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The Kennesaw Gazette,
PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH.
Devoted to the Material Interests and Attractions
for Tourists in the Mountainous Region of
Northern and Northwest Georgia,
BEACHED BY
THE GREAT KENNESAW ROUTE:
Western and Atlantic Railroad:
Under the auspices of the Passenger Department,
BY
THE RECORD PUBLISHING COMPANY.
A. L. HARRIS, MANAGING EDITOR.
Atlanta., Ga., Oot., 1888.
SUBSCRIPTION: $1 a year; six months, 50 cts.
A limited number of acceptable adver
tisements will be inserted in The. Kennesaw
Gazelle, which publishes a very large edi
tion every month, and it is safe to say
that it is read by more people than any
other paper in the South. Great numbers
are distributed in Atlanta, to citizens and
travelers, by the publishers and officials of
the Western and Atlantic Railroad; and at
other points where The Great Kennesaw Route
is represented. For space and terms ad
dress
?l|c Beimtfiiini ffiajetie,
Box 57 Atlanta, Ga.,
and you will receive a prompt response.
THE KENNESAW GAZETTE.
Sixteen Pages.
At the beginning of the year the
regular size of the Kennesaw Gazette
was eight pages. This proving insuf
ficient for the large amount of original
matter and the fine engravings pre
pared for the Gazette, its size was in
increased to twelve pages, with an in
timation that probably a still further
increase would soon be necessary, and
here it is—to sixteen pages, or double
its size of a few months ago.
The Kennesaw Gazette is a suc
cess. Its thirty thousand readers,
aside from the hosts tributary to At
lanta, are in every State and Territo
ry of the Union. The Kennesaw
Gazette is, without doubt, the most
widely circulated journal in the South.
Its war sketches are noted for their
accuracy and fine original illustrations.
Its exposition of the resources of
North Georgia is complete, while the
climatic advantages of the same region,
in the way of health resorts, are fully
and truthfully set forth.
Everybody will read, in this num
ber, the Atlanta Campaign, fully illus
trated with accurate maps, showing
the location of each engagement, and
portraits of the commanding generals,
Jos. E. Johnston and W. T. Sherman.
Engravings of famous scenery along
the Western & Atlantic Railroad are
in course of preparation and will ap
pear in future numbers.
The Kennesaw Gazette will al
ways be kept up to a high standard —
attractive, interesting and replete with
valuable information.
Only one change of cars, (and that
in the Union Depot at Atlanta,) for
passengers coming over the Western
& Atlantic Railroad between Cincin
nati and Charleston, or Nashville and
Charleston.
There is no change of cars between
Cincinnati and Marietta, Ga.
“Pleading the Baby Act.”
One thing which can be truthfully
said of the Western & Atlantic Rail
road is that it has never “plead the
baby act;” in other words, although
paralleled and surrounded by great
railway systems, by the side of which
it is in size a baby ; taunted occasion
ally for its insignificance by being
called a “Sidetrack,” it has never asked
for any artificial advantages in the way
of differentials, or anything else, to be
allotted to it to make up for its “disa
bilities,” but has bravely faced every
obstacle, and by spending tens of thou
sands of dollars laying down steel rails,
ballasting its road-bed with rock, until
it is in superb condition, and by im
proving its train service and through
car service, it has equalized its disad
vantages and disabilities until it to-day
stands a peer among its peers.
Having done this, it does not con
cede the right or power of its competi
tors to force it to divide its inheritance
with them. It makes no attempt to
extort blood-monej and submits to
none such. It does not shut up its line
to its competitors and hold on to every
advantage which it has, and then tell
them, “I will ruin the worth of yours
if you do not divide with me.”
Having expended a great amount of
money, industry and time in improv
ing its terminal facilities, and road-bed;
in constructing iron bridges over the
water courses which it crosses, and
having carefully and laboriously
worked for years in the matter of fur
nishing the public the highest grade
of safe, comfortable and fast schedules,
it will enforce a practical objection to
the doctrine that a premium should be
placed upon stinginess, poverty and
lack of enterprise or judgment.
It will be would if other lines would
adopt the policy of the Western & At
lantic Railroad in meeting and over
coming disabilities instead of, as we
have before intimated, “pleading the
baby act,” and like a spoiled child,
threatening to knock down the play
house if it cannot have the best room
in it.
This advice, we think, we are per
fectly competent to give them, and, in
asmuch as this plan will have to be
adopted by them in the end, they
would be happier, ultimately, and
more prosperous throughout, if they
would adopt it at once.
Convenient Schedules.
The best schedules which have ever
been made between Atlanta and Nash
ville both ways are those which are
now in effect. Business men can
transact all of their affairs in Atlanta,
and can leave the Union Depot in At
lanta at 5:55, p. m., on Western and
Atlantic passenger train No. 19, and
arrive at Nashville at 6:20 a. m., in
time for breakfast. Those desiring to
come from Nashville to Atlanta can
leave Nashville at 8:20 p. m., after
supper, and arrive in Atlanta on West
ern and Atlantic passenger train, No.
12, at 7:25 a. m., in time for break
fast, and in this manner the entire day
can be spent in Atlanta or Nashville
and the run is only made during the
night.
THE KENNESAW GAZETTE.
Western & Atlantic Employes’
Devotion to the Road.
There is not, probably, another rail
road in America whose employes, as
well as officers, seem to feel so much
of a personal and proprietary interest
in the road as is the case with the
Western & Atlantic. From long
association with, and observation of
the men on the Western & Atlantic, |
we venture the opinion that we under
stand the situation very well in that
respect.
In times of prosperity, when there
is a big rush of business, the men,
from firemen and brakemen, up to the
yard-master and master machinist,
seem in the best of humor, not only
about the road, but with each other ;
whereas, on the occasion of the wash
out at Proctor’s and Noonday creeks,
by the water-spout of 1884, and of the
interruption of business by the freshet
about the first of April of the present
year, we noticed how the very counte
nances of the men seemed to indicate
their thoughts. On arrival at the
scene of action, or rather at the point
of interruption, one could see the grave
looks of anxiety on the faces, not only
of engineers and conductors, but of
train-hands and porters. Every one
seemed desirous of doing something
with his hands to help repair the dam
age, and no one seemed afraid that
he would do something which was “not
in his department.”
It has long been a matter of com
ment that an employe of the Western
& Atlantic scarcely ever leaves the
road to take merely an equal position
on another road. There has always
got to be promotion acquired by the
change, or else he will make none.
Unless he can make something by go
ing, “The W. &A. is good enough for
me,” is the general comment.
Over twelve per cent of the present
employes of the Western & Atlantic
Railroad have been in the continuous
service of the road for over fifteen
years. Several of its men have passed
over thirty years in its service.
It has been said of the Western &
Atlantic, that it is not a good road for
a new’ man to get a good position on.
The reason for this is that its good po
sitions are acquired by promotion.
Nearly every man or boy who enters
the service of the Western & Atlan
tic Railroad “begins at the bottom.” In
the machine shops, for instance, a fif
teen year old boy will start in as a
“helper,” at a salary of fifty cents per
day. His task will probably for a
short period be merely to help some
blacksmith in the elementary parts of
his work. Within a few months, how
ever, his salary is increased a little, and
if some one else has been promoted,
when his time comes he is given a bet
ter position. After having been in the
shops in various capacities for proba
bly two or three years or more, he is put
on an engine to run as a fireman. In
this position he will probably pass three’
or four years, and will then be put in
charge of one of the big iron monsters
whose labor is not uily a benefit but
even yet a wonder.
In this way it will be seen that be--
fore he takes charge of an engine he
has practically learned how to build an<
engine, and he has also run oxer the
road so often that he has learned where
every public and private crossing is.
He has learned where every grade is,,
and, consequently, he knows exactly
where to put his engine out for all she
is worth in the way of using exertion
to climb grades; or he knows just where
to shutoff steam and let her own mo
mentum carry her forward, thus econ
omizing fuel and steam.
“By this means also,” as one of the
firemen was telling us, “the men on the
W. &. A. all understand one another.
Now, for instance, if we start out with
five or six sections on a schedule, we
all know who is ahead of us and who
is behind us. We sometimes say of
the man behind us, ‘he is a rattler; you
had better look out and see that he
doesn’t keep too close on to you;’ or of
another, ‘he is all right; he is one of
the most careful men that I ever saw,
and not only is taking care of his own
train, but he is taking pains not to give
us any trouble.’ ”
By this means also it can be seen
that the organization of the Western
and Atlantic Railroad Co. is well nigh
perfect. There is a thorough under
standing with one another, and with
the cultivation of good feeling, which
seems to be a principle with the West
ern & Atlantic men, they are en
abled to accomplish more than the
same number of men on probably any
other railroad in America.
The same might be said of the con
ductors. They all go on as brakemen r
and some of them spend five or six
years before there comes a chance for
promotion, because, it must be said of
Western & Atlantic employes as has
been remarked of politicians: “Few
die and none resign.”
It is a noteworthy fact that nearly
every man in active charge of the lead
ing departments of the Western &
Atlantic Railroad Co. has been in its
service for a number of years. The
Superintendent, for instance, has been
on the road twenty odd years. The
Road-master, thirty-four years; the
Master-machinist, twenty years; the
Yard-master, eighteen years ; the Gen
eral Freight and Passenger Agent,
nine years'; the Assistant General
Freight Agent, fifteen years; the
Train-dispatcher, seventeen years, the
General Book-keeper, sixteen years,
and so we might extend the list.
The National Association of General
Passenger and Ticket Agents held its
semi-annualjmeeting in New York,
Sept. 21. Seventy-five lines were rep
resented. The question of uniform
rates throughout the country was pre
sented, discussed and referred to a
committee. Nothing particular in the
way of business was attempted, as pas
senger running smoothly.
The gentlemen renewed pleasant rela
tions, compared notes and returned to
their various lines to keep on in the
work of improvement u oii passenger
transportation..