. Revised and enlarged ed. of the science of railways . nds. cars, the work is entrusted to a subordinate, whohas many superiors and coadjutors, who, each inturn, have much to say about the way businessshall be carried on. The result is the energy andinterest of the superintendent in charge is dulledand responsibility partially or wholly lost. Ittakes too long to act, and too many men have avoice who have no real responsibility. This thegreat majority of the railroad companies quicklydiscovered, and, having discovered it, made haste 144 RAILWAY EQUIPMENT. to abandon the field to private enterp
. Revised and enlarged ed. of the science of railways . nds. cars, the work is entrusted to a subordinate, whohas many superiors and coadjutors, who, each inturn, have much to say about the way businessshall be carried on. The result is the energy andinterest of the superintendent in charge is dulledand responsibility partially or wholly lost. Ittakes too long to act, and too many men have avoice who have no real responsibility. This thegreat majority of the railroad companies quicklydiscovered, and, having discovered it, made haste 144 RAILWAY EQUIPMENT. to abandon the field to private enterprise, usingtheir plants thenceforth merely to repair andmaintain their equipment. In referring, as I do, to a railway companyslack of success as a manufacturer, I do not wishmy assertions to be too sweeping. There aremany things railways are able to manufacture attheir shops successfully. Moreover, the excep-tional ability of particular men connected withsuch organizations is often such that they are ableto carry on the business of manufacturing loco-. Richmond Locomotive, U. S. A. motives and cars successfully in spite of all theobstacles in their way, but such men are excep-tional, and systems can not safely be foundedupon them. With their loss, the company employ-ing them lapses into the condition of the unfortu-nate majority. If a railroad company would enterthe field as a manufacturer of equipment itshould adopt methods of organization, governingits shops in conformity therewith. Let it sepa-rate such plant from its plant for manufacturingtransportation. LOCOMOTIVES AXD CARS. 145 • From tlie foregoing it will he seen that iuenumerating the successful manufacturers ofequipment throughout the world railroad com-panies must, generally speaking, be can not look to them either for superiorexcellence of work or great economy of execu-tion. It is to private manufacturers, compelledto compete with each other in the open market,we owe the fact that the magnificent l
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