Page:Hine (1912) Letters from an old railway official.djvu/159

 development as the rest of the offspring. A principle in organization cannot be violated with impunity any more than in other branches of science.

The average general superintendent’s office is a great clearing house for correspondence. Few matters receive final action and many are passed along to the general manager’s office. The resulting delay usually does more harm than good. On the other hand, since we all like to feel that we are highly useful, the general superintendent, or his chief clerk, is unconsciously dwarfing the initiative of superintendents by requiring references to him of matters that should receive final action at division headquarters. If you do not believe it, check up a few general superintendents’ offices and study the processes. I am not referring to jurisdictions where a general superintendent is required by charter or other legal requirements. I have in mind districts which are arbitrarily created by ill-considered executive mandate.

The general superintendent starts out with a brave determination to get along with a small staff. Sooner, rather than later, human nature asserts itself; he feels that my man can