man behind the engine rather
than on the mass of steel that is conjured into motion. Successful
commerce waits for the willingness and skill of worker and director.
There must be the same division and direction of labor and the same
spirit of co-operation; there must be intelligence in planning
schedules for traffic and overcoming obstacles of nature and human
frailty and incompetence. The teamster, the longshoreman, the
freight-handler, and the engineer must all feel the push of the
economic demand, keeping them steadily at work. A strike on any
portion of the line ties up traffic and upsets the calculations of
manufacturer, merchant, and consumer, for they are all dependent upon
the servants of transportation.

213. =Problems of Transportation.=--There are problems of
transportation that are of a purely economic nature, but there are
also problems that are of social concern. The first problem is that of
safe and rapid transportation. The comfort and safety of the millions
who travel on business or for pleasure is a primary concern of
society. If the roads are not kept in repair and the steamship lanes
patrolled, if the rolling-stock is allowed to deteriorate and become
liable to accident, if engine-drivers and helmsmen are intemperate or
careless, if efficiency is not maintained, or if safety is sacrificed
to speed, the public is not well served. Many are the illustrations of
neglect and inefficiency that have culminated in accident and death.
Or the transportation company is slow to adopt new inventions and to
meet the expense that is necessary to equip a steamer or a railroad
for speed, or to provide rapid interurban or suburban transit. Poor
management or single tracks delay fast freights, or congested
terminals tie up traffic. These inconveniences not only consume
profits and ruffle the tempers of working men, but they are a social
waste of time and effort, and they stand in the way of improved living
conditions. The congestion of population in the cities can easily be
remedied when rapid and cheap transit make it possible for working men
to live twenty or thirty miles out of town. The standard of living can
be raised appreciably when fast trolley or steam service provides the
products of the farms in abundance and in fresh condition.

Another problem is that of the worker. The same temptation faces the
transportation manager that appears in the factory and the mercantile
house. The expenses of traffic are enor