In this march forward the employee-or salesman has had no inconsiderable share. His story is told every minute of the day, and it reacts upon a receptive public. We believe that employee and employer have interests in common and that he should receive that treatment which each side deserves in respect to its rights. No new or unusual methods have been employed. The methods of this company are, it is submitted, the methods of sound business. The public, the stockholders and the employees are all regarded as essential factors in the one great problem whose solution means contented and helpful personnel, adequate return to the investor and proper provision for the needs of the community. Thus does cooperation make for durable satisfaction and lasting progress.

CHAIRMAN BRUSH-P. S. Arkwright is President of the Georgia Railway and Power Company; a lawyer by profession, whose ready and witty speech and pleasing personality have contributed much to the present successful position his company occupies, not only in Atlanta, the city of 200,000 people, but in the surrounding country. His lines of railway, power and light have gained a state-wide reputation for his advertising the glories of the State of Georgia. His slogan is "It's great to be a Georgian." The company operates 230 miles of track with 400 passenger cars, besides doing a general lighting and power business in Atlanta and northern Georgia. He is a prominent Rotarian, and has delivered a number of notable speeches which have been commented upon widely.

66

PUBLIC SPEAKING AS A PUBLICITY MEDIUM
BY P. S. ARKWRIGHT, President,

GEORGIA RAILWAY AND POWER COMPANY,

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

In our day the orators lead the people." This is not original. It is a statement made by Aristotle about 2,300 years ago. It could be made with equal truth by any one in anybody's day. The only people who seem never to have understood this are business men, and this includes electric railway men, too.

You can't get them to make what they call a speech. They say they can't make one. As a matter of fact, they don't make them, and not only that- they have a contempt for anybody else that does. You'll hear them say that it's the empty dray which makes the most noise; that a man who works with his mouth can't work with his hands and brains too.

So they've left it to the politicians and the demagogues to lead the people. You may be sure that they understand it. You never heard of anybody elected to any political office of any importance for what he did. They're elected for what they say. They have led the people to believe that the electric railway industry is their hereditary enemy and their natural prey, and have taught them to treat the street railway as "a woman, a monkey, or a walnut tree; the more you beat them the better they'll be."

It's time that the men in the business should attempt a little leading of the people themselves; — lead them to understand that the cost of the service must necessarily be paid out of the revenues; that every burden placed upon the street railroad must, of necessity, be paid for by the car rider, and to that extent affects the quantity and quality of the service and the fare that must be charged for it.

This business cannot be run on constitutional guarantees, or on the sense of justice of members of Utility Commissions, or on injunction suits. Its success depends at last on a sympathetic understanding of its problems by the masses of the people. The same people elect the councilmen and the legislators and the public utility commissioners and the judges of the courts too. Necessarily, the decisions of all of these are influenced by what they think the popular sentiment is. So, in order to get just treatment and fair consideration, it is essential that the people who use its service should appreciate that fair treatment of the railway is fair treatment for themselves.

There is no more effective way of explaining the street railways' problems than by getting up and speaking about them. At least the audience will hear it, and the spoken word is much more convincing than the written word. Besides that, the newspapers will carry stories of a speech made to an audience when the same matter sent them in a contributed article will be thrown in the waste basket. If you want to get newspaper publicity out of your speeches, write them first and send copies to the local newspapers to be released when the speech is delivered. They will appreciate your doing this, and they will nearly always handle them, because a speech is regarded as an act, or an event. But for Heaven's sake, after you have written it and sent a copy to the newspapers, then throw it away, because if you don't, when you begin to speak you will be unable to forget, or to remember, the written speech. The consequence is, you will read it, and when you do you have already lost your audience.

Now street railway men can get up and talk about their business. They certainly know their business, or they ought to know it, and they have enthusiasm about it, or if they haven't they ought to get out of it. With knowledge and enthusiasm anyone can talk.

Try it. It will do your cause good. It will bring you into contact with your customers. It will personify the railroad to them in your own individuality. It will let them understand that the railway is run

by an ordinary human being just like themselves, and not by some monster hidden away in a back office.

It will do you good also. You will learn more about the business than you knew before, and you'll learn more about your customers and acquire a more sympathetic interest in them.

If we can but lead the people into a correct understanding of the business and an appreciation that their prosperity depends on the railway's prosperity, we will have no trouble in getting just consideration from commissioners, legislators and councilmen, and then we won't have any need for courts or injunctions.

This is a great deal better than to let public sentiment be crystallized against us by the orators, and at the last moment hiring professional orators to off-set them.

SECRETARY WELSH :- The telegram reads as follows: October 2, 1922.

J. W. WELSH, Secretary, American Electric Railway Association, Municipal Pier, Chicago, Ill.:

I regret very much that an important business matter has arisen which will make it impossible for me to be in Chicago this week. I had looked forward with great pleasure to attending the meeting and especially to taking part in the proceedings for the fourth. Please give my regrets to President Todd, and say to him that I hope the meeting will be a great success.

P. H. GADSDEN.

(President Todd resumed the chair at this point.)

PRESIDENT TODD:- If there is no further business, the meeting will stand adjourned.

WEDNESDAY SESSION

OCTOBER 4, 1922

President Todd called the meeting to order at 10 o'clock and said: "The first order of business will be the report of the Company and Associate Membership Committee, which will be presented by Mr. F. R. Coates, President, The Community Traction Company, Toledo, Ohio, Chairman."

(Mr. Coates presented the report.)

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMPANY AND ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP.

To the American Electric Railway Association:

GENTLEMEN.— Your Committee on Company and Associate Membership begs leave to submit the following report:

During the year, an active campaign has been conducted to increase the Association's membership.

Briefly, the Committee has accomplished the following results:

Total number of new companies received during the year from October 31, 1921, to October 1, 1922......

79

As the total company membership of the Association on October 31, 1921, number 578, this is a gain in new companies of approximately 14 per cent.

Under the revised Constitution a new form of membership is open to companies, known as "Associate Membership," whereby holding companies, investment bankers and consulting engineers may ally themselves directly with the Association and receive all of the benefits of company members, excepting the power to vote.

As a result, fifteen companies of this kind have been admitted. During the year, certain companies have resigned or have been dropped, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, numbering altogether 43, so that there has been a net gain during the year of 36 companies.

The names of the new member companies are set forth in detail in

the report of the Executive Secretary together with a revised list of all company members now enrolled in the Association.

The campaign for membership during the year has been materially assisted by the Advertising Section of the Publicity Department under Mr. Labert St. Clair. Early in the year an attractive membership emblem was printed and distributed to members for display in the offices of member companies. Supplementing this smaller cuts were prepared for use by members on their letterheads, literature, bulletins and advertisements. The Committee also issued in connection with its correspondence in the campaign small adhesive seals being a reproduction of the Association's emblem.

A bulletin was prepared, entitled, "WHY BELONG TO THE AMERICAN ELECTRIC RAILWAY ASSOCIATION," in which was set forth briefly the advantages of membership stressing particuarly the various forms of service which the Association renders to ompanies. In addition to this, statements prepared by officers of the Association and executives of member companies were included, setting forth the particular benefits which they had received as a result of their connection with the Association. This booklet has been of great advanage to the Committee in setting before prospective members briefly easons for joining the Association.

The method of carrying on the campaign consisted briefly in dividing up the country into local sections, which were assigned to members of the Committee, and in this way each member of the Committee was given a particular field to cover.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Committee for its loyal assistance and energetic work in conducting this campaign. It has involved a considerable amount of work, including personal letters and solicitation. I wish to mention especially the valuable work performed by Mr. W. R. Alberger, Vice President of the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railways in bringing in a total of six railway companies and one manufacturer company. Mr. Alberger's record exceeds that of any other member in rounding up applications, and is particularly gratifying since it brings into closer contact with the Association, the members from the Pacific Coast.

An appendix is attached hereto showing a tabular comparison of the membership this year and last year, also a list of the new company members.

Permanent Campaign.

Your Committee believes that much work lies ahead of it in systematizing and extending the membership campaign for the Association. It believes that the work performed by the Association is essential to the welfare and progress, not only of the entire industry but of each individual company. It is convinced that the service performed by the various Association's Bureaus will more than compensate any company for its expenditure for dues. It believes that if these facts can be