Page:Fagan (1908) Confessions of a railroad signalman.djvu/27

Rh matter up and to inquire if the work I am describing can be termed typical of American railroads.

Of course, one of my first thoughts in regard to the non-observance of rules related to the lack of adequate supervision by the management. To me it seemed to be a remarkable fact that I could easily follow up the working of a rule and the behavior of the men in regard to it, but the management seldom did anything of the kind. In this way my field for investigation became wider and wider, and I quickly arrived at an idea of the seriousness of the situation, from the standpoint of the people who travel from place to place on the cars.

One day a conductor of a freight train came into my office and asked for a train order which, according to the rules, called for the signature of both engineman and conductor. After receiving the order by telegraph from the train dispatcher, I placed it on the desk ready for the signatures. A minute or two later, when I returned from some other work, I saw that the conductor had signed the order for himself and the engineman as well. I said to him, “That will never do. Not so long ago that trick killed three trainmen, wrecked two engines, and cost the company something like $50,000. You must go for your engineman.” “That’s a great note,” the conductor replied. “You mean to say you intend to make me walk half a mile and lose