have been able to carry out their wishes without any noticeable opposition from the employés, and have thus effected for hundreds what would otherwise have cost them thousands of dollars if any plan hitherto proposed had been adopted.
Since only the color-blind and those needing surgical skill have been sent to the expert, he has not been in a position to give statistical tables of the examinations, and he therefore submits the following letter from Mr. Charles E. Pugh, the General Manager, to substantiate his statements, and bear witness to the success of the entire system:
Dr. William Thomson, Surgical Expert, Pennsylvania Railway Company, 1426 Walnut Street, Philadelphia.
| Pennsylvania Railway Company, Office of the General Manager, | |
| 233 South Fourth Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 26, 1884. |
Dear Sir: The practical examination of our employés as to their acuteness of vision, color-sense, and hearing, in accordance with the system proposed to us by you and carried out under your supervision, has been extended to all the various divisions of the Pennsylvania Railway; has embraced nearly all of the men engaged in duties requiring the use of signals now in the service, and will be used hereafter in the selection of men placed on such duty, or in the employment of new men entering our service.
In approaching the completion of the task of examining those now in our service (more than twelve thousand employés having been submitted to your system), I desire to express to you our entire satisfaction with the rules and regulations, tests and instructions prepared by you, as well as with the personal supervision and instruction of examiners, and examinations and decisions upon doubtful cases and persons referred to you for final action.
Our division superintendents and their staff-officers have been able to deal promptly with the great majority of defective men, and thus avoid the necessity of availing themselves of that clause in the instructions which provides for an expert examination in each suspected case, and have in this way carried out your purpose without undue excitement among the men, in a speedy and confidential way, and with economy to the company.
The proportion of those defective in color-sense, vision, and hearing, was found, by the examination of two thousand men before the adoption of this plan, to be four per cent of the first and about ten per cent of the latter; and I am satisfied from my reports that all those thus deficient are being relieved of duties which they can not perform, and that the great dangers to the public, and to the other employés, of loss of life, and to the company of possible destruction of property, have been averted, so far as their defects are concerned.
I am frequently asked by prominent officers of other railways and Government officials to give an opinion as to the practical usefulness
