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GIFT or 
 
^actors Underlying the 
 
 Leadership of the 
 Railways of America 
 
 BY JOHN R. MOTT 
 

Factors Underlying the 
 
 Leadership of the 
 
 Railways of America 
 
 By John R. Mott 
 
 An Address given at the 
 
 HOTEl, COMMODORE, NEW YORK 
 
 JUNE 16, 1922 
 

 <4 
 
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 FACTORS UNDERLYING THE 
 LEADERSHIP OF THE RAIL- 
 WAYS OF AMERICA 
 
 By John R. Mott 
 
 An Address Given at the Hotel Commo- 
 dore, New York, June 16, 1922 
 
 MR. CHAIRMAN, Gentlemen: I 
 value highly the privilege of 
 meeting in an intimate way with 
 this company of men of wide outlook, of 
 large achievement and of proved respon- 
 siveness to the highest ideals and pur- 
 poses. As the Chairman has indicated, 
 it has been my lot to devote much of my 
 life abroad as well as here in America 
 to traveling work. I find myself, there- 
 fore, always at home in the midst of 
 railway men, having spent now nearly 
 thirty-five years in almost incessant travel 
 among the nations. I am prepared to 
 appreciate sympathetically as well as with 
 
 — 3 — 
 
my'whOle'mirid'Va^'entthe finer aspects 
 of this work in honor of which we meet 
 today, and also lying back of that, the 
 work of the railways themselves. Every 
 time I come back from a foreign journey, 
 whether from the Orient, or from the 
 western nations, or from those that lie 
 south of us, I have a deepened sense of 
 appreciation of the unique and stupen- 
 dous service rendered by the railways of 
 America to the upbuilding of the life of 
 our nation. 
 
 It is due to the railways that we have 
 had the almostunbelievable development 
 of the vast material resources of the 
 American continent. It is due to the rail- 
 way service, and this is often overlooked, 
 that there has been facilitated so largely 
 the nation-wide dissemination of intelli- 
 genc e as well as the physical and social 
 well-being of the American people. 
 Likewise, the railways have done more 
 than any other one factor to promote the 
 unity of the nation. Just as the Civil War 
 fused together forever the American 
 
States politically, so the ceaseless shuttling 
 of the railways has made possible and 
 done much to realize the social unifica- 
 tion and the real spiritual solidarity of 
 our strongly sectional and markedly cos- 
 mopolitan population. How much that 
 means only those of us fully appreciate 
 who travel widely over the land. More- 
 over, the American people do not realize 
 the great contribution of our railways in 
 preventing some of the great ills and 
 perils that have well nigh undone other 
 nations and have actually brought on 
 some of the greatest calamities of man- 
 kind. 
 
 When on my recent visit to China I 
 heard of the terrible havoc and suffering 
 caused by the famine, I said, "How much 
 of this might have been prevented by an 
 adequate railway service." When in In- 
 dia I have found, even under the match- 
 less administration of Britain, how great 
 famines at times still obtain among the 
 three hundred millions of Hindustan, and 
 have said, "What would not be the situ- 
 
 — 5-— 
 
ation were it not for the railways they 
 have, and what is not a widely extending 
 country saved by having an adequate rail- 
 way system?" When I was in Russia in 
 the summer of 1917 with my good friend 
 General Scott, sent by the President as 
 members of the Root Mission, and we 
 saw the crumbling of the Russian Army 
 and the rise of Bolshevism, we recognized 
 that the principal thing which made this 
 great catastrophe possible was the break- 
 down of the means of communication. 
 The reason why we have had to pour tens 
 of millions of dollars worth of provisions 
 into Russia this year to save them from 
 starvation, and the reason why the great 
 political distemper of Bolshevism, like 
 a malignant disease, still eats its way into 
 the heart of Russia, is because of insuf- 
 ficient transportation. 
 
 Think also of the great contribution of 
 American railways in opening in the rail- 
 way service boundless opportunity to suc- 
 cessive millions of men for useful work 
 and for advancement. Our railways con- 
 
 — 6 — 
 
stitute one of the greatest, if not the great- 
 est, school of democracy we have. 
 
 Why is it that the American railways 
 hold the primacy among the railroad 
 systems of the nations? It is a fact fa- 
 miliar to those present that America has 
 practically one-half of the railway mile- 
 age of the entire world. That, however, 
 is not what impresses us so much as the 
 causes which have given the railways of 
 America their unique distinction and 
 great achieving power. 
 
 What are some of the factors which 
 have made the American railways great 
 and given them leadership among the 
 railway systems of the world? I may be 
 far afield but I think one of the factors 
 has been the spaciousness of the oppor- 
 tunity. They had a vast continent thrust 
 upon them to be opened, settled, subdued 
 and developed. There was something 
 about this which appealed powerfully to 
 the imagination and also to the adven- 
 turous and heroic in strong men. It 
 served to call out the best that was in 
 
 — 7 — 
 
them. Someone might say, "Is there not 
 a great continent in Africa ? What about 
 Siberia which is nearly three times the 
 size of Canada or the United States?" 
 Yes, their day will come, and I predict 
 that the very spaciousness of those vast 
 areas, which grew upon me as I made my 
 long journeys over them, will yet chal- 
 lenge some of the greatest minds and re- 
 lease the latent energies not only of the 
 Russian people but also of other nations 
 whose cooperation they must have. 
 
 The admitted leadership of American 
 railways may also be explained by the 
 freedom which they have had to evolve 
 plans and project them through the dec- 
 ades, notwithstanding embarrassing and 
 harassing restrictive legislation — legis- 
 lation which in its practical effects or 
 outworking has often proved to have been 
 unpatriotic. When we contrast the de- 
 velopments on this side of the Atlantic 
 with those in the European nations and 
 even more with those in Latin America — 
 we recognize that we have had a measure 
 
 — 8 — 
 
of libertythat has made possibleour show- 
 ing what railways can do and how they 
 can serve the interests of a great people. 
 
 Another factor that explains the great- 
 ness of our railways has been the emi- 
 nent leadership which these enterprises 
 have had. I make bold to say that there 
 is no work in America or in any other 
 country which has called out among men 
 more power of vision, more capacity for 
 initiative, more organizing ability, that 
 is, the ability to wield and combine men, 
 than has the leadership of the railway 
 systems of this country. 
 
 Undoubtedly another cause has been 
 not only the power of mentality and per- 
 sonality to which I have called attention, 
 but likewise the money power. What 
 undertaking in America or in any other 
 nation has had so largely poured out 
 upon it the great energies of capital, not 
 only of the rich but also of what we 
 might call associated poverty. What 
 project have we today that is more truly 
 American? 
 
Then I like to add another factor that 
 has made us forge to the front. That has 
 been our power to cooperate. I remem- 
 ber the discerning remark of Senator 
 Root, "You may judge the degree of ad- 
 vancement of a nation's civilization by 
 its ability to cooperate with other 
 nations." This is just as true of com- 
 panies as it is of nations. Judging by 
 this test, the railway companies of this 
 country have evolved into a high stage 
 of advancement and present an example 
 of which we may be proud. We all re- 
 member the days of keen and remorse- 
 less competition, even unto warfare. It 
 sometimes had its advantages in calling 
 out the latent capacities of men and 
 companies; but we have evolved, I re- 
 peat, into that state where railways, not- 
 withstanding centrifugal energies, have 
 shown their ability to cooperate with one 
 another, and, what I sometimes think is 
 even more striking, have developed un- 
 usual capacities of cooperation inter- 
 nally. When we think of troubles between 
 
 — 10 — 
 
companies and men we may at times feel 
 depressed, and wonder whether or not 
 this point is true, but if we contrast what 
 we have here with what they have in 
 certain other nations, we shall find abun- 
 dant ground for encouragement and hope. 
 
 Were I to mention another factor, it 
 would be to emphasize the general char- 
 acter and spirit of the men in the service 
 from top to bottom. I do not wonder 
 that you are proud of this service. Nor 
 do I wonder that the thing that causes us 
 most solicitude is the fact that at times 
 we are conscious that there is not the 
 desired solidarity, or the sense of the 
 solidarity that does exist. This leads us 
 right into the heart of what has brought 
 us here today. 
 
 Among the influences that have made 
 possible the remarkable personnel of the 
 American railway systems is the work of 
 the Railroad Young Men's Christian 
 Association. It deserves to be ranked 
 very high indeed if we may judge by the 
 testimony of the railway officials. What 
 
 ii- 
 
agency has begun to do as much to pro- 
 mote right character, right relationships, 
 and right spirit among the men in the 
 varied services as has the Young Men's 
 Christian Association? 
 
 The word that I suppose we heard most 
 frequently in the war was the word 
 "morale." You will remember the dic- 
 tum of Napoleon that morale is to other 
 factors in war as three to one. The World 
 War was a war of morales. You will 
 recall that Hindenburg in the early days 
 of the war said that the victory would 
 ultimately be achieved by the nation that 
 had the strongest nerves. I do not like 
 that word as well as I like the word 
 "morale" which represents, as I see it, 
 the spirit of the men. 
 
 It will be interesting to remind our- 
 selves of what it was that at times tended 
 to destroy the morale of men in the 
 armies. War-tiredness in some cases was 
 the cause; again it was idleness; at other 
 times it was uncertainty or doubt; and 
 not infrequently it was what we called 
 
 — 12 — 
 
enemy propaganda. These were among 
 the principal influences. On the other 
 hand, what were the causes that contrib- 
 uted most powerfully to the building up 
 and maintaining of high morale? As I 
 answer this question my answer will con- 
 stitute in some respects the best outline I 
 could give of the work of the Railroad 
 Young Men's Christian Association, be- 
 cause what this organization is striving 
 to do along railway lines of the country 
 is to promote the right morale, that is the 
 right character, attitude and spirit of the 
 men. I would, therefore, ask the ques- 
 tion again : What were the factors in the 
 war that did most to maintain and 
 strengthen morale? One of them un- 
 doubtedly was the promotion of the phys- 
 ical comfort of the men. I do not need 
 to fill in what you will find in these pages 
 [referring to a pamphlet on the table]. 
 That is one of the great objects of the 
 Railroad Association. When you think 
 what it does with its dormitories, restau- 
 rants, rest rooms, athletic features, its 
 
 — 13 — 
 
homelike lounges, you understand what 
 we mean by the physical comfort of the 
 men. A second factor that contributed 
 to morale was the mental and heart con- 
 tentment of the men. Again you will re- 
 call vividly the entertainments, the lec- 
 tures, the reading rooms of the army Y. 
 huts and of the Railroad Y. buildings at 
 terminal and division points, and you rec- 
 ognize the full force of this point. 
 
 The right use of the leisure hours had 
 very much to do with preserving and 
 strengthening morale. I trace nineteen- 
 twentieths of the troubles among young 
 men to unaccounted-for hours — some- 
 times an evening off, sometimes a day, 
 sometimes a week-end. It is to these va- 
 cant hours that I trace the lapses and falls 
 of men. We cannot well overstate the 
 importance of a program such as that of 
 the Association to occupy usefully the 
 vacant spaces in the time of men. 
 
 Another thing that contributed much 
 to feeding the morale of men in the war 
 was the opportunity the Association af- 
 
 — 14 — 
 
forded them to change their minds. After 
 spending long days and nights in the 
 trenches, or after being on the battlefield 
 where they witnessed scenes and had ex- 
 periences which they would fain forget, 
 or after the irksome routine of camp life, 
 to be able to go into a bright and cheerful 
 room and mingle with their fellows and 
 converse with the men and women work- 
 ers in charge and enjoy the diverting 
 games and uplifting ministries to mind 
 and spirit, was the means of transform- 
 ing their whole mental outlook. 
 
 Another influence that made for morale 
 was the consciousness the men had that 
 they were not forgotten, that the people 
 back at home — the citizens of their native 
 land — believed in them, were indeed in- 
 terested in them, and followed them there, 
 not simply through government taxes but 
 through such welfare organizations as the 
 Young Men's Christian Association. 
 Tens of millions were contributed for Y. 
 huts, equipment and facilities. The 
 same influence is exerted by the Railroad 
 
 — 15 — 
 
Y. with its generous backing from the 
 companies and their stockholders and 
 friends. 
 
 The secretarial leadership of this work 
 has also had a profound influence. I 
 can speak freely on this point because I 
 am not known technically as a Railroad 
 Secretary. But I know these secretaries 
 and how they have spent themselves and 
 how they count it a high honor to be of 
 service to the railway men. They have 
 helped immeasurably, in my judgment, to 
 keep alive the ideals that have done so 
 much to feed the spirit and maintain the 
 morale of the men. 
 
 Let me emphasize as a chief factor the 
 ministry of pure religion, the religion 
 that St. James spoke of, pure and unde- 
 filed, which is being exemplified, lived 
 and communicated in the religious pro- 
 gram of these Associations. What did 
 this not mean to men going into battles; 
 what has it not meant to men since in the 
 more difficult period following the Ar- 
 mistice; what has it meant to millions 
 
 — 16 — 
 
of men in the railroad service, who 
 through these Associations have come 
 under the wonderful, superhuman influ- 
 ence of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Well, therefore, may we today, on the 
 turning of the fiftieth milestone of the 
 work of the Railroad Young Men's 
 Christian Association, pay our tribute to 
 this nation-wide, beneficent, efficient and 
 fruitful organization. It has accom- 
 plished a great work. With its hundreds 
 of Associations, with its scores of thou- 
 sands of members, with its large property 
 interests of many millions, with the back- 
 ing of nearly every railway company of 
 importance in the land, with the wide 
 outreach of its influence to other lands, it 
 is on the threshold of vastly greater 
 achievements. 
 
 If I were to mention another great re- 
 sult that has been achieved and is being 
 increasingly achieved, next to its influ- 
 ence on the character and spirit of the 
 men, I would speak of the unifying power 
 of the Railroad Young Men's Christian 
 
 — 17 — 
 
Association. In these recent fateful and 
 tragic years we have witnessed an alarm- 
 ing development and manifestation of the 
 divisive forces of mankind. I sometimes 
 think the greatest problem before us for 
 the next fifteen years is the racial prob- 
 lem. Not only the divisive tendencies 
 among the races but among the nations. 
 Nor would I overlook another great di- 
 visive tendency — that in the social and 
 industrial order. The conflict is on. 
 What does it not mean that we have an 
 organization which for fifty years has 
 shown its ability, as no other society with 
 which I am familiar, to unite in one 
 membership, one program, and one ob- 
 jective, the employers and employes, and 
 this in a voluntary and not an obligatory 
 way, with the largest possible freedom of 
 expression and action, and, therefore, en- 
 suring the finest and most effective co- 
 operation? What has it not meant? I 
 am not surprised that the other great 
 industries of the world have finally been 
 convinced after watching for years this 
 
 — 18 — 
 
practice game of the Railroad Y., and 
 now we cannot keep up with their de- 
 mand for the extension of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association work on the 
 railway Association model to their in- 
 dustries. Nor should we wonder that 
 industrial leaders in Europe and in Asia 
 have requested that we send experts to 
 study their fields at first hand, and to plan 
 agencies and facilities for their service. 
 Discerning observers recognize afresh the 
 stabilizing and steady guiding power of 
 this great work. 
 
 In a time of strain like the present, it 
 assumes added meaning and importance. 
 To my mind, we are summoned at a mo- 
 ment like this to expand greatly our plans. 
 There are some things on which we have 
 to call time, but this is not one of them. 
 This is one of the projects from the na- 
 ture of the case that should be expanded 
 until the helpful network of the organi- 
 zation is spread much more intimately 
 over all classes of men throughout all the 
 railways of America. We want to keep 
 
 — 19 — 
 
in mind what the French call "grand 
 strategy." By grand strategy they mean 
 that which takes in the whole map — all 
 the fronts. As I look over our great 
 American republic and notice the spaces 
 that are without these facilities and with- 
 out the helpful working of these vital 
 and steadying processes, I say let us have 
 grand strategy that takes in every railway 
 system in its entirety. To this end we 
 must expand greatly the resources for this 
 work. So far as I can see there is no 
 more highly multiplying use of money 
 right now than that of relating it to these 
 plans, to influence aright the ideals, the 
 character, the spirit, the efficiency, the 
 relationships, the output of the men to 
 whom we commit such unparalleled in- 
 terests of property and of human life. 
 
 — 20 — 
 
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