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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 6 (October 1, 1927)

“We,” The Employee and The Railroad

“We,” The Employee and The Railroad.

“Months of creative and constructive efforts to put the railroads' case in a fair and intelligent and favourable way before the public can be wrecked in an instant's time by what may be the thoughtless act of some minor employee. If we really can make the mass of the employees realise that in truth and in fact they are, in the eyes of the public, the railroad itself, isn't it reasonable to believe that there would be a new friendliness and a new dignity in their dealings with our patrons?” This significant statement, according to the Railway Age, was made by Benjamin Bell, editor of the Chesapeake and Ohio and Hocking Valley Employees' Magazine, in an address at the recent Conference of the American Railway Magazine Editors' Association in New York City. It represents in a way, one of the chief purposes or objectives of the employees' magazine-getting the employee, the management, the public and the investor to recognise the mutuality of their interests.

A railroad may be seen as a great aggregation of equipment and facilities, but, more properly, it may also be visualised as a vital organism, rendering an invaluable service and carrying tremendous responsibilities for public welfare. The great task to which the employees' magazines have set themselves is to so weld the whole railroad personnel and structure that each employee, from the chief executive to the lowliest worker in the ranks, will feel that he is an integral part of a great spirit or vital force-much more like a real personality than an airship or locomotive-without which the physical equipment is absolutely useless. The efficiency of the railroad, its economical operation, its usefulness to the community, are in direct proportion to the extent to which the employees feel “that in truth and in fact they are the railroad itself.”