Charles DeLano Hine

Name: Letters from an old railway official (second series) — Letter 3
Author: Charles DeLano Hine

Letters from an old railway official… (1912)

Summary

“Letters from an old railway official (second series) — Letter 3”, published in 1912, is a work by Charles DeLano Hine. It explores elements such as department, superintendent and railway.

Quotes from Letters from an old railway official… (Charles DeLano Hine)

Charles DeLano Hine, Letters from an old railway official… (1912)

“ Q. Will you please tell this fair-minded commission just how you run the road, just how you attempt to minister to the needs of the intelligent people of this great commonwealth?
A. Now, sir, it is a pleasure to testify. You are getting away from definitions and technicalities and down to practical facts, where I feel more at home. I will be glad to tell you all about it. In the first place a railway is such a big affair that we divide it into departments.
Q. Excuse me, what is a department?
A. A department is—well I can make it clearer by describing what it does. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Charles DeLano Hine, Letters from an old railway official… (1912)

“ My Dear Boy:—Did it ever occur to you how easily a bright lawyer could tangle up many an able railway official on the witness stand? Nowadays we have to spend more or less valuable time testifying about service, rates, capitalization, valuation, practices, methods, and a score of other things that become of public interest. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Charles DeLano Hine, Letters from an old railway official… (1912)

“ It is a condition, not a theory, that confronts us. The wise railway man, therefore, so orders his official life that it may endure the scrutiny of both the persecutor and the prosecutor, of both the inquisitor and the investigator, of both the muckraker and the political economist. It sometimes happens, since men are only boys grown tall, that public hearings are accompanied by stage settings for dramatic effect ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Charles DeLano Hine, Letters from an old railway official… (1912)

“ A. I can hardly say that I have studied their organization, but I have observed them some.
Q. Then you and your road do not give much attention to organization?
A. Perhaps not to theories. We are very practical. I never could see where a railway is like the government. They are very different.
Q. Is not human nature the same in its basic characteristics, whether employed by a railway or the government?
A. I suppose that it is, but many things about a corporation are different.
Q. Is not the government the largest of employing corporations with its citizens as the stockholders? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Charles DeLano Hine, Letters from an old railway official… (1912)

“ Q. Is it not a fact that your officials and employes are average citizens recruited and developed about like those of other roads?
A. That is hardly a fair way to put it, but I suppose they are.
Q. Why isn’t it fair?
A. Because it leaves out of account the acknowledged efficiency that comes from having men well treated and contented, and better instructed than others. Some farms make more money than others because the old man gets more work out of the boys.
Q. Then your road has officials who can radiate more divine afflatus than others? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Charles DeLano Hine, Letters from an old railway official… (1912)

“ This impartial commission has been constituted because some railway officers tried to dictate what was best for this enlightened commonwealth. Now, tell us, please, what you think of the plan the United States government has of making the “bureau” the next unit of organization below the “department”?
A. I have never given government organization much attention. The part of the government that concerns me most is the Interstate Commerce Commission, which seems made up mainly of inspectors. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Charles DeLano Hine, Letters from an old railway official… (1912)

“ What style of anti-bluffing device has your company adopted?
A. Of course, you are speaking figuratively. Such a thing isn’t possible. We have a pretty good check in the fine class of men we have developed. ”

Charles DeLano Hine

Summary

Quotes from Letters from an old railway official… (Charles DeLano Hine)

Common terms

Similar works

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature