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Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
1
Chapter 7: ATTITUDES AND PERSUASION
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
When students have finished reading this chapter, they should understand why:
1. It is important for consumer researchers to understand the nature and power of attitudes.
2. Attitudes are more complex than they first appear.
3. We form attitudes in several ways.
4. A need to maintain consistency among all our attitudinal components motivates us to alter
one or more of them.
5. We use attitude models to identify specific components and combine them to predict a
consumer’s overall attitude toward a product or brand.
6. The communications model identifies several important components for marketers when they
try to change consumers’ attitudes toward products and services.
7. The consumer who processes a message is not necessarily the passive receiver of information
marketers once believed him to be.
8. Several factors influence the effectiveness of a message source.
9. The way a marketer structures his message determines how persuasive it will be.
10. Audience characteristics help to determine whether the nature of the source or the message
itself will be relatively more effective.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
It is important for consumer researchers to understand the nature and power of attitudes.
An attitude is a predisposition to evaluate an object or product positively or negatively. We form
attitudes toward products and services that often determine whether we will purchase them or
not.
Attitudes are more complex than they first appear.
Three components make up an attitude: beliefs, affect, and behavioral intentions.

Section 2: Consumers as Individuals
2
We form attitudes several ways.
Attitude researchers traditionally assumed that we learn attitudes in a fixed sequence: First, we
form beliefs (cognitions) about an attitude object, then we evaluate that object (affect), and then
we take some action (behavior). Depending on the consumer’s level of involvement and the
circumstances, though, his attitudes can result from other hierarchies of effects as well. A key to
attitude formation is the function the attitude holds for the consumer (e.g., is it utilitarian or ego
defensive?).
A need to maintain consistency among all of our attitudinal components motivates us to alter one
or more of them.
One organizing principle of attitude formation is the importance of consistency among attitudinal
components—that is, we alter some parts of an attitude to be in line with others. Such theoretical
approaches to attitudes as cognitive dissonance theory, self-perception theory, and balance
theory stress the vital role of our need for consistency.
We use attitude models to identify specific components and combine them to predict a
consumer’s overall attitude toward a product or brand.
Multi-attribute attitude models underscore the complexity of attitudes—they specify that we
identify and combine a set of beliefs and evaluations to predict an overall attitude. Researchers
integrate factors such as subjective norms and the specificity of attitude scales into attitude
measures to improve predictability.
The communications model identifies several important components for marketers when they try
to change consumers’ attitudes toward products and services.
Persuasion refers to an attempt to change consumers’ attitudes. The communications model
specifies the elements marketers need to transmit meaning. These include a source, a message, a
medium, a receiver, and feedback.
The consumer who processes a message is not necessarily the passive receiver of information
marketers once believed him or her to be.
The traditional view of communications regards the perceiver as a passive element in the
process. New developments in interactive communications highlight the need to consider the
active roles a consumer plays when he or she obtains product information and builds a
relationship with a company. Advocates of permission marketing argue that it is more effective
to send messages to consumers who have already indicated an interest in learning about a
product than trying to hit people “cold” with these solicitations.
Several factors influence the effectiveness of a message source.
Two important characteristics that determine the effectiveness of a source are its attractiveness
and credibility. Although celebrities often serve this purpose, their credibility is not always as
strong as marketers hope. Marketing messages that consumers perceive as buzz (those that are
authentic and consumer generated) tend to be more effective than those categorized as hype
(those that are inauthentic, biased, and company generated).
The way a marketer structures his or her message determines how persuasive it will be.
Some elements of a message that help to determine its effectiveness include the following: The

Chapter 7: Attitudes and Persuasion
3
marketer conveys the message in words or pictures; the message employs an emotional or a
rational appeal; how often it’s repeated; whether it draws a conclusion; whether it presents both
sides of the argument; and whether the message includes fear, humor, or sexual references.
Advertising messages often incorporate elements from art or literature, such as dramas, lectures,
metaphors, allegories, and resonance.
Audience characteristics help to determine whether the nature of the source or the message itself
will be relatively more effective.
The relative influence of the source versus the message depends on the receiver’s level of
involvement with the communication. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) specifies that
source effects are more likely to sway a less-involved consumer, whereas a more-involved
consumer will be more likely to attend to and process components of the actual message.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. The Power of Attitudes
A. An attitude is a lasting, general evaluation of people (including oneself), objects,
advertisements, or issues.
1. Anything that one has an attitude toward is called an attitude object (Ao).
2. An attitude is lasting – it tends to endure over time and is general – it applies to more
than a momentary event.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask the class to brainstorm all the ways the term attitude is used in our
society. List them on the board.
3. The functional theory of attitudes was initially developed by psychologist Daniel
Katz to explain how attitudes facilitate social behavior. The following attitude
functions were identified by Katz:
a. Utilitarian function—based on reward and punishment; straightforward product
benefits.
b. Value-expressive function—goes to the consumer’s central values or self-
concept.
c. Ego-defensive function—protects the person from external threats or internal
feelings.
d. Knowledge function—the need for order, meaning, and structure.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to bring in advertisements that display each of the attitude
functions.
B. The ABC Model of Attitudes
1. An attitude has three components: affect, behavior, and cognition.
a. Affect refers to the way a consumer feels about an attitude object.

4
b. Behavior involves the person’s intentions to do something with regard to an
attitude object (this intention always results in behavior).
c. Cognition refers to the beliefs a consumer has about an attitude object.
2. The ABC model emphasizes the interrelationships among knowing, feeling and
doing.
Discussion Opportunity—Construct an example to illustrate each of the components of the ABC
model of attitudes.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: Which of the three components of the ABC model of attitudes do
you believe is the most common explanation of attitudes? Why?
C. Hierarchies of Effects
1. Attitude researchers have developed the concept of a hierarchy of effects to explain
the relative impact of the three components of attitudes.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: As far as you are concerned, which of the ABCs (in the
hierarchy of effects model) do you believe has the strongest influence over you when you
want to buy a CD player? When you take a special friend out to lunch? When you take this
same friend out to dinner? When you buy a soft drink? When you turn on the radio and the
Rush Limbaugh or Howard Stern program is on? Explain your reasoning in each case.
2. The three hierarchies are:
• The standard learning hierarchy—Think→ Feel → Do: (CAB) this is a problem-
solving process, so it assumes the consumer is highly involved, motivated to seek
out information, weigh alternatives and come to a thoughtful decision.
• The low-involvement hierarchy—Do → Feel → Think: (BAC) consumer acts on
limited knowledge and forms an evaluation after she buys the product.
• The experiential hierarchy—Feel → Do → Think: (ABC) consumer acts based
on emotional reactions. (this is correct in the diagram right now but incorrect in
the text of the chapter, where it says Feel → Think → Do)
*****Use Figure 7.1 Here*****
Discussion Opportunity—Give an illustration of the three different hierarchy of effect models.
Ask students how each of them apply to consumer behavior?
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: How can the three different hierarchy of effects models be applied
to e-commerce and shopping on the Internet? Give illustrations of how marketers might use this
information to make better decisions.
II. How Do We Form Attitudes?
A. Attitudes can form through:
1. Classical conditioning—e.g. pairing an attitude object (brand name) with a jingle.

5
2. Instrumental conditioning—use of the attitude object is reinforced.
3. Leaning through complex cognitive processes—e.g. one learns what to do in social
situations by modeling the behavior of friends and media endorsers.
Discussion Opportunity—Pick one area and demonstrate how you think you learned an attitude.
Give examples to illustrate. How could a marketer have influenced you?
B. All Attitudes Are Not Created Equal
1. Consumers vary in their commitment to an attitude; the degree of commitment is
related to their level of involvement with the attitude object.
2. There are three levels of commitment:
a. Compliance means that we form an attitude because it helps us to gain rewards or
avoid punishment; this type of commitment requires the lowest level of
involvement.
b. Identification occurs when we form an attitude to conform to another person or
group’s expectations (e.g. imitating the behavior or desirable models).
c. Internalization means that deep-seated attitudes have become part of our value
system.
Discussion Opportunity—Give an illustration of how attitudes were formed by you in each of the
three ways (levels of commitment). Which were the stronger attitudes? Which were eventually
replaced?
C. The Consistency Principle
1. According to the principle of cognitive consistency, consumers value harmony
among their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and they are motivated to maintain
uniformity among these elements. People will change thoughts, feelings or behaviors
to remain consistent with prior experiences.
2. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that when a person is confronted with
inconsistencies among attitudes or behaviors, he or she will take some action to
resolve this “dissonance,” perhaps by changing an attitude or modifying a behavior.
People seek to reduce dissonant behavior or feelings.
a. The theory focuses on situations in which two cognitive elements clash. A
cognitive element can be something a person believes about himself, a
behavior he performs, or an observation about his surroundings.
b. The magnitude of dissonance depends on the importance and number of
dissonant elements, so dissonance is more likely in high involvement
situations where there is more pressure to reduce inconsistencies.
c. Eliminating, adding, or changing elements can reduce dissonance.
d. Dissonance theory can help to explain why evaluations of a product tend to
increase after we buy the product (in response to post purchase dissonance).
e. Marketers can provide customers with additional reinforcement after they
purchase to help customers justify the decisions after the fact.

6
*****Use Consumer Behavior Challenge Here *****
Apply #1
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to demonstrate when the principle of cognitive
consistency has occurred in their purchase decisions. Repeat the question for the theory of
cognitive dissonance. Ask them if they ever catch themselves reading ads (e.g., for a car) for
products that they have already purchased?
Discussion Opportunity—Find an advertisement that illustrates the theory of cognitive
dissonance and the principle of cognitive consistency. Show them to the class and ask how the
advertisers use these theories in their ads. How effective is each ad?
D. Self-Perception Theory
1. Self-perception theory provides an alternative explanation of dissonance effects. It
assumes that people use observations of their own behavior to determine what their
attitudes are. We maintain consistency as we infer we have a positive attitude toward
an object if we bought/consumed it in the past.
2. Self-perception theory helps to explain the effectiveness of a strategy called the foot-
in-the-door technique. This technique explains that people are more likely to comply
with a big request if they agree to a smaller one.
3. Recent research suggests when consumers are asked to make a series of cognitively
demanding choices, they deplete resources needed to monitor behavior and opt for
easier decisions. This may result in a consumer saying yes to a salesperson instead of
looking for reasons to say no.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: Think of an illustration when someone has used the foot-in-the-
door approach on you. Did you buy the product? Why or why not?
E. Social Judgment Theory
1. Social judgment theory stipulates that (like self-perception theory) people assimilate
information in light of what they know or feel. The initial attitude acts as a frame of
reference, and new information is categorized in terms of this existing standard.
2. People find information to be acceptable or unacceptable. They form latitudes of
acceptance and rejection around an attitude standard.
3. Messages that fall within the latitude of acceptance tend to be seen as more consistent
with one’s position than they actually are (the assimilation effect), and messages
within the latitude of rejection tend to be seen even farther from one’s own position
than they actually are (the contrast effect).
Discussion Opportunity—Create a demonstration that illustrates the latitudes of acceptance and
rejection for some product category as evidenced by your attitudes toward the object. Ask
students if they can think of marketing activities that illustrate the topic.

7
Discussion Opportunity—Have students apply the concept of latitudes of acceptance and
rejection to shopping on the Internet. Have them explain what they did and why the concept
might apply.
F. Balance theory
1. Balance theory considers relations among elements a person might perceive as
belonging together. A person alters attitudes to ensure these relationships remain
consistent/balanced.
2. This perspective includes triads. Each contains:
a. A person and his or her perceptions.
b. An attitude object.
c. Some other person or object.
3. Elements are linked by a unit relation (we think the person is connected to an attitude
object; like a belief) or a sentiment relation (a person expresses liking or disliking for
an attitude object).
4. Perceptions (under balance theory) are either positive or negative. Perceptions are
altered to make them consistent. When we have balanced perceptions, attitudes are
stable.
*****Use Figure 7.2 Here*****
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to think of a consumer behavior situation where balance
theory would seem to be operating.
III. Attitude Models
Attitude models specify and explore the different elements that affect attitudes.
A. Multi-attribute attitude models assume a consumer’s attitude toward an attitude object
depends on the beliefs she has about several of its attributes, which can be identified and
used to derive a measure of overall attitude.
1. Basic multi-attribute models specify attributes (characteristics of the Ao), beliefs
(cognitions about the specific Ao), and importance weights (the relative priority
of an attribute to the consumer).
Discussion Opportunity—Create a brief illustration of a basic multi-attribute model. Explain
your reasoning.
2. The Fishbein Model is the most influential multi -attribute model and measures three
components of attitude: salient beliefs (beliefs about the object a person considers
during evaluation); object-attribute linkages (probability that a particular object has
an important attribute); and evaluation of each of the important attributes. Attitudes
are equal to the sum of the beliefs about each attribute multiplied times the
importance of each attribute.

8
*****Use Table 7.1 Here *****
3. Strategic applications of the multi-attribute model would include:
a. Capitalize on relative advantage.
b. Strengthen perceived product/attribute linkages.
c. Add a new attribute.
d. Influence competitors’ ratings.
Apply #3
Discussion Opportunity—Create an illustration to apply to the Fishbein model. Then, using the
material and formula from the chapter, have the students work through this application.
B. Do Attitudes Predict Behavior?
A person’s attitude is not a very good predictor of behavior.
1. The Extended Fishbein model is called the theory of reasoned action. Additions
include:
a. Intentions versus behavior—strongly held attitudes are distinguished from weakly
held attitudes; past behavior is a better predictor of future behavior than
intentions.
b. Social pressure—others have a strong influence on behavior, including what we
think others would like us to do. Subjective norms account for the effects of
what we believe other people think we should do. They have two factors:
1. Intensity of normative belief that others believe we should take or not take
some action.
2. The motivation to comply with that belief (the degree to which the consumer
takes others’ anticipated reactions into account when she evaluates a
purchase).
c. Attitude toward buying—attitude toward the act of buying (Aact) focuses on
perceived consequences of purchase.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: Who are some people who tend to have a strong influence on your
behavior? Can you think of anyone whose behavior you have influenced? What was the result?
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: Can you think of something you bought that you really did not
want to buy? Do you know why you bought it anyway?
2. There are certain obstacles to predicting behavior (the improved Fishbein model):
a. It was designed to deal with actual behavior—not outcomes of behavior.
b. Some outcomes are beyond the consumer’s control.
c. Behavior is not always intentional (impulsive actions; situation changes, novelty
seeking).

9
d. Measures of attitudes do not always correspond with the behavior they are
supposed to predict. It is very important to match the level of specificity between
the attitude and the behavioral intention.
e. A problem can exist with respect to the time frame of the attitude measure.
f. Direct personal experience is stronger than indirect exposure (through an
advertisement). The problem of personal experiences versus receiving
information such as advertising (attitude accessibility perspective).
g. There are also cultural roadblocks, which limit the universality of the theory of
reasoned action.
1. Some acts are not voluntary, and the model predicts the performance of a
voluntary act.
2. The relative impact of subjective norms may vary across cultures.
3. The model presupposes consumers are thinking ahead, while not all cultures
subscribe to the linear perspective on time.
4. Some (more fatalistic) cultures do not believe the consumer controls his/her
actions.
C. Trying to Consume
1. The multiple pathway anchoring and adjustment model (MPAA) emphasizes
multiple pathways to attitude formation, including outside-in and inside-out
pathways.
2. There is another way of looking at consumers’ goals and trying to attain them. The
theory of trying states that the criterion of behavior is the reasoned action model that
should be replaced with trying to reach a goal. It recognizes barriers that might arise.
*****Use Figure 7.3 Here *****
IV. How Do Marketers Change Attitudes?
A. Persuasion involves an active attempt to change attitudes.
B. Some psychological principles that function in the persuasion process are:
1. Reciprocity – we are more likely to give if we receive.
2. Scarcity – items are more attractive when they are not available.
3. Authority – we believe authoritative sources more readily than non-authoritative
sources.
4. Consistency – people try not to contradict themselves in terms of what they say and
do about an issue.
5. Liking – we agree with those we like/admire.
6. Consensus - We consider what others do before we decide what to do.
Discussion Opportunity—Have the class think of an attitude that one or both of their parents
have. Ask them to think of a way that they could persuade them to change the attitude.
C. Tactical Communications Options - To craft persuasive messages that might change
attitudes, a number of questions must be answered:
1. Who is featured in the ad that seeks to change an attitude? Given the circumstances,
who would be best?
2. How should the message be constructed?

10
3. What media should be used to transmit the message?
4. What characteristics of the target market might influence the ad’s acceptance?
D. The Elements of Communication
1. Marketers and advertisers have traditionally relied on the communications model to
understand how marketing messages can change consumers’ attitudes by thinking in
terms of the communications model that specifies that a number of elements are
necessary for communications to be achieved.
2. The basic model can be perceived as having five parts:
a. The source—where the communication originates.
b. This meaning must be put in the form of a message.
c. The message must be transmitted via a medium.
d. One or more receivers then decode the message.
e. Feedback must be received by the source.
*****Use Figure 7.4 Here; Use Consumer Behavior Challenge Here *****
Discuss #9
Discussion Opportunity—Provide an illustration of the communications model described in the
chapter. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this model? How can the source be a better
communicator?
E. An Updated View: Interactive Communications
1. In permission marketing, consumers agree to allow marketers to send them
promotional information.
2. The traditional broadcasting, where the information is transferred and then repeated
before the buyer buys, is outdated with the advent of narrowcasting (finely tuning
messages to suite very small groups of receivers).
3. Consumers are partners in the communications process.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to think of examples of how they are passive and active in
information acquisition. Ask how they interact with the media to receive information.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: How are you attempting to control your own Web or Internet
environment?
F. New Message Formats
1. M-commerce (mobile commerce) involves wireless devices including smartphones,
PDAs, iPods, and tablets such as iPads.
2. Social media applications include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
3. Blogging and vlogging (video blogging) is where people post messages to the Web in
diary form.

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4. Podcasting—You can create your own radio show that people can listen to either on
their computers or iPods.
5. Virtual worlds—Immersive 3-D digital environments (e.g., Second Life).
6. Twitter—Postings limited to 140 characters.
7. Widgets—Small programs that users can download onto their desktops, or embed in
their blogs or profile pages, that import some form of live content.
8. Transmedia formats – new platforms mix to allow consumers to express themselves
and participate in campaigns.
a. Transmedia storytelling includes blogs, websites, email, graffiti messages
b. Alternate reality games are one type of transmedia storytelling where
thousands of people participate in a fictional story or competition to solve a
mystery.
Discuss #5
G. The Source
1. Regardless of how a message is received, the same words uttered or written by
different people can have very different effects, also known as source effects.
2. Under most conditions, the source of a message can have a big impact on the
likelihood the message will be accepted.
3. Two very important source characteristics are credibility and attractiveness.
4. A match between the needs of the recipient and the rewards the source offers
increases the recipient’s motivation to process the message (e.g. attractive source
effective for receiver who is sensitive about social acceptance).
5. Source credibility refers to a source’s perceived expertise, objectivity, or trust-
worthiness.
a. Sincerity is important when a company tries to publicize its corporate social
responsibility (CSR) activities that benefit the community.
b. Expert or celebrity endorsements can affect stock returns and can help
differentiate similar products.
c. Negative sources can also change attitudes because people forget the negative
source (sleeper effect).
Discuss #7
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to think of a specific illustration of the sleeper effect.
d. Credibility can be enhanced if the source’s qualifications are perceived as
somehow relevant to the product being endorsed.
e. A consumer’s beliefs about a product’s attributes will weaken if s/he perceives
that the source is biased.
i. Knowledge bias – source’s knowledge is not accurate

12
ii. Reporting bias – source has the required knowledge but is not willing to
convey it accurately
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: What celebrity sources do you perceive as being most credible? Is
this in specific product or service categories or across the board?
6. Source attractiveness refers to the source’s perceived social value.
a. This quality can emanate from the person’s physical appearance, personality,
social status, or similarity to the receiver (we like to listen to people who are like
us).
b. A halo effect often occurs when persons of high rank on one dimension are
assumed to excel on others as well.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to give an example of the “halo effect.”
c. The social adaptation perspective assumes that the perceiver will more heavily
weight information seen to be instrumental in forming an attitude.
7. Star Power: Celebrities as Communications Sources
a. Celebrities embody cultural meanings (e.g. status, social class, gender, age,
personality) to the general society.
b. The advertiser chooses a celebrity who embodies the desired meaning the product
should convey so the meaning transfers from the manufacturer to the consumer
via the star.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to give an example of a celebrity that they perceive to be
an illustration of the match-up hypothesis.
Discussion Opportunity—As a means of contrasting credibility with attractiveness, ask students
to give examples of products where they would want to make sure their source is credible;
examples where their source is attractive.
8. Nonhuman Endorsers
a. At times, the image of celebrity endorsers can damage the image of a company or
brand. For this reason, companies may seek animated characters or fictitious
mascots as endorsers.
b. Spokescharacters (e.g. Pillsbury Doughboy, Chester the Cheetah) can boost
viewers’ recall of ad claims and increase brand attitudes.
c. A more current trend sees companies utilizing endorsers in the form of an avatar,
or cyber-character that can be changed in real time is cost effective, can handle
multiple customers at one time, and is not limited by geography.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: Can you think of company spokespersons that fit the company or
the product image? Who do not fit? What should the company do about this? Give an example of
a celebrity whose image has really hurt a company’s marketing effort.

13
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: Name an avatar that a company currently uses in association with
a product, service, or website.
H. The Message
1. The single most important feature of the message is whether the communication
stresses a unique attribute or benefit of the product.
2. Some messages are offensive or annoying, including those:
a. That show a sensitive product and emphasize its usage
b. With a contrived or over-dramatized situation
c. That put down a person in terms of appearance, knowledge or sophistication
d. That threaten an important relationship
e. That show physical discomfort
f. That create tension via an argument or antagonistic character
g. That portray an unattractive or unsympathetic character
h. That include a sexually suggestive scene
i. That have poor casting or execution
3. How the message is said is important as well as what is said.
4. When creating a message, marketers must address these questions:
a. Should she convey the message in words or pictures?
b. How often should she repeat the message?
c. Should it draw a conclusion or should this be left up to the listener?
d. Should it present both sides of an argument?
e. Should it explicitly compare the product to competitors?
f. Should it include a blatant sexual appeal?
g. Should it arouse negative emotions such as fear?
h. How concrete or vivid should the arguments and imagery be?
i. Should it be funny?
*****Use Table 7.2 Here *****
5. How do we send the message?
a. Advertisers often rely on vivid illustrations or photography because visuals are very
effective, especially at influencing emotional responses.
b. A picture is not always as effective as text when it communicates facts. Verbal ads
affect ratings on the utilitarian aspects of a product whereas the visual ads affect
aesthetic evaluations.
c. Verbal elements are more effective when an accompanying picture reinforces them,
especially if they frame the illustration (the message in the picture strongly relates to
the copy). Framing is easier with an accompanying image.
d. Visual images allow the receiver to chunk information at the time of encoding.
e. Verbal messages are best for high-involvement situations and visual messages for low
involvement.
f. Vivid images tend to activate mental imagery and strongly embed in memory;
abstract stimuli inhibit mental imagery.

14
g. Concrete discussion of product attributes in ad copy influence the importance of the
attribute because it draws more attention.
h. Repetition can lead to liking because people like things that are more familiar to them
(mere exposure) or it can cause habituation such that the consumer no longer pays
attention to the stimulus because of fatigue or boredom.
i. The two-factory theory explains the fine line between boredom and familiarity. It
proposes that two separate psychological processes operate when we repeatedly show
an ad to a viewer. Figure 7.6 depicts the pattern. Overcome by:
1. Limiting exposure per repetition (15 second ads)
2. Varying content of ads over time (different versions of same theme)
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to think of examples when words, pictures, and both
would be the best suggestions for influencing attitudes.
6. How do we structure the argument?
a. The way the argument is presented is important.
b. The supportive argument is one sided and most often used.
c. Two-sided messages give positive and negative information. This seems most
effective when the audience is well educated.
d. Refutational arguments raise a negative issue and then dismiss it. They
enhance source credibility because of the reduced chance of reporting bias.
Skeptical people may be more receptive to a balanced argument.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to give an illustration of a supportive argument, a two-
sided argument, and a refutational argument. Find an example of each in a print media form.
e. Should the argument draw conclusions? The response to this depends on the
consumer’s motivation to process the ad and the complexity of the arguments.
f. Comparative advertising compares two specifically named products and
seems to be effective for products that have a positive brand image, but may
be lower in believability and stir up source derogation (consumer may doubt
the credibility of a biased presentation).
Discuss #8
Discussion Opportunity—Ask: What do you think of comparative advertising? Are the arguments
more believable? Do you ever find yourself defending the “against product”?
I. Types of Message Appeals
1. Emotional appeals try to bond the consumer with the product.
2. The effectiveness of appeals to the head vs. heart depends on the nature of the
product and the type of relationship consumers have with it.

15
a. Recall of ad content tends to be better for thinking ads than feeling ads
b. Conventional measures of ad effectiveness may not be effective to
measure cumulative effects of emotional ads; feeling reactions are not as
easy to articulate as thinking reactions
3. Sex appeals include various levels of erotic suggestions.
a. Female nudity generates negative feelings and tension among female
consumers; it generates positive reactions among men. Men dislike nude
males; females respond well to undressed males that are not nude and like
sexual themes in the context of a committed relationship.
b. Erotic content draws attention but can be counterproductive, making
consumers less likely to buy the product or distracting attention from other
ad contents.
c. Sex appeals as an attention-getting device are more effective when the
product is related to sex.
4. Humorous appeals can get attention, but may not affect recall or product
attitudes.
a. Funny ads can provide a distraction.
b. Funny ads can inhibit counterarguing (where the consumer thinks about
reasons s/he disagrees).
c. Humor is more effective when the ad clearly identifies the brand and the
funny material does not overwhelm the message.
d. Subtle humor that does not make fun of the consumer and is appropriate to
the product image is best.
5. Fear appeals emphasize negative consequences that occur unless the
consumer changes a behavior or an attitude and are most effective when the
advertisers use only a moderate threat and when the ad presents a solution to
the problem.
Discuss #4
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to think of situations when a rational appeal works best
and when an emotional appeal works best. What is the effectiveness dependent on?
J. The Message as Art Form: Metaphors Be with You
1. Many ads take the form of an allegory (a story told about an abstract trait or concept
that has been personified as a person, animal, or vegetable).
2. A metaphor involves placing two dissimilar objects into a close relationship such
that “A is B,” whereas a simile compares two objects, “A is like B.” Metaphors allow
the marketer to activate meaningful images and apply them to everyday events.
3. Resonance is another literary device that is frequently used in advertising to form a
presentation that combines play on words with a relevant picture.
*****Use Table 7.3 Here; Use Consumer Behavior Challenge Here *****
Apply #10

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Letters from
an Old Railway Official to His Son, a Division
Superintendent

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Title: Letters from an Old Railway Official to His Son, a Division
Superintendent
Author: Charles De Lano Hine
Release date: February 9, 2014 [eBook #44853]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM
AN OLD RAILWAY OFFICIAL TO HIS SON, A DIVISION
SUPERINTENDENT ***

LETTERS FROM AN
OLD RAILWAY OFFICIAL
TO HIS SON, A DIVISION SUPERINTENDENT
BY
Charles DeLano Hine
WITH A POSTSCRIPT BY
FRANK H. SPEARMAN
CHICAGO
THE RAILWAY AGE
1904
Copyright, 1904,
By Charles DeLano Hine
To the railway officials and employes of America:
Their intelligence is an inspiration; their steadfastness, a
psalm.

FILE NUMBERS.
LETTER I.
A Word of Congratulation 1
LETTER II.
Helping the Train Dispatchers 6
LETTER III.
Handling a Yard 13
LETTER IV.
Distant Signals on Chief Clerks 18
LETTER V.
Safety of Trains in Yards 26
LETTER VI.
Standardizing Administration 31
LETTER VII.
The New Trainmaster and Civil Service 36
LETTER VIII.
Education of Several Kinds 43
LETTER IX.
Correspondence and Telegrams 49
LETTER X.
The Bayonet Precedes the Gospel 56
LETTER XI.

Preventing Wrecks Before They Happen 63
LETTER XII.
The Self-Made Man Who Worships His Maker 70
LETTER XIII.
The Friend-Mile as a Unit of Measure 79
LETTER XIV.
The Management that Breeds from Its Own Herd 89
LETTER XV.
More on Civil Service 97
LETTER XVI.
The Supply Train 104
LETTER XVII.
What the Big Engine Has Cost 114
LETTER XVIII.
Be a Superintendent—Not a Nurse 121
LETTER XIX.
The Rack of the Comparative Statement 130
LETTER XX.
Handling the Pay-Roll 137
LETTER XXI.
Military Organization 145
LETTER XXII.
Wrecks and Block Signals 153
LETTER XXIII.
Unionism 161

LETTER XXIV.
The Round-Up 169
POSTSCRIPT.
By Frank H. Spearman 177

Letters From A Railway Official

LETTER I.
A WORD OF CONGRATULATION.
March 20,
1904.
My Dear Boy:—The circular announcing your appointment as division
superintendent has just been received, and it brings up a flood of
thoughts of former years. I felt that you had made a mistake in
leaving us to go with the new system, but it has turned out all right.
I can appreciate the fact that you would rather work away from me,
so as to make people believe that you can go up the official hill
without having a pusher behind you.
This should be one of the proudest periods of your life. You are now
in a position to do good to your company, to your fellow man, and
incidentally to yourself. No matter how highly organized a road may
be, the importance of the office of division superintendent is in direct
proportion to the ability and earnestness of the incumbent. The
position is little or big, restricted or untrammeled, just as you make
it. Many a superintendent has had to double the hill of a swelled
knob, and run as a last section into the next promotion terminal. You
have too much of your mother's good sense ever to cause anybody
else to put up signals for you on this account. Therefore do not lose
your democratic manner. Keep your heart warm and regard the
wider field as an opportunity to get more friends on your staff. Try to
call every employe in your territory by name, as Cæsar did his
soldiers; for all the traffic of goodwill must run in a direction toward
you if you want maximum results, as they call efficiency nowadays.
Good old rule 121 of the standard code says: "When in doubt take

the safe course and run no risks," which, in the case of
acquaintance, means if uncertain whether you know a man or not,
speak to him and give him the glad hand anyway. You will have to
discipline men, but that can be done without parting company with
your good manners. Remember that the much-abused word
"discipline" comes from the same root as the word "disciple," a pupil,
a learner, a follower. It is always easier to lead men than to drive
them.
When you go over the division do not try to see how many
telegrams you can send, but how few. It is usually a pretty safe rule
after writing a telegram on the hind end of a train to carry it by two
or three stations to see if you would rather not take it back to the
office yourself. The dispatchers used to tell your old dad that they
couldn't have told he was out on the line as far as his messages
were an indication. Another thing, do not try to plug your whistle
and muffle your bell. Let everybody know you are coming. The "Old
Sleuth" stunt is for criminals, not for honest employes. Be on hand
so frequently that your coming is taken as a matter of course. Never
hunt quail with a brass band, but bear in mind that men, unlike
quail, rather like to perch on a band wagon. If you are tempted to
wait behind box cars to see if the men on a night pony have gone in
the hay, do not yield, but get out, see that the switches are lined up,
and count the ties in front of the headlight until somebody gives her
steam; just as Napoleon walked post for the sleeping sentinel. Then,
if you administer a polite jacking up it will be twice as effective, even
if the delay to the work that one time has continued. Remember that
things are not as they should be, and it is probably your own fault if,
under normal conditions, a particular movement depends upon your
personal efforts. Any routine action that you take should be
calculated to help many trains, or one train many times; or to help
many men, not merely the trains or men in question. It is all right, in
emergencies, to jump in and do the work of a conductor, of an
engineman, of a switch tender, or of any other employe. The great

trouble is in discriminating between an emergency and a defect
which can better be remedied in some other way. The smaller the
caliber of the official the more numerous the emergencies to his
mind.
You should try to arrange your work so as to stay up all night at
least once a week, either in the office, or better, on the road or in
the yards. You will keep better in touch with the men and the things
for which you, asleep or awake, are always responsible. You
remember when your sister Lucy was little how we asked her why
she said her prayers at night but usually omitted them in the
morning. Her answer which so tickled you was, "I ask God to take
care of me at night, but I can take care of myself in the daytime." It
is much the same way with a railroad. From your point of view it will
take pretty fair care of itself as a daylight job, but at night that
proposition loses its rights. The youngest dispatcher, by virtue of
being the senior representative awake, is to a certain extent general
manager. The least experienced men are in the yards and
roundhouses. The ever-faithful sectionmen are off the right of way.
The car inspector's light and the engineman's torch are poor
substitutes for the sun in locating defects. The most active brains are
dulled by the darkness just before dawn. Then it is that a brief hour
may side-track or derail the good work of many days. It is this
responsibility, this struggle with nature, this helping God to work out
the good in men, that makes our profession noble and develops
qualities of greatness in its members.
Next time I shall try to tell you something about helping your train
dispatchers.
With a father's blessing, ever your own,
D. A. D.

LETTER II.
HELPING THE TRAIN DISPATCHERS.
March 27,
1904.
My Dear Boy:—I promised in my last to say something about helping
your train dispatchers. The way to help any man is first to encourage
him and by showing that you appreciate his good qualities give him
confidence in himself. When you come in off the road tell the
dispatcher, if such be the case, "Nice meeting point you made
yesterday for 15 and 16; I was there and they both kept moving
almost like double track." If your division has been badly handled,
the dispatcher, unaccustomed to such appreciation, will at first think
this is a sarcastic prelude to having the harpoon thrown into him;
but your sincerity will soon disabuse his mind of such a notion.
Sarcasm in official intercourse or toward one's subordinates should
never be tolerated. It is an expensive kind of extra that should never
be run. When you praise a man it will add to his good feeling if some
one else happens to be present. If you have to censure anyone,
whether directly or through the channels, do it privately and spare
the recipient all unnecessary humiliation. The official who
remembers to mention good work will find his rebukes and criticisms
much more effective in remedying poor work than the official whose
theory and practice are to take up failures and to let successes be
taken for granted.
Another way to help a man is to lead him away from the pitfalls that
are peculiar to his path of work. The official who is an old dispatcher
has to fight in himself the temptation to be the whole cheese. He

has to learn to trust subordinates with details. Every position entails
some inherent temptations. The absolute, unquestioned authority
given a dispatcher in train movements breeds a temptation to be
autocratic and unreasonable, to put out too many orders, to give too
many instructions. Therefore, try to get your dispatchers in touch
with your crews. If the former are in a skyscraper uptown, get
authority to build an office for them at the terminal where most of
the crews live. Personal contact is much better than long-distance
communication by wire. There is enough of the latter from the very
nature of the business without causing an unnecessary amount by
artificial conditions.
The temptation of a legislator is to make too many laws; of a doctor
to prescribe too much medicine; of an old man to give too much
advice; and of a train dispatcher, once more, to put out too many
orders. It used to be thought by some that the best dispatcher was
the one who put out the most orders. The later and better idea is
that, generally speaking, the best dispatcher puts out the fewest
orders. It is always easier to give orders of any kind than it is to
execute them. It is a far cry from an O.S. on a train sheet to getting
a heavy drag into a sidetrack and out again. It often takes longer to
stop a train and get an order signed and completed than the
additional time given in the order amounts to. Even a judicious use
of the beneficent nineteen order involves more or less delay. One of
the lessons a dispatcher has to learn is to know when he is up
against it; when he has figured badly; and when not to make a bad
matter worse by vainly trying to retrieve a hopeless delay. A good
dispatcher will know without being told that he has made a poor
meeting point. Educate him to consider that as an error to be
avoided under like conditions in the future; not as a mistake to be
made worse by putting out more orders that may fail to help the
stabbed train enough, and may result in having every fellow on the
road delayed. If any train must be delayed, let it be one that is
already late rather than one that is on time. Above all get the

confidence of your dispatchers so that they will not try to cover up
their own mistakes or those of others. Teach them that, in the
doubtful event of its becoming necessary, the superintendent is able
to do the covering up act for the whole division.
Every superintendent and higher official should remember that if the
same train order is given every day there must be something
radically wrong with the time table. All over this broad land, day
after day, hundreds of unnecessary train orders are being sent
because many time tables are constructed on the models of forty
years ago. At that time, in fact as in name, there were two classes of
trains, passenger and freight. To-day there are in reality at least two
distinct classes of passenger trains and two classes of freights, or at
least four in all. On most of the roads in the country passenger
trains of whatever nature or importance are all shown in one class,
the first. As a result every limited train in the inferior direction on
single track has to be given right by train order over opposing local
passenger trains in the superior direction. In other words, the
working time table, by definition a general law, has no more
practical value, as between such trains, than an advertising folder. A
train order by its very nature is an exception to the general law, the
time table. When the exception becomes the rule it is high time to
head in or to put out a thinking flag. Some years ago your old dad
after much persuasion induced his superiors to let him make four
classes of trains on a pretty warm piece of single track. The result
directly and indirectly was to reduce the number of train orders by
twenty or twenty-five per day. Every train order given increases the
possibility of mistake and disaster; the fewer the orders the safer the
operation. The change was made without even an approach to a
mistake or the semblance of disaster. The dispatchers being less
occupied were able to give more attention to local freights, and the
general efficiency of the train service was greatly increased. The
wires could go down and the most important trains would keep
moving. It has stood the test of years and if the old method were

resumed a grievance committee would probably wait on the
management.
Successful politicians and public speakers have long since learned
not to disgust their hearers by trying to talk in language ridiculously
simple and uncultured. For us to say that the intelligent employes of
to-day cannot keep in mind four or even five classes of trains is to
confuse them with the comparatively illiterate men of a bygone
generation. The public school and the daily newspaper have made a
part of our problem easier. We are paying higher wages than ever
before, but is it not partly our own fault if we fail to get full value
received?
Therefore, see if your time tables appeal to tradition or to reason; if
they belong to a period when women wore hoopskirts, or to a time
when women ride wheels and play golf. In brief, before you take the
stylus to remove the dirt ballast from the dispatcher's eye, be sure
that there are no brakebeams stuck in your own headlight.
Affectionately, your own
D. A. D.

LETTER III.
HANDLING A YARD.
April 3, 1904.
My Dear Boy:—You have asked me to give you some pointers on
handling a yard. You will find that nearly all situations in a yard hark
back to one simple rule, which is: When you get hold of a car move
it as far as possible toward its final destination before you let go of
it.
The training of a switchman is usually such that, if let alone, he will
stick the car in the first convenient track and wait to make a delivery
until he can pull every track in the yard and put with it all other cars
with the same cards or marks. By this time some other fellow with a
similar honesty of purpose but differently applied will come along
and bury the car or block the first man in so that one engine has to
stand idle. A yardmaster has to learn to keep his engines scattered
and to hold each foreman responsible for the work of an engine. A
good yardmaster knows instinctively where to be at a certain time to
minimize the delay incident to engines bunching. The old switchman
who becomes a yardmaster often proves a failure because he cannot
overcome his inclination to follow one engine and take a hand in the
switching himself. By so doing he may perhaps increase the work
accomplished by that one engine, possibly five per cent; but in the
meantime the other engines, for want of comprehensive, intelligent
instructions, are getting in each other's way and the efficiency of the
day's service is decreased maybe twenty per cent.

Good yardmasters are even harder to discover or develop than good
train dispatchers. The exposure, the irregular hours for the
yardmaster's meals in even the best regulated yards make a good
conductor leery about giving up a comfortable run to assume the
increased responsibility of a yard. The pay of a yardmaster is little
more than that of a conductor and is sometimes less. Right here is a
chance for some deep administrative thought. It is so much easier to
get good conductors than good yardmasters, should we not make
the latter position more attractive? Some roads have done this by
making it one of the positions from which to promote trainmasters,
and seldom have such appointees fallen down. However, there are
hardly enough promotion loaves and fishes to go around. Men get
tired of living on skimmed milk on earth for the sake of promised
cream in heaven. Every switch engine worked costs the company
several hundred dollars per month, and the yardmaster whose good
figuring can save working even one engine is more than earning his
salary.
The closer you can get your yardmasters to your official family the
better your administration. Pick up a yardmaster occasionally and
take him to headquarters with you so that he will keep acquainted
with the dispatchers. This will hold down friction and save the
company's good money. A dispatcher naturally wants to get all the
trains he can into a terminal, while a yardmaster is doing his level
best to get trains out. With such radically different points of
professional view there is a big opportunity for the superintendent
and the trainmaster to do the harmonizing act, to keep pleasantly
before employes the fact that all are working for the same company,
that all do business with the same paymaster. Blessed are the
peacemakers doesn't mean necessarily there must first be trouble.
Peace carried in stock is better than that manufactured on hurry-up
shop orders.
If you are looking for talent to run a yard, consider some ambitious
dispatcher. Too few dispatchers have become yardmasters. The

same cool head, the same quick judgment, the same executive
ability are needed in both positions. The man who has successfully
filled both is usually equipped to go against almost any old official
job, without having to back up and take a run for the hill. The curse
of modern civilization is over-specialization. The world grows better
and produces stronger, better men all the while. Perhaps this is in
spite of rather than on account of highly specialized organization. No
industry can afford to be without the old-fashioned all around man
who is good anywhere you put him.
The work of the yardmaster is more spectacular than that of the
dispatcher. To come down to a congested yard among a lot of
discouraged men blocked in without room to sidetrack a handcar is
like sitting down to a train sheet with most of the trains tied up for
orders. In either case let the right man take hold and in a few
minutes the men involved will tell you who it is has assumed charge.
Without realizing it and without knowing why, they redouble their
efforts; things begin to move, and the incident goes down in the
legends of the division to be the talk of the caboose and the
roundhouse for years to come. To the man whose cool head and
earnestness are bringing it all about comes the almost unconscious
exhilaration that there is in leading reinforcements to the firing line.
He feels with the Count of Monte Cristo, "The world is mine," I have
the switches set to head it in.
Get out of your head the young brakeman's idea that yard jobs are
for old women and hasbeens.
D. A. D.

LETTER IV.
DISTANT SIGNALS ON CHIEF CLERKS.
April 10, 1904.
My Dear Boy:—You write me that you have been kept very much in
your office of late because the general superintendent has taken
your chief clerk for the same position in his own office. You hope
that your friend, the auditor, may be able to furnish you a good man
who has such a thorough knowledge of accounts that you will be
able to give less attention to such matters and therefore be out on
the road that much more. You will pardon a father's severity, but you
are running on bad track, and my interest prompts me to put out a
slow order for you. You have had the division a short time, it is true,
but that is only a partial excuse for not having better organization
than your letter unwittingly admits. You have been there long
enough to have sized up the men on the division, and you should
know where to put your hand on a man for practically any position.
A good organizer does not wait for a vacancy to occur or even come
in sight before thinking of the next incumbent. He is always into
clear on such a proposition. He has thought it all out beforehand. He
has in mind two or three available men for every possible vacancy
that can occur, for every job on the pike, including his own.
Wherever possible by judicious changing of men he not only has a
man in mind, but he has given him some preliminary training for,
perhaps some actual experience in, the position to be permanently
filled.
The tone of your letter is half complaining because the general
superintendent has taken your good chief clerk. Away with such a

feeling; it is unworthy. You should feel flattered that your division
had a chance to fill the vacancy. You should rejoice in the
advancement of your faithful subordinate. Some divisions, like some
officials, are known the country over as developers of talent.
Youth is proverbially quick, and I think sometimes that you
youngsters are quicker at getting into a rut than are we old fogies.
Why for a chief clerk must you necessarily have a man with office
experience? Does it not occur to you that your office will be in better
touch with its responsibilities if it is in charge of a man who has
worked outside along the road? Why not look among your trainmen,
your yardmen, your dispatchers, your agents, your operators, or
even among your section foremen? Experience is a great teacher,
but it can never entirely supply the place of native ability, of natural
adaptability. Brains and tact are the essentials and each is
comparatively useless without the other. Both must be developed by
training, but such training does not necessarily have to take the
same course for all men. Railroading as a business is only seventy-
five years old, and as a profession is much younger than that. It is
too early in the game to lay down iron-clad rules as to the best
channels for training and advancement. Common sense demands
that such avenues be broad and more or less definite. The danger is
that they will be only paths and so narrow that they will wear into
ruts.
Do not delude yourself into thinking that by going out on the road
you can get away from the accounts. They are a flagman that is
never left behind to come in on a following section. You can never
get beyond watching the company's dollars and cents any more than
a successful musician can omit practice. Some officials think that the
way to examine a payroll or a voucher is to see that all the
extensions are accurately made, that the columns are correctly
added. This mechanical clerical work is about the last thing an
official should have to do. He should know how, but his examination
should be from a different viewpoint. Primarily he must look to see if

the company is getting value received for money expended. He must
know that the rolls and vouchers are honestly made up, that
agreements involved, if any, are carried out to the letter. The
agreements may not be to his personal liking, may not accord with
his ideas of justice, but the responsibility for that part is his
superior's, not his own. There is a proper channel for him to follow
in attempting to protect the company's interests, but that channel is
not the one of a petty ruling on a minor question involved in a
voucher or a payroll. Overtime, for example, is not a spook but a
business proposition. If earned according to the schedule it should
be allowed unhesitatingly. Before you jack up a yard-master for
having so much overtime, see if the cutting out of that overtime will
mean the greater expense of working another engine. The constant
thought of every official is how to reduce expenses, how to cut down
payrolls. This habit of mind, commendable as it is, has its dangers.
In any business we must spend money to get money. The auditor's
statements do not tell us why we lost certain traffic through
relatively poor service. Their silence is not eloquent upon the subject
of the business we failed to get. Figures must be fought with figures
and many a good operating official has had to lie down in the face of
the auditor's fire because, from lack of intelligent study of statistics
on his own part, he had no ammunition with which to reload. Do not
feel that if you happen to advocate an increase of expense you are
necessarily a discredit to the profession, a dishonor to the cloth.
There are few roads that would not save money in the long run by
allowing each division say one hundred dollars per month for
developing talent. The expense distributed to oil for administrative
machinery would express the idea. It would then be up to the
superintendent to work out original methods for spending this
money to the best advantage. A bright young fellow with the ear
marks of a coming official could be given training in various
positions. While he is acting in a certain position, the regular
incumbent could be sent to observe methods elsewhere or be given

training in some other department. For example, while your
candidate is running a yard, the yardmaster could be an understudy
for a supervisor. A station agent could take the place of a section
foreman, an operator the place of a chief clerk, and so on
indefinitely. Do not understand me as advocating a wholesale
shakeup or the doing away with permanency of tenure. The
limitations of the majority of men are such that they are better left
in one fixed groove. We grow to be narrow in our methods because
men are narrow. What I want is for us to be broad enough in
method to keep from dwarfing the exceptions in the ranks, and at
the same time keep the parts of our administrative machine
interchangeable. The original entry into the service is more or less a
matter of accident as to department entered. Let us not leave a
good man the creature of accident all his days. The company is the
loser as well as the man. We complain because the trades unions
advocate a closed shop, a restricted output, a limited number of
apprentices. Is not their attitude a logical development of the
example we have set? Like master, like man.
Let your new chief clerk understand that he is never to use your
signature or initials to censure or reprimand any employe, either
directly or by implication. That is a prerogative you cannot afford to
delegate. It is all right if a complaint comes in for the chief clerk to
investigate by writing in your name and saying: "Kindly advise
concerning alleged failure to do so and so;" or, "We have a complaint
that such and such happened and would like to have your
statement;" but he should stop right there. It is all wrong for him or
for you to add, "We are astonished at your ignorance of the rules;"
or, "You must understand that such conduct will not be tolerated."
Wait until both sides of the case are heard. Then you alone must
act. The division will not go to pieces while such matters await your
personal attention. While you are learning that even a brakeman's
unpaid board bill may be satisfactorily explained, the brakemen are
learning that even a superintendent can find the time to be fair and

just. A lack of development of the judicial quality in chief clerks and
their superiors has cost the railroad stockholders of this country
many a dollar.
D. A. D.

LETTER V.
SAFETY OF TRAINS IN YARDS.
April 17, 1904.
My Dear Boy:—I have yours saying that my letter on yard work omits
mention of the most important feature, the safety of trains in yards;
that the letter is much like a cup of lunch-counter coffee—very good,
what there is of it, and plenty of it, such as it is.
I admit that you have caught me not only foul of the main, but
outside the switches. I appreciate your consideration in so politely
pulling the whistle cord for me, when you would have been justified
in setting the air. We all like to be with good company and pull the
president's special, and in this case I seem to have with me no less
distinguished companions than the American Railway Association.
That able body has been detoured too long around this important
matter of rules governing trains in yards. Before I leave their
varnished cars and climb into the gangway of a switch engine to run
into the yards, I want the conductor to throw off a register slip
setting forth my admiration for the great work already done by that
brainy organization. I take off my hat to the American Railway
Association. When I take off said hat, especially to a lady, I always
keep both eyes open. Adoration should not be too blind or one may
overlook some other meeting points and land clear off the right of
way.
Long ago some bright minds, whose identity is lost in the rush of the
years, hit upon the happy expedient of dividing trains into two kinds,
regular and extra; just as early theology divided mankind into the

two convenient classes of saints and sinners. This designation of
trains, doubtless like all innovations opposed at first, soon acquired
the sacredness that time brings to all things. At that period when we
got a car over the road and into the terminal we felt that its troubles
were about ended, as did the contemporary novelist whose terminal
was always a betrothal scene. Under modern conditions a car
reaching a terminal, like a couple leaving the altar, finds that its
problems have only fairly begun. Less romance, more progress.
Did you ever try to explain to an intelligent traveling man just what a
train is? Did he not ask you some questions that kept you guessing
for a week? Did he not remind you that outsiders usually make the
inventions that revolutionize operation? Radical changes in methods
of warfare are seldom necessitated by the inventions of military
men. A druggist invented the automatic coupler. Railroad men did
not patent the air brake or devise the sleeping car. All this is natural,
because in any profession where one attains excellence in a given
method his mental vision may become contracted; he may reason in
a circle.
Every once in a while we are appalled by a terrible collision in a
terminal, the result perhaps of some poor devil of an employe not
appreciating fully the meaning of "all trains." To the innocent
bystander the switch engine and cars are just as much a train as the
Pullman flyer with its two little green markers on the last car. After
such accidents, for a brief period, we hear a great deal about act of
Providence, presumptuousness of man, fallibility of the human mind,
surprise checking, discipline of employes, company spirit,
governmental supervision and a lot of other more or less unrelated
subjects. Are we not to blame for not having met the issue squarely?
Is it not time that we legislated to recognize the scores of engines
chasing through our terminals, from freighthouse to yard, from
engine house to station? Are they outcasts? Do the millions of
dollars of investment they represent come through a different
treasury?

To the human mind an engine or a motor is a train, while a cut of
cars without motive power is only a piece of a train, and goes to the
brain as an idea of something incomplete. All the artificial definitions
of the standard code cannot alter this state of facts. What do you
think of the following proposed designations and tentative
definitions?
Train.—An engine (or motor) in service, with or without cars. Two or
more engines (or motors) may be combined as one train.
Regular Train.—A train represented on the time table. It may consist
of sections. A section derives its running existence from a train order
requiring a regular train or the proper section thereof, to display
prescribed signals.
Extra Train.—A train not represented on the time table, but deriving
its running existence from train order.
Yard Train.—A train neither represented on the time table nor
created by train order, but deriving its running existence from rules
governing movements within prescribed limits.
You will find if you work these definitions through the standard code
the changes will be slight, but the results comprehensive and
satisfactory. This will do as a starter, but you will live to see trains
handled on single track without train orders as we now understand
the term.
If this answers your signal, suppose we call in that flag we whistled
out when we stopped to talk it over.
D. A. D.

LETTER VI.
STANDARDIZING ADMINISTRATION.
April 24, 1904.
My Dear Boy:—While backing in on a branch idea I bumped into a
load consigned to the American Railway Association which, with your
permission, I wish to bring in behind the caboose to save a switch.
Yes, I have tied a green flag on the rear grabiron for a marker. When
the hind man has dropped off to shut the switch and has given the
eagle eye a high sign, I shall make a note on the wheel report to the
effect that there is not a much better daylight marker than the
caboose itself. Some people doubt the necessity for green flags on
freight trains or work trains unless the caboose does not happen to
be the last car. Night markers are unquestionably necessary, but are
not a source of additional expense, as the same oil answers for both
the rear red signal and the marker.
The idea in question is that the American Railway Association might
well afford to pay salaries to more of its officials and let certain ones
give their entire time to committee work and the general welfare. It
is too much to expect that men, probably already overworked on
their own roads, can find the broadest solution of problems in the
very limited time allowed. It might be possible to work out a plan
whereby election to certain positions in the association would mean
that the individual elected was to be loaned to the association for his
term of office, say two years, and then return to service with his
own company. A permanent body of officials in such an organization
would be undesirable, save of course the able secretary, for the
reason that too long a separation from active service would beget an

indifference to practical operating conditions. Under such a plan
officials would have to be elected by name to prevent a company
from unloading any old rail on the association. You know that some
statistician has figured out that the average official life of a railroad
man in any one position is only about two years. Rearrangement of
the staff on the return of an official from such broadening special
duty should not be a difficult matter. But, as a man once said to me,
"You will not bring all these reforms about until the old fogies die off,
and by that time you will be an old fogy yourself and it will not make
any difference."
There is almost no limit to the number of matters in railway
administration that can be made standard and uniform for all roads.
A great deal has been done, but to a coming generation the present
stage of accomplishment will seem to have been only a fair
beginning. The hopeful feature is that roads now meet each other in
a much broader spirit than ever before. The fortress that parleys is
half taken, and when negotiations looking to uniformity are once
begun a long stride forward has been taken. Take the wage
agreements of a dozen roads at a large terminal. All twelve are
intended to mean practically the same thing, yet the wording of no
two will be found alike. This probably is not due so much to a
disinclination to get together as to a lack of time for working out
uniform details.
Some roads are noticeable for the clearness, conciseness and brevity
of their instructions. Others employ a lot of surplus words which are
as expensive and annoying in operation as dead cars in a yard. On
every road there are a few men in the official family who have a
faculty of expression, either inborn or acquired. Some day when we
more fully overcome the prejudice against sending officials to school
we shall utilize the services of such valuable men as instructors in
style. When this is done, especially in the traffic and legal
departments, we shall materially reduce our telegraph expenses.
The mere thought of the thousands of unnecessary words flying

over the railroad wires every day is enough to give one telegrapher's
cramp. Some roads occasionally censor telegrams with a view to
reducing their number and their length. These efforts, like municipal
reform, are apt to be too spasmodic to prove of lasting value.
Success in anything depends upon keeping most everlastingly at it.
You notice that I do not confine this remark to our own profession.
Carry a flag for me against the man who always says: "In railroading
you have to do thus and so, for it's not like other business." All must
admit that conditions in railroading are intense; that, except in an
army in time of war, there is no profession that is more strenuous or
calls for better staying qualities. These facts, however, do not put us
in a class by ourselves, a little lower than the angels, a few car
lengths ahead of perfection. As Oliver Cromwell said, some things
are fundamental. One of them is that good organization and
administration depend upon certain basic principles which hold true
for any industry. Whatever one's religious views, he must find that
the Bible is one of the best books of rules ever written, one of the
best standard codes on organization that has been devised. Men
were organizers on a large scale centuries before railroads were
built.
When, after months of deliberation, the convention had finally
agreed upon the provisions of the Constitution of the United States,
the document was referred for revision to a committee on style and
expression. The result has been the admiration of the English
speaking race. The caller's book does not show that the American
Railway Association has ordered a run for such a committee. Should
a claim of that sort be made it would hardly be advisable to file the
last standard code as an exhibit.
D. A. D.

LETTER VII.
THE NEW TRAINMASTER AND CIVIL SERVICE.
May 1, 1904.
My Dear Boy:—I have your letter telling about your new trainmaster.
You feel that a man from another division has been forced on you by
the general superintendent; that you have suffered a personal
affront because the promotion you recommended on your own
division has not been approved. I am sorry to rule against you, but
from your own story if anybody deserves six months twice a year, it
is you and not the general superintendent. The latter may have been
lacking in tact; he may have been unduly inconsiderate for your
personal feelings, but in making the appointment, which you admit
is a good one, he has doubtless been actuated by a conscientious
sense of duty. Remember that a fundamental principle of highly
organized bodies is that a superior cannot expect to select his own
lieutenants. The next higher is always consulted and generally the
latter's superiors also. The theory is that they are in a position to
have a broader view, to size up more talent, to draw from the
system at large, and to accentuate principles and policies in
promotions and appointments. This theory is supported by practice,
which goes even further. On most roads circulars signed by the
superintendent and approved by the general superintendent
announce the appointment of a trainmaster. Do not let this delude
you into thinking the general manager has not been consulted. In
fact, if you could drop a nickel in the slot and get a phonographic
report of conferences on the appointment, you might happen to
recognize the voice of the president himself before the machine shut
off. All of which should convince you that the stockholders and

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