The solidarity and statesmanship of the trade unions reached perfection in the railway "Brotherhoods." Of these the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers* is the oldest and most powerful.It grew out of the union of several early associations;one of these was the National Protective Association formed after the great Baltimore and Ohio strike in 1854; another was the Brotherhood of the Footboard, organized in Detroit after the bitter strike on the Michigan Central in 1862.Though born thus of industrial strife, this railroad union has nevertheless developed a poise and a conservatism which have been its greatest assets in the numerous controversies engaging its energies.No other union has had a more continuous and hardheaded leadership, and no other has won more universal respect both from the public and from the employer.
* Up to this time the Brotherhoods have not affiliated with the Knights of Labor nor with the American Federation of Labor.After the passage of the eight-hour law by Congress in 1916, definite steps were taken towards affiliating the Railway Brotherhoods with the Federation, and at its annual convention in 1919 the Federation voted to grant them a charter.
This high position is largely due, no doubt, to the fact that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is composed of a very select and intelligent class of men.Every engineer must first serve an apprenticeship as a fireman, which usually lasts from four to twelve years.Very few are advanced to the rank of engineer in less than four years.The firemen themselves are selected men who must pass several physical examinations and then submit to the test of as arduous an apprenticeship as modern industrialism affords.In the course of an eight- to twelve-hour run firemen must shovel from fifteen to twenty-five tons of coal into the blazing fire box of a locomotive.In winter they are constantly subjected to hot blasts from the furnace and freezing drafts from the wind.Records show that out of every hundred who begin as firemen only seventeen become engineers and of these only six ever become passenger engineers.The mere strain on the eyes caused by looking into the coal blaze eliminates 17 per cent.
Those who eventually become engineers are therefore a select group as far as physique is concerned.
The constant dangers accompanying their daily work require railroad engineers to be no less dependable from the moral point of view.The history of railroading is as replete with heroism as is the story of any war.A coward cannot long survive at the throttle.The process of natural selection which the daily labor of an engineer involves the Brotherhood has supplemented by most rigid moral tests.The character of every applicant for membership is thoroughly scrutinized and must be vouched for by three members.He must demonstrate his skill and prove his character by a year's probation before his application is finally voted upon.Once within the fold, the rules governing his conduct are inexorable.If he shuns his financial obligations or is guilty of a moral lapse, he is summarily expelled.In 1909, thirty-six members were expelled for "unbecoming conduct."Drunkards are particularly dangerous in railroading.
When the order was only five years old and still struggling for its life, it nevertheless expelled 172 members for drunkenness.
In proven cases of this sort the railway authorities are notified, the offending engineer is dismissed from the service, and the shame of these culprits is published to the world in the Locomotive Engineers' Journal, which reaches every member of the order.There is probably no other club or professional organization so exacting in its demands that its members be self-respecting, faithful, law-abiding, and capable; and surely no other is so summary and far-reaching in its punishments.
Today ninety per cent of all the locomotive engineers in the United States and Canada belong to this union.But the Brotherhood early learned the lesson of exclusion.In 1864 after very annoying experiences with firemen and other railway employees on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, it amended its constitution and excluded firemen and machinists from the order.This exclusive policy, however, is based upon the stern requirements of professional excellence and is not displayed towards engineers who are not members of the Brotherhood.Towards them there is displayed the greatest toleration and none of the narrow spirit of the "closed shop."The nonunion engineer is not only tolerated but is even on occasion made the beneficiary of the activities of the union.He shares, for example, in the rise of wages and readjustment of runs.There are even cases on record where the railroad unions have taken up a specific grievance between a nonunion man and his employer and have attempted a readjustment.
