Page:Hine (1912) Letters from an old railway official.djvu/181

 own purchasing agent, who, under the broad policy of local autonomy, buys many articles as best he can. Those large items which experience proves can best be bought for all by the director of purchases, are so purchased under blanket contracts. For those items the local purchasing agent becomes an ordering agent. The point of it all is that no iron clad rule is laid down. Because some items can best be purchased in bulk, it does not follow that local administration should be hampered by requiring all items to be so procured. Instead of a narrow, rigid rule, there is a broad policy enunciated which permits the discriminating judgment of experience, to decide questions on their individual merits under the ever-changing conditions of service.

When railroads are older similar broad treatment will be accorded other features of operation as well as supplies and purchases. Broad policies and individual judgment will gradually supplant attempts to decide questions in advance in accordance with preconceived notions of probable conditions.

The evolution of the so-called store department on most railways has been a striking instance of one-sided development. A railway