Page:Hine (1912) Letters from an old railway official.djvu/164

 district. A permanently located trainmaster requires an official circular to have his jurisdiction extended, and if suddenly ordered away can leave only a clerk to represent the company. A railway has an ever-present firing line. The more mobile the official force the more promptly can weak portions be reinforced.

A striking violation of the unit principle in organization is to have the master mechanic report to the division superintendent in transportation matters and to the superintendent of motive power in technical matters. This is a half-way attempt at divisional organization which lacks the courage of conviction. Better have a straight departmental organization with its divided authority and expensive duplication than thus to straddle the question. If the division is to be a real unit, it must be complete and self-contained. The lack of balance in this attempt at divisional organization comes from the fact that units are mixed. The superintendent of motive power, a general officer with jurisdiction over the entire road, is a member of the general manager’s staff. He has a rank and value superior to that of a divisional officer, the superintendent. The poor