“The Greatest National Service.”

Mr. E. W. Beatty, Chairman and President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, has recently given prominence to a fine expression of the attitude of railwaymen towards the railway which may be regarded as of importance not merely within the Dominion of Canada, but wherever railway services operate.

He writes as follows:—

“A railway may be considered a sort of machine; but the simplest kind of machine requires a human being to work it and care for it. To say that the “man is everything” is, of course, an exaggeration, yet the importance of the human element in a railway enterprise can hardly be exaggerated.

As some parts of a great machine are infinitely more difficult and delicate than others, so the operation of a great railway system includes the utmost variety of duties, from those which can be easily performed, with little skill, to those which demand long training and experience, technical ability, scientific knowledge, wide versatility, sure judgment and high capacity for organisation and management-talents as valuable as they are rare.

It is a curious fact-yet a fact undeniably-that those who work for railroads seldom divorce themselves from railroad work. There is a charm in the movement and variety of work on a railroad which voluntarily, cheerfully and loyally holds men to long hours and arduous tasks, and the same spirit of frank loyalty is evident right through the service-a willingness and desire on the part of all departments to co-operate, which could only exist where harmony and loyalty are outstandingly predominant.

It may be added that the employees of the Canadian Pacific Railway, having a high average of intelligence, and endeavouring to secure the best possible return on their own savings and investments, large or small, recognise that a good return on the money invested by others for the creation and improvement of the railway is both just and necessary. Without such a return, with returns uncertain or poor, the credit and stability of an enterprise are weakened and undermined.

On the foundation of that credit and stability alone, rests the Company's whole power to maintain and improve its lines and its services and to give employment on the present gigantic scale. From this employment, half a million men, women and children in Canada draw their livelihood, not to speak of the hundreds of thousands more who indirectly share in the disbursements of the Company. More than that-last year alone-outside of regular maintenance, operation, publicity and other expenditures, the Company, for the purchase of new equipment etc., set aside fifteen million dollars, which will ultimately pass into the pockets of the people of Canada.