside of counter, anchored to both floor and coun- ter, for foot rest ; overhead fans and indirect illumi- nation. 4. Dining Room Square or round tables to seat from two to six persons; tables to have solid tops, to be built for strength; comfortable chairs; table-cloths and nap- kins, and good quality of silver and china ware. 5. Store Room Sufficient shelving for all purposes ; bins for vege- tables; covered containers for all loose supplies; racks, hooks and other proper facilities for handling and storing foods; one pair of large platform scales; both wet and dry measures; books and rec- ord blanks for keeping careful account of all goods received and issued. 6. Comfort and Rest Room Facilities Shower and tub baths; lavatory with hot and cold water; toilet, mirror, lockers; hooks and chairs. 7. Cashier's Desk Good cash register with proper differentiations; cases for cigars and tobacco, candies, etc.; proper blanks and record books for accurate and systematic reports. 148 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK V. Purchasing 1. Credit Undue emphasis cannot be attached to the impor- tance of good credit for the following reasons : (i) The buyer who discounts his bills earns a sure profit of one to four per cent trade discount on gross purchases. (2) Successful buyers estimate an advantage of five per cent in first cost purchasing power in favor of the party who discounts bills. (3) Good credit has a direct and valuable bear- ing on the relationship between seller and customer. Successful salesmen are anxious to demonstrate, by comparative tests, their line of goods and give the benefit of their experience concerning different grades and brands with which they are familiar. Moreover, the man who discounts his bills enjoys the business confidence of the entire community in which he lives, an asset that cannot be measured in terms of money. 2. Miscellaneous Buying On account of the wide range of detail we are confined to general principles. While buying effi- ciency can only be developed to its greatest value through practical experience, there are, however, some principles which can be applied as first aid to such experience, (a) A thorough knowledge of RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT 149 market value covering cost and quality of different brands and grades of merchandise is essential; (b) quality is not always determined by price; (c) know your field and its business relationship to your buy- ing needs. (i) Canned goods. All canned food products should be purchased by comparative price, quality, and quantity tests. The market value of canned corn, peas, tomatoes, beans, and certain kinds of canned fruit is largely determined by the section of the country in which they are grown and packed. This also applies to all lines of dried fruits. Dried fruits are market graded — extra fancy, fancy, and choice. The same market value conditions apply to navy beans, rice, and cheese. (2) Futures, Use extreme caution not to over- buy. Prices should be guaranteed against market decline. (3) Meat. The market value of meat is more closely related to its selling price than almost any food product which enters into restaurant opera- tion. As meat represents the largest single outlay in operating cost a thorough buying knowledge, covering quality, different cuts, and market price is a first essential. Such information can only be ac- quired by practical experience. (a) Fresh Beef. The classes of carcass beef are steers, heifers, and cows. They are graded — prime, choice, good, medium, common, and canners. 150 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK General division of fresh beef cuts are — loins, ribs, rounds, chucks, plates, flanks, and shanks. These are subdivided into hotel cuts known as bone- less, sirloin, sirloin butts, loin ends, porterhouse ends, and loin backs, which are all cut from the beef loin, together with spencer rolls and shoulder clods which are cut from the fore-quarters. (b) Veal and Lamb. Veal is marketed either by the entire carcass or divided into hind and fore quarters. Market divisions of lambs are, hind sad- dles, racks, and stews. (c) Ham and Bacon. Buy only the best quality of sugar-cured hams and bacon. The difference in cost-price of cheaper grades is lost in cutting, with the additional sacrifice of quality. Best quality hams range from twelve to seventeen pounds, bacon strips four to five pounds. (4) Coffee. One thousand is a conservative es- timate of the different brands on the market, all produced from ten or twelve different kinds of cof- fee. Buy the grade which gives the best results by test. (5) Tea. Buy the best the market affords. Quality can be determined only by cupping. VI. Receiving A careful receiving check should be made of all goods purchased. Shortages in merchandise or RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT 151 weight should be immediately reported by party in charge of store room. 1. Storing Merchandise represents money in a different form and is subject to loss through many causes. There- fore, great care should be exercised in conserving its value. (i) Fresh meats should be stored in a tempera- ture of thirty-five degrees. Refrigerator should be kept dry and clean at all times. All fresh vege- tables, milk, fish, and butter should be stored in separate compartments. (2) All dried fruits should be stored at a tem- perature of forty to fifty degrees. (3) All canned goods or package merchandise carried on store room shelves should not come in contact with plaster or concrete walls. A ventilated platform, ten inches high, should be provided for all food products carried in bins, barrels, and other containers. The temperature of the store room should be seventy degrees. 2. Issuing Supplies All supplies carried in store room should be issued on requisition from manager. Daily record of same should be kept in permanent record form for easy reference. 152 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK VII. Preparation and Service The preparation and serving of wholesome food is both a science and a distinct contribution to Chris- tian service. Cleanliness is a first essential. Prep- aration and service is the final process of convert- ing raw material into revenue and is, therefore, subject to all operating charges, such as provision and service cost, over-head charges — consisting of rent, light, heat, water, laundry, and miscellaneous expense — to which should be added equipment depreciation and building maintenance. Conse- quently all this requires efficient business manage- ment. Provision cost is the largest financial outlay and should represent a percentage cost of gross revenue in keeping with prices received for finished food products. Such cost should be accurately and sys- tematically determined covering each item of food service. We have not reached a satisfactory stand- ard of provision cost until we serve the best grade of food obtainable on the market at a service cost that will not only hold but add new trade from time to time, and finally show a satisfactory income for money and time invested. Although a high standard may obtain in prepara- tion, the public will largely judge the efficiency of the work by the service. Cleanliness, courtesy, neatness, and promptness are fundamentals which, RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT 153 applied in their relationships, will return large divi- dends. VIII. Competent Employees 1. Securing It is of vital importance that special emphasis be placed on securing employees who represent the highest grade of character, for the preparation and serving of food in our Railroad Association res- taurants. Employees should be secured from the community or as near by as possible, this being gov- erned by local conditions. It is an unwise policy to secure employees from employment agencies. The recommendations of faithful employees is of value. 2. Training The standards of life and conduct set by the sec- retary and manager have a direct bearing on the growth and training of new employees. Patience and care should characterize the attitude of the man- ager in their training. Discipline should be admin- istered only after thought and never in the passion of anger. Employees who are disloyal or incom- petent should not be retained in the service. 3. Keeping The retaining of faithful and competent em- ployees is a valuable asset. Reasonably short hours of labor, vacations with pay, Christmas remem- 154 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK brances, sick benefits, get-together parties, annual automobile rides, and proper comfort facilities, have been found helpful in procuring this result. Ad- vances in pay for added responsibilities have a di- rect bearing; also, cooperative helpfulness should be emphasized in the dealings of the Association with the restaurant employees, as the largest success of the Association is much dependent upon their loyalty and efficiency. XII BOYS' WORK IN RAILROAD COMMUNITIES CHAPTER XII BOYS' WORK IN RAILROAD COMMUNITIES I. Importance The boys of railroad communities are a most productive field as yet little cultivated by the Young Men's Christian Association. The fact that they are a difficult problem does not justify the lack of effort in adapting Association methods to the pe- culiar and striking needs among them. A large proportion of these boys are sons of rail- road men and are in real need of the Association influence. Perhaps more than the average boy they afford the natural channel through which the Asso- ciation can v^ork most effectively for influence in the home, in the churches, and in the schools. In fact, it is through the boys that the Railroad Associ- ation can best cooperate with most of the insti- tutions and activities that determine the moral and religious standards of the community. It is not surprising that a large percentage of these boys are thinking in terms of railroad work 157 158 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK for their future vocation. The engineer is the hero and ideal of the average boy in the railroad commu- nity. The boy's ideas of play, as well as work, are built upon his knowledge of railroad duties, whether his father is an employee of the company or not. The average boy of a railroad community is the company's prospective employee for a respon- sible position in the future. By taking advantage of this natural condition, and helping these boys to build character that will resist temptations of rail- road life a few years hence, the Association accom- plishes a three- fold result : an inestimable contribu- tion toward efficient railroading in the future; the development of future leadership for the Associa- tion; and accomplishment for the present of some measure of the real objective of the Association. In most instances the Association's opportunity and responsibility for the boys of the railroad com- munity rests wholly upon the Railroad Department. There is usually no city Association sufficiently ac- cessible, even though there be one in the same city. The Railroad Department needs to train boys' work secretaries not only as representatives of the Rail- road Association direct, but in many instances to be the railroad community representative of a City Association in certain centers where a regular Rail- road Department is not possible. The training of such leadership will result in much larger emphasis BOYS' WORK 159 on both the equipment and non-equipment type of boys' work in railroad communities. II. Methods Experience has demonstrated that work among boys cannot wisely be conducted in the rooms used by railroad men. That the presence of boys will drive away the railroad men seems to be an unalter- able fact. A separate building for boys, as a de- partment of the Railroad Association, has been suc- cessful where tried. Such a building ordinarily need not be pretentious or expensive, and might be found possible by many Railroad Associations that have not given the question serious consideration. The boys themselves, with proper leadership, can often secure with surprising ease the necessary funds for equipping such a building, and possibly in some instances the funds for the building itself. The maintenance of such work falls properly upon the community rather than on the railroad com- pany, and there is no feature of Association activity that appeals more effectively for community sup- port than the work among boys. However, at least for the present, there will con- tinue to be many Railroad Associations that for various reasons do not find it possible to provide a separate building for boys. With these Associa- tions there are possibilities perhaps equally large in i6o RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK the form of Extension Work either without equip- ment or with only club centers. With the boys organized into small groups or clubs it has some- times been found easily possible to secure as head- quarters a room in some school building or other accessible public center. The salary of a Boys' Work Secretary, together with other expenses, has been provided with comparative ease in certain com- munities where as many as ten groups or clubs could be organized with ten boys to a group, each group having its regular schedule of activities promoted with a school room as headquarters. The primary essential is not equipment, nor even a club room of any kind, but strong personality with the quality of boy leadership embodied in the Association's secre- tarial representative. This leader should be able to share his responsibility not only with some of the older boys, but also with certain adults who possess the right qualifications and can be trained. How- ever, the underlying principle for success is neither equipment nor organization, but personality in lead- ership. Perhaps it would be fair to state that it is nine-tenths personality and one-tenth organization and method. There are many ways of doing boys' work successfully if there is the right personal in- fluence; but without it, there is no way to success. Leadership of, or cooperation in, the Boy Scout movement affords one of the attractive possibilities for the Railroad Association. Summer camps also BOYS' WORK i6i are being recognized increasingly as one of the great opportunities that merits careful consideration of a larger number of Railroad Associations. Hikes, gardening, and baseball are included in the program that has passed the experimental stage. When any Railroad Association gives prelimi- nary consideration to the general question of boys' work, care should be exercised lest this feature be- come a tangent taking the attention of the Associ- ation from the work for which it is primarily re- sponsible to its members and the railroad company, and for which its equipment has been secured and adapted. The first step toward launching a success- ful boys' work program is to make sure that the established work among railroad men is on a sane and successful basis. Then if the effort among boys is promoted intelligently, it will tend to strengthen the original work among men instead of detracting from it. III. Duties of the Boys' Work Committee 1. Make sure that any proposed program for work among boys is a natural outgrowth of success- ful operating methods of work among railroad men. Avoid the danger of boys' work detracting rather than adding to the success of the work among men. 2. Few men, if any, could accept appointment on the Boys' Committee with that degree of intelli- gence about the needs and possibilities of boys' work i62 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK which must be secured at the cost of much time and effort. Members of the Committee will find it necessary to grow into usefulness on the Com- mittee rather than to be useful by putting into prac- tice pre-conceived ideas. Therefore, an intelligent study of the boy life of the community, and how the Association can relate itself to the boys, becomes one of the first duties of this Committee. 3. It is essential to keep the President and Gen- eral Secretary fully advised of all plans, through the Boys' Secretary, where one exists. 4. Secure the approval of the Board of Directors for the committee's proposed program in general, and for those features in particular which might have a direct bearing upon other activities of the Association. 5. Hold committee meetings regularly, for exam- ple, on a given date each month, having present, if possible, the President, General Secretary, and any additional member of the staff who has special rela- tion to the boys. 6. Through Chairman of Committee, render written report each month to the Board of Directors. XIII SPECIAL GROUPS CHAPTER XIII SPECIAL GROUPS In addition to the work of the Railroad Associa- tion as outHned in the preceding chapters, there are other opportunities challenging the Railroad Depart- ment. Much of the service in these additional fields must be in the form of '' Extension " from the regularly equipped Associations. I. Foreign Speaking Railroad Men In the chapter on Educational Work, mention is made of classes for teaching English to foreigners. Much has been accomplished in this work and many Associations have demonstrated that it has almost unlimited possibilities. In addition to regular class work in language study, it is easy to interest these men in lectures, especially if illustrated, on History, Biography, Travel, Citizenship, Patriotism, Health, First Aid to the Injured, and other subjects. By much the same method these men may be helped religiously and morally through Bible classes. Gos- pel talks, and by the personal example and conver- sation of their instructor. Also they may be helped 165 i66 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK socially and physically by entertainment and recre- ative games. The idea of physical recreation through games and play is new to most of them, and to teach them our American games is a most worthy achievement that is easily possible. It may be unwise to bring these men to Railroad Associa- tion buildings, but the Association can find ample opportunity to serve them wherever they may be gathered in groups at the noon-hour and in the evening. These men show real appreciation of un- selfish service given under the Association manage- ment. II. Colored Railroad Men Every argument for the Railroad Association among white railroad employees can be advanced with equal, and sometimes greater emphasis, for col- ored railroad men. A study of the living condi- tions into which they are forced by the circum- stances of their work is convincing of their need. A larger number of colored men is employed by the railroads than in any other organized industry. More than 128,000 of them are employed on steam railroads, of whom 15,000 are porters, including 7,500 Pullman employees; 15,000 are section hands, and 70,000 are laborers. Special meetings of in- struction and uplift have been held with marked success for Pullman porters in the colored Young Men's Christian Associations in Chicago, Kansas SPECIAL GROUPS 167 City, and other points. One Railroad Association for colored employees is operating successfully at Bluefield, West Virginia. If suitable equipment could be provided, there are a number of terminals where successful work should be done among col- ored railroad men, equal in value to that being done among white employees. Many earnest Christian men may be found among the colored employees who are capable of directing the affairs of the Asso- ciation. III. Street Railway Men Perhaps the largest single group of transporta- tion employees not yet reached in any large way by the Young Men's Christian Association, are the men employed in street railway service. The number of conductors and motormen alone, in cities operating more than fifty cars, is estimated at more than 133,000. The number of traction employees is in- creasing rapidly because of the extension of both city and interurban lines. These men are responsi- ble for the safe transportation of a much greater number of passengers than travel on our steam rail- ways. Their ranks are recruited chiefly from young men from the country, and it is not excep- tional to find cities where eighty per cent of the con- ductors and motormen have received their first city employment from the street railway company. These men, while yet inexperienced in city life and i68 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK its temptations, gladly welcome helpful counsel and are easily influenced. They constitute one of the most needy and, at the same time, fruitful fields yet encountered by the Association. Traction compa- nies are rapidly enlarging their interest in welfare work, and the field is open to occupation by the Young Men's Christian Association. Street rail- way departments of the Association have been or- ganized in several cities and the experiment has demonstrated attractive possibilities. The best methods for this work may be somewhat different from the regularly established methods on steam roads, but the need and opportunity is similar and can be met successfully with suitable equipment, regular support, and trained secretaries. In addi- tion to regularly organized street railway depart- ments, the city Association must necessarily carry on a large portion of the work among street rail- way employees, if it is to be done. Some notable examples exist where the city Association is given all that can be desired in opportunity by ready con- tact with the men without the responsibility and an- noyance of equipment and complicated organization. IV. Railroad Construction Camps The missionary program of the Railroad Depart- ment in recent years has produced many stories of Christian heroism in construction camps on the frontier. These burly workmen, *' shipped '' to the SPECIAL GROUPS 169 Northwest, experience isolation and monotony to the point of distraction. Perhaps no group of men welcome more genuinely the coming of an Associa- tion secretary, whose equipment may be only some reading material, a talking machine, and a winning personality that shines forth from mature Christian character. Sometimes in addition, he may have a room or tent, an old box car or passenger coach fitted up with stereopticon, checkers, pool table, fold- ing organ, and a first-aid kit. He breaks the monot- ony by promoting entertainment and recreation. The men usually demand that the program include a Gospel talk. The rough experiences of these men have taught them their need for character-building influences. No one can so readily and successfully meet these conditions as the experienced railroad secretary. The camps have often been considered legitimate prey for the agents of vice. Contractors have learned from experience that it pays to have the Association help the men fight for decent living. The opportunity for unselfish service in these camps is worthy of the best talent and energy to be found in the Secretarial Brotherhood. V. The City Association in Railroad Com- munities NOT Served by the Railroad Association City Associations are rapidly enlarging their pro- gram of extension activities among groups of men 170 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK not reached largely by the service within the Asso- ciation building. This is especially true among railroad men, and particularly of those in the shops. This service constitutes not only noon-day Gospel meetings and Bible classes, as originally, but has grown rapidly in the form of social and educational activities, and in some instances in physical uplift through recreative games. Groups of railroad men often constitute the most accessible opportunity for City Association extension. In addition to exten- sion work several City Associations have experi- mented successfully with occasional *' Open-House Evenings '' for railroad men, usually inviting the families also. Where conditions permit the setting aside of a room in the City Association building for the exclusive club use of railroad men, this has been found to possess large possibilities. Experi- ence, however, has demonstrated that it is unwise for a City Association to expect financial support from the railroad company to cover the expense of this work, for these reasons: (a) Such appropri- ations are necessarily small, and frequently stand in the way of large appropriations from the rail- road companies toward the establishing and main- taining of regular Railroad Associations, (b) It is not usually possible to do a work permanently which the company will consider as a fair equiva- lent for the money invested, (c) It is the general SPECIAL GROUPS 171 conviction of Association leaders that the interests of the whole Association movement are best served by limiting the appeals to the railroad companies to requests for the support of regular Railroad Asso- ciation work. VI. Yard Men Where transfer yards are located far from the Railroad Association building it is often found im- possible to secure many of these men as members, or to attract them to the building. However, they are within the influence and reach of the Associa- tion and should be considered a definite part of its field. Ways may be found for promoting Bible classes. Gospel talks, and educational talks in the vicinity of the yards, especially if a stereopticon can be used in connection with this work. Much organ- ized religious and social promotion is possible also in the homes of these men. Office Men Not infrequently the office employees are not ac- cessible to, or attracted to, either the Railroad or City Association, and often are overlooked entirely by the Railroad Department that is located prima- rily for the convenience of men in freight train ser- vice and in the shops. Many forms of service are welcomed by the office men; and some forms of the 172 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK work that are most readily promoted are health talks, general education, and practical talks, Gospel talks, Bible classes, and the promotion of social ac- tivities. XIV BUILDING, EQUIPMENT AND MAINTENANCE CHAPTER XIV BUILDING, EQUIPMENT AND MAINTENANCE The first essential to a permanent and successful Railroad Association is a well planned and care- fully constructed building adapted to the require- ments of modern Association needs. This should preferably be of brick construction and as near as possible fire proof; the location should be convenient for the men in train, engine, shop, and yard service, and though this location is sometimes determined by the railroad company's provision of a site near the right of way, yet it is very important to have the building situated so that the prevailing winds will carry the smoke, dirt, and noise away from rather than toward the building. The best plan, all things being equal, is for the Association to own its building site; where the site is furnished by the railroad company it is cus- tomary for the Association to secure a long term lease at a nominal rental, or in case the department is provisional the lease is given usually to one of the supervisory agencies. 175 176 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK I. How Buildings Are Secured 1. The railroad company offers to contribute a definite amount — usually one-half to two-thirds — toward the cost of building and equipment, on con- dition that the remainder be raised in local subscrip- tions among the railroad men and their friends. This secures cooperation between the company and its employees and insures mutual interest in a help- ful way which makes this usually the most desirable plan. In a few instances the railroad men and citizens of the community have made provision for the build- ing through subscriptions and voluntary contribu- tions without any financial assistance from the rail- road company. 2. Some railroad companies prefer to erect and equip the building at their own expense, seeking co- operation of the Association in preparing suitable plans, and then to turn it over to the Railroad Asso- ciation to operate. In such cases, the company usually expects the Association to renew the fur- nishings, as needed. 3. In some special cases generous friends of rail- road men have built and equipped the building com- plete and given it over to the use of the Railroad Association. BUILDINGS 177 11. Features Essential in a Building 1. Porch and Entrance First impressions count for much. Wherever possible, every Association should have at least one porch, ten to fifteen feet in depth and of a reason- able length. An additional porch, located at the side or rear of the building is desirable. The porch, or porches, should be inclosed where the winters are severe, and screened where mosquitoes are trouble- some. The building material should be of other than wood and there should be a foot-rail on each porch. The entrance to the building, whether from a porch or directly from the street, should be such as would attract the eye, and give a wholesome im- pression to the observer. 2. Lobby Too much thought and attention cannot be given to this most important part of any building, for from it radiates the various activities of the Asso- ciation. It should be spacious, and obstructed by as few supporting posts as possible. Light and ven- tilation, both natural and artificial, should be care- fully planned for. An open fireplace is very desir- able, and will do much to make the room attractive during the winter months. It is well to have the general administration office face the entrance and this should be arranged to harmonize with the char- 178 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK acteristics of the lobby. A floor covering of cork linoleum deadens the noise and beautifies the room. Appropriate pictures add much to the attractiveness of this part of the building. A check room should adjoin the office. 3. Reading Room and Library These rooms should be planned with a relation to plenty of light for both day and night. They should be located on the main floor. Noise eliminat- ing devices should be used, wall tints and pictures should be appropriate and cheerful. The furniture should be both durable and attractive and ample provision should be made for bookcases, paper files, and covers provided for all magazines. Tables for correspondence should be placed in the reading room. 4. Game Room This room, being used the most constantly of any in the building, should be large, easily accessible, well lighted, ventilated and furnished. Such games as chess, checkers and dominoes, as well as bil- liards, should be provided. The furniture should be strong and durable as well as attractive, and spe- cial attention should be given to keeping both room and equipment in first-class condition, to continually attract and interest the men. BUILDINGS 179 5. Secretary's Office For private conference the secretary, in Associa- tions where the number of associates will permit, should have his office in the room used for board and class meetings. The best plan is for the secre- tary to have a desk in the business office and, as far as possible, carry on his work there. 6. Dining Room and Kitchen (See Chapter XI) 7. Bowling Alleys The bowling alleys are generally placed in the basement, and should be in charge of a competent attendant. To hold the interest of the men, the equipment in this department must be kept, at all times, in the very best condition. Regulation alleys with automatic pin setters are desired in every in- stance. 8. Toilet and Bathroom Close to the foot of the stairs and under the super- vision of an attendant should be washrooms, toilets, and baths. Tile, terranza, marble, or materials of like nature should, in every case, be used in con- struction. Untiring effort should be made to keep these rooms in the most perfect condition. In re- placing old or discarded outfits, the most modern equipment should be used. It is folly to cut the ex- pense too much in this part of the building. In i8o RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK every case open or exposed plumbing should be in- sisted upon. A room for lockers should adjoin the wash and bath rooms; and, in many Associations, a barber shop, a shoe shining stand, and pressing facilities may be additional useful features. 9. Dormitory There is a constantly increasing demand by railroad men for better sleeping quarters, even at a higher cost to them. Bedrooms should each have an outside window, and should open into halls lead- ing to stairs and fire exits from, which should ex- tend iron fire escapes. Steam heat and electric light should be in every room. The equipment may consist in certain cases of simply a bed, chair, and stand for the men using the room for just a few hours; while in others there should be all the ad- vantages of a modern hotel where the Associations have to take care of men who make it a permanent home. There should be placed on each dormitory floor a wash room, toilet, and shower baths. 10. Educational Class Rooms In so far as possible rooms should be set aside for educational class work. The number of rooms and the equipment of the same will be determined by the field, and by the character of the work to be carried on. These same rooms can be used for group Bible classes and, where folding partitions are used, BUILDINGS i8i can all be thrown in one room and serve as an as- sembly hall. 11. Storage and Linen Rooms There should be provision made in every building for storage and linen rooms. These rooms should not be tucked off into some dark, inaccessible place but should be conveniently located, of ample propor- tions, and provided with plenty of shelf and rack room. 12. Gymnasium Where an Association is to have a gymnasium it would be preferable to have it placed at the side of the main building with a close connection between it and bath and locker rooms. It is imperative in Railroad Associations to keep the noise originating in the physical department from disturbing the men using the dormitory privileges. 13. Extra Room^ In every Association there should be an extra room, near to, but separated from the dormitory proper. This room, fitted with easy chairs, a large davenport, table, and rugs, will serve as a room for the Auxiliary or Woman's Committee room. Con- nected with this room should be toilet and lavatory facilities. This room can also serve as a hospital in case of sickness and as a guest room when needed for that purpose. i82 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK III. Care of the Building Next to securing the best possible equipment, there is nothing more important than to have effi- cient janitor service. No matter how small or large the quarters, this problem must he effectively dealt zvith; the Association that neglects it will fail to reach the standard required. To get good janitor service it is necessary first of all to pay wages large enough to interest and hold competent men — men who have all their faculties, are neat in their personal appearance, know how to do cleaning, are willing to receive instructions, and will take pride in the work assigned them. There should be made a detailed list of every item of work necessary for the upkeep of the build- ing; find out how long it takes to do it, show how this work is to be done, specify who is to do it, how often it is to be done, giving to each employee from secretary down a written schedule of his hours on duty and as far as possible every item of work re- quired of him, holding that employee directly re- sponsible for the work assigned. Example Schedule Janitor No. i Look after the boiler room and accessories. Mop all linoleum on main floor every morning. BUILDINGS 183 Sweep and dust main floor as often as it is neces- sary. Weather permitting, put hose on piazza every day. Clean all windows and glass on main floor Thurs- days. Clean and polish all cuspidors and brass daily. Take care of bowling alleys and equipment. Be responsible for the store room, tools, and sup- plies. Repair windows, fixtures, furniture, etc. Pack faucets, valves, and regulate steam and water. Rake premises and keep boxes and cans in order. See that fire pails are kept filled with water. Substitute and help elsewhere when needed. Hours on Duty A. M. P. M. Night Sunday 7 a. m. to 12 m. — off — off Monday 7 a. m to 11 130 — i p. m. to 5 130—7 p. m. to 10 Tuesday 7 a. m. to 11 130 — i p. m. to 6 — off Wednesday . .7 a. m. to 11 130 — i p. m. to 5 130 — 7 p. m. to 10 Thursday 7 a. m. to 11 130 — i.p. m. to 6 — off Friday 7. a. m. to 12 m. — off — y p. m. to 10 Saturday 7 a. M. to 11 130 — i p. m. to 6 — 7 p. m. to 11 IV. Sanitary Suggestions I. General Suggestions The great importance of proper attention to sani- tary conditions is more fully realized now than in i84 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK times past. Every precaution must be taken to in- sure against Association buildings being disease dis- seminators. Every part of the building should be well lighted by day and night, thoroughly supplied with an abun- dance of fresh cool air, and well heated by steam or hot coils. A sanitary bubbling fountain should be placed on each floor. All water used for cleans- ing purposes should be treated with a satisfactory antiseptic. Adequate toilet facilities should be provided, preferably in the basement. A suite of three rooms consisting of a wash, toilet, and bath room best cares for these features. The roller towel and common cake soap, as well as combs and brushes, have been universally condemned because of their unsanitary possibility. Individual towels and cake soap are substituted. Recessed and depressed urinals and horseshoe sanitary seats are considered superior to all other patterns. Tub baths are passed because they have proven unhygienic. They have been re- placed by a modem type of shower bath. A super- abundance of hot water is very desirable to make certain that every man has all the encouragement he needs to keep himself clean. The barber's various instruments are kept absolutely sterile so that the Association can truthfully advertise an ** Aseptic Shop.*' Low round cuspidors with removable tops r BUILDINGS 185 should be placed conveniently about the building. At least daily antiseptic cleansing is essential. 2. Restaurant (See Chapter XI) 3. Dormitories The dormitories are located in the quietest part of the building. Individual rooms have proved the most satisfactory arrangement. Each room has a window, radiator, door, and transom. The bed is supplied with a durable and comfortable spring and mattress, the latter being enclosed in a drill cover- ing for sanitary reasons. For the same reason woolen blankets are replacing cotton, and a third sheet has taken the place of counterpanes or quilts. Mattresses are periodically given an air and sun bath. Hard plaster walls and cement floors with a sanitary base are very desirable. Bed bugs should never be permitted to breed. Drastic measures are to be taken at the first indication of their arrival. Clean fresh bed linen is provided for each person, also a clean Turkish towel and new cake of soap. A suite of three rooms for toilet facilities is essen- tial on each dormitory floor with the same general arrangement as in the basement. V. Fire Every precaution should be taken to prevent fire or to extinguish any blaze that might start. Good i86 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK quality extinguishers should be freely distributed around the building. A stand pipe with frequently tested hoses will be located on each floor. Strong electrical alarm bells will be provided and arrows and red lights will point the way to fire escapes. No Young Men's Christian Association will fail to protect the men who intrust their lives to its care while they sleep. The Association staff, both the day and the night group, should be thoroughly in- structed in the respective duties of each person in case of fire. Frequent drills are very desirable. It will always be remembered that lives have greater value than money or property. VI. Repair Fund A repair and furnishing fund should be set aside from the current income from the time the building is occupied, to meet necessary repairs, provide for emergencies, and replace equipment as required. This should be in addition to the repairs which may be secured from the Railroad Company. Many As- sociations have been forced into debt, when repairs became necessary, because of failure to recognize the importance of providing such a fund. Two and one-half per cent of the gross income should be set aside for this fund. It should be deposited in the interest department of the bank each month as part of the expense. This fund should be divided into two parts as follows : BUILDINGS 187 1 . Petty Fund This should cover all minor repairs such as leaks in the plumbing, broken furniture, window panes, etc., etc. 2. Permanent Fund Sometimes the boiler burns out, the building needs painting or new plumbing, etc., should be taken care of under this fund. XV THE RAILROAD COMPANY CHAPTER XV THE RAILROAD COMPANY I. The Association and Corporate Support The moral and financial support of the Railroad Company is considered essential to the work of the organization as now conducted. No Railroad As- sociation has continuously done or is doing efficient work without corporate support. Some have been organized in the past and have existed for a time without any cooperation from the Railroad Com- pany but sooner or later they have declined and died. Such appropriations are usually granted as a supple- ment to membership fees because ( i ) the organiza- tion is one of the employed and employers; (2) ex- perience has shown that no permanent work can be done without such help; (3) the results obtained by the Association are usually more than commen- surate with the assistance given; (4) because rail- road managers believe the support given in this di- rection is a vital help in the successful and economi- cal operation of the railroad and is a legitimate part of its operating expense. 191 192 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK The corporation usually supplements what can be secured locally with a sum sufficient to provide ade- quate equipment. Toward operating expense, the average company appropriation is the salary of the secretary and the necessary fuel, light, and water. This provides for about forty per cent of the bud- get, the remaining sixty per cent being covered through membership dues, fees, and local contribu- tions. II. The Place of the Railroad Company While the railroad corporations are contributing to the Association, they do not undertake to direct or control the Associations, or to suggest forms of work that shall be undertaken or abandoned. Rarely has a railroad company raised objection to the religious basis or the forms of Christian work done, but on the other hand all have been perfectly willing that the Associations should conduct their work in all departments as the experience and wis- dom of the Association leaders suggest. Railroad officers frequently offer practical sug- gestions about the care, arrangement, and mainten- ance of the buildings; but in the plans for organiza- tion and in the conduct of the work their only re- quirement is that these plans be on such a basis as to furnish adequate return for the investment the cor- poration is making. THE RAILROAD COMPANY 193 III. The Secretary and the Railroad Official The railroad secretary as the executive officer of the Association in the performance of his duties will naturally come into contact with the officials of the company, at terminal points possibly more than at remote division points. He should endeavor al- ways to secure the personal interest and hearty sup- port of the officials. He may do this by his sympa- thetic, genuine interest in them ; by his business-like management of the affairs of the Association; by his promptness and accuracy in furnishing the of- ficials with reports of the work; by his manly bear- ing and honest straightforward dealing with of- ficials and with their assistants. He should avoid patronizing or showing favoritism. This will be discovered and injure his influence. On the other hand, he should not neglect or avoid the officials because of timidity or false modesty or because they may sometimes over-awe him by their positions or demeanor. The secretary who is wise will seek to secure the best interest and largest assistance from the railroad officials in his community. IV. Obligations to the Railroad Company Since the railroad appropriations have been se- cured upon the representation that the Railroad As- 194 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK sociation, if thus financially aided, could render definite service to the corporations, these corpora- tions rightfully demand that these expectations shall be realized. This will involve : (i) The opening of a comfortable, attractive, accessible building as a place of resort for railroad men. The conduct of the work should be such that all classes will be encouraged not only to make use of the Association privileges but to render efficient service in the Association. Railroad officials are justly particular regarding cleanliness, and no ex- cuse can be offered for a poorly kept building. The housekeeping must be first-class if the work is to command the respect of railroad officials and railroad men. (2) The expenditure of all moneys appropriated for the definite purpose for which the money has been given. (3) Accuracy and promptness in furnishing sta- tistical and financial reports are necessary and may rightly be required. A secretary should so keep his books as to be able to furnish an intelligent report at any time and should regularly, at the close of each month, submit a carefully prepared and accu- rate report to the railroad officials directly inter- ested, to the International and State Committees, and in case of departments to the central Board. On many large systems where there are several As- sociations the reports from the different Associa- THE RAILROAD COMPANY 195 tions are combined by the International Committee each month into a system report and sent to the railroad officials. (4) The Associations should cooperate with the railroad companies in the safety first, efficiency and economy, and other movements for the welfare of the company and the employees. V. The Association in Times of Strike It is earnestly hoped that the days of the rail- road strike are over. The interests of the company and the men are closely identified, and their rela- tions for the past decade have been sufficiently har- monious to justify this hope. Experience has shown that there is always a common meeting ground, and the leadership on both sides is so in- telligent as to afford cause for optimism; but there will probably always be minor disturbances, and at such times the neutrality of the Association should be strictly respected. The Associations have a right to expect the fullest consideration of their position. By this is meant that the Association is cooperative, and should never be dominated by either the company or the men against the interests of the other. To side with either party in such a controversy would involve disloyalty to the other. Both sides should recognize this, and should never ask the Association to become either positively or negatively a party to the dispute. Such controver- 196 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK sies are generally short-lived and should not be al- lowed to mar the future usefulness of the Associa- tion. When labor disturbances portend a strike the secretary of the Association or one of the railroad secretaries of the International or a representative of the State Committee should immediately see the proper operating official of the railroad company, and endeavor to secure their hearty approval to the strictest neutrality on the part of the Association. The attitude of the secretary himself must also be strictly neutral. VI. The Association and Receiverships When receivers take charge of a railroad, one of their first duties is to cut off every item of expense that cannot be defended as absolutely necessary. Economy is the watchword and it is rigidly en- forced. Naturally the appropriations to the Asso- ciations receive prompt consideration and a legal basis for these contributions must be established. The superficial judgment of the receiver at the out- set is liable to be that they cannot be legally con- tinued, but a mature consideration of the question on a presentation of the arguments in favor of their continuance has always brought the approval of the courts with the hearty recommendation and en- dorsement of the receivers. That these appropriations by railroad companies THE RAILROAD COMPANY 197 are regarded as legitimate items of operating ex- penses is evidenced by the fact that the Interstate Commerce Commission in their pamphlet on the act to regulate commerce, 3rd revised issue, pages 32 and 75, specify " Rooms for Y. M. C. A. purposes and contributions to Young Men's Christian Asso- ciations '' in the list with other items of regular ex- pense on the part of railroad companies. VII. The Railroad Company and Other Welfare Work The railroads are to be commended for their in- terest in the physical, intellectual, and general wel- fare of their men. Railroad managers have from the beginning recognized a responsibility for their men away from home in the line of their duty and in consequence subjected to peculiar hardships and temptations. Much time, thought, and money have been expended by railroad managers upon libraries, reading rooms, bunk houses, club rooms, and other welfare features for railroad men. The clubhouse, devoid as it is of definite moral and religious pur- poses, and lacking also in organization and super- vision, has seldom been permanently successful among railroad men. Destitute of an inspiring and abiding purpose it has necessarily lacked perma- nence because it has failed to secure the cooperation of railroad employees. The Association, however, 198 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK has for more than forty years steadily grown in number and efficiency and many have been estab- lished, at the request of railway officials and em- ployees, where clubhouses have failed. APPENDIX APPENDIX A Paris Basis (Adopted at World's Conference held in Paris, 1855) ** The Young Men's Christian Associations seek to unite those young men, who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour according to the . Holy Scriptures, desire to be His disciples in their doctrine and in their life, and to associate their efforts for the extension of His Kingdom among young men." B Portland Basis (Adopted at the International Convention, held in Portland, Me., 1869) " That, as these organizations bear the name of Christian and profess to be engaged directly in the Saviour's service, so it is clearly their duty to main- tain the control and management of all their affairs in the hands of those who profess to love and pub- licly avow their faith in Jesus, the Redeemer, as divine, and who testify their faith by becoming and 201 202 RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK remaining members of churches held to be * evan- gelical; and that such persons, and none others, should be allowed to vote or hold office." C Boards of Management (Adopted at the International Convention held at Philadelphia, 1889) 1. *That branches organized after this date shall be entitled to representation in future International Conventions, provided that if the branch have a vot- ing membership the right to vote and hold office in such branch be confined to men who are members in good standing in evangelical churches, and, 2. That in all branches or departments thereof management shall be composed of men, members in good standing in evangelical churches." D Restrictions in Organization (Adopted at the International Convention held at Kansas City, 1891) ** That the International Committee be instructed not to recognize Young Men's Christian Associa- tions that shall hereafter be organized in cities or towns where such associations already exist, and that such organizations be not entitled to representa- tion at International Conventions, College and Colored Associations excepted." (See modification in Appendix F.) * For definition of word evangelical as used in this connec- tion, see Report of Portland Convention. APPENDIX 203 E Supervision on Interstate Systems (Adopted at the International Convention held at Buffalo, 1904) ** In the organization of Associations or branches on interstate railroad systems, the International Committee should treat with the railroad company and assume the responsibility. In the supervision of the work when established, the same rule of con- ference and cooperation with State and Provincial Committees shall prevail as in other departments of Association work." Provisional Associations (Adopted at the International Convention held at Buffalo, 1904) " State, Provincial or International Committees may, in exceptional cases and only while necessary, recognize, each for itself provisional railroad, army and navy associations, and also (with the consent of the local association) provisional industrial and city associations, at points having local associations with which for the time being organic relations can- not be established or maintained.'' BIBLIOGRAPHY Bible Study Main Lines in the Bible (Railroad). F. S. Goodman. Paper 25 cents. Men of Steel. W. W. Adair. Pamphlet or loose-leaf form, 10 cents. Wrecks and Heroes. W. W. Adair. Pamphlet or loose-leaf form, 10 cents. Story of Jesus by John. F. S. Goodman and A. G. Knebel (Correspondence). Twenty-two lessons with booklet of John*s Gospel, 20 cents. The Doctor's Story (Studies in Luke — Corre- spondence). A. G. Knebel. Fourteen folders in box envelope, for weekly distribution, 15 cents. Another Story by Dr. Luke. F. S. Goodman (Correspondence). Sets, 15 cents. Social Teachings of Jesus. J. W. Jenks. 50 cents; postpaid 60 cents. Studies in the Life of Jesus Christ. Edward I. Bosworth. 50 cents ; postpaid 60 cents. New Studies in Acts. Edward I. Bosworth. 50 cents; postpaid 60 cents. Great Events in the Life of Christ. James McConaughy. 50 cents; postpaid 60 cents. Men Who Dared. Charles Gallaudet Trumbull. 205 2o6 APPENDIX 40 cents. Paper 25 cents. Student edition 10 cents. Manhood of the Master. Harry Emerson Fos- dick. 50 cents. Paul in Everyday Life. John Douglas Adam. 50 cents. The Meaning of Prayer. Harry Emerson Fos- dick. 50 cents. Christ in Everyday Life. Edward L Bosworth. 50 cents. Evangelism Through Bible Study. F. S. Goodman, 25 cents. Technical Railroad Association Work. Cloth $1.00. Getting Together at Chicago (19 12). Paper 25 cents. Constitution for Railroad Association. 5 cents. Railroad Department's Obligations to Con- tributing Corporations. Clarence J. Hicks. 2 cents. Railroad Secretaryship. George A. Warbur- ton. 5 cents. Association Educational Work. George B. Hodge. $1.00. Educational Work for Railroad Men. Paper 25 cents. Physical Education. $1.00. History of North American Young Men's RAILROAD ASSOCIATION WORK 207 Christian Association. Richard C. Morse. $1.00. Social Activities. Albert M. Chesley, $1.00. Camp and Outing Activities. Cheley-Baker. $1.50. Indoor Games and Socials for Boys. G. C. Baker. 75 cents. Principles and Methods of Religious Work FOR Men and Boys. 75 cents. Principles and Organization of the Y. M. C. A. Murray. 60 cents. Membership Record and Index with Sum- maries. Arranged by C. J. Hicks. Full Can- vas. For Membership of 500, $3.00; for Mem- bership of 1,000, $5.00. Railroad Daily Record. In pads of 30, 15 cents. Railroad Monthly Record of Statistics. $1.00. Railroad Monthly Financial Report Blanks. In pads of 100, 75 cents. Railroad Monthly Statistical Report Blanks. In pads of 100, 75 cents. Railroad Treasurer's Cash Book. $2.50. Railroad Treasurer's Report Blanks. Per dozen 15 cents. Railroad Uniform Vouchers. In pads of 50, 35 cents. General Conductor Jim. Paul Gilbert. 50 cents. 2o8 APPENDIX Tom Keenan. Neason Jones. $i.oo. Life of Sir George Williams. J. E. H. Wil- liams. 60 cents postpaid. Life of R. R. McBurney. Doggett. 60 cents postpaid. English for Coming Americans. Peter Roberts. A rational system of teaching English to for- eigners quickly by calling to mind the familiar incidents of their daily life and showing them how to label each idea with the right word. (Special circular sent on request.) 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