An American Railway Manager on Sabbath Work on the Railways

SOME years ago the New York Sabbath Committee took up, with the officers and managers of railways, the questions concerning Sabbath railway business. This resulted in a voluminous and very instructive correspondence, the burden of which was an earnest desire to suspend, or greatly reduce Sabbath railroad business. The difficulties were not with the railways themselves, but with the demands of the people which the railways could not resist. Here is one of the statements: From the President of the Michigan Central R. R.—H. B. Ledyard:

“1. If all railroad companies competing for the same class of traffic from and to common points were in accord, it would be practicable to a very large extent to abandon the running of railway trains on the Sabbath day. The chief difficulty is that in these days of sharp competition time has become such an important element that if one railroad company would voluntarily cease its traffic for one day during the week, while others continued, it would lose largely thereby. Yet, for example, were each of the trunk lines to absolutely refuse to exchange traffic of any kind with their connections, from 6 p.m. Saturday until Monday morning, it would be a simple matter for these trunk lines, as well as for their Western connections, to so arrange the movement of traffic as to practically do away with the running of ‘Sunday’ trains.

1. There is no question as to the desirability of prohibiting ‘Sunday’ work on railways. The law of nature, to say nothing of the higher law, requires that man should have rest one day in seven. Is there any reason why a railway engineer or conductor is not entitled to his rest as much as a merchant or manufacturer?

2. This company has endeavoured to so arrange the runs of its trainmen and engineers as to bring them home on ‘Sunday,’ but little can be done in that direction without the concerted action on the part of all companies interested in the same traffic.

3. I do not believe at the end of the year the loss in traffic

would be appreciable were all ‘Sunday’ work stopped, and in the better morale of the men the railway companies would be abundantly paid for doing away with work on this day.”—The Bulletin of the New York Sabbath Committee.