Page:Hine (1912) Letters from an old railway official.djvu/236

This page has been validated.

LETTER XXI.

THE MAN-DAY AS A UNIT.

Tucson, Ariz., August 26, 1911.

My Dear Boy:—If people’s eyes were never too large for their stomachs there would be less overeating. If human concepts were never too vast for practical performance there would be fewer disappointments in administration. Because the railroads have grown so fast and have become so large, our imagination has sometimes run too far ahead of our judgment. This is a big world full of big things and big men. The biggest men are learning that big things can be handled and big men developed only by complete treatment of little things and of the so-called little men. This growing conviction is manifesting itself in various ways. Railways, thank God, are building more division shops and relatively fewer general shops. Division stores are becoming more and more complete. Division accounting is gaining ground and is paving the way for local disbursement.

224