He often appeared to be in the position of the skinney little man on the crowded street car, whose feet were being trod upon by a chap in the aisle.

"What's the idea of walking all over my feet," he protested. And the offender answered, as he indicated a 200 pound pugilist next to the little man, "You wouldn't expect me to step on that fellow's feet, would you?"

Show Your Strength

This little incident illustrates the fact that a mere show of strength helps a lot, and our idea was to amass the strength of the manufacturers, with their armies of employes and stockholders, on the side of the electric railways - not only to furnish moral support, but also to launch some educational propaganda that would swing the tide of public opinion the other way.

We felt that it was time for the manufacturers to realize that they could not have their full measure of prosperity except as the industry which they served prospered. Your Committee's first job was to hasten their awakening to that fact; to sound a "call to arms," so to speak; then to organize this aroused energy and direct it to the betterment of the Electric Railway Industry.

To that end your Committee has carried its message to all manufacturing members of the Association and to various other manufacturers, who come in contact with the electric railways, to the extent of more than seven hundred individual companies.

We soon found that a lot of manufacturers were sold on the idea, but they didn't quite know how to go about it.

Like the darky who became convinced that he needed some insurance, but wasn't very well posted on the subject. So he went to an insurance office and said, "Ah wants some insurance." The clerk asked, Fire, Life or Marine?" "All three," answered the darky, "Ah jes' joined up as a stoker in de Navy."

66

Ammunition Already Provided

In order to provide ammunition for the use of these Manufacturing Companies, your Committee has sent to them, during the past year, approximately seventy-five separate pieces of electric railway propaganda material, with suggestions as to how it might be utilized in various ways.

For instance, we sent out a little booklet called "The Truth About Electric Railways," which sets forth, in a concise and clear cut manner, the "high points" of the current electric railway situation and places the reader in possession of facts which enable him to explain the position of the electric railways, and thus eliminate many misunderstandings. This booklet was distributed, through the manufacturers, to virtually every salesman of electric railway supplies in the country, and many factory workers received copies.

Various other leaflets, designed to throw light on some angles of the utility situation, were sent out at frequent intervals, and in March the publication of a News Sheet called "TRUTH" was started. It contains live news items and editorial comments about electric railways. This Bulletin has proved to be very popular. Many companies are using extracts from it in their employes' magazines. Other manufacturers, who have no publications, are posting it on bulletin boards throughout their plants.

In some instances, stories for local newspapers, touching upon some timely topic of vital importance to the electric railway industry, have been built around items from "TRUTH." It isn't difficult for a manufacturer to take a bit of interesting news, weave some local color into it, give the story a human flavor and then get it into the reading columns of the daily press. Material for this sort of thing is always available if we just keep our eyes open.

For instance, an ad appeared on the financial page of the Cleveland Sunday Plain Dealer recently which would make an excellent lead for an article on the necessity of good street car service. The ad said:

66 'WANTED - INDUSTRIAL SITE."

"Will buy 4 to 5 acres, with railroad siding or switch facilities. Unimproved.

street car service."

Must have city

Do you get that the important thing was good transportation — railroad sidings and GOOD STREET CAR SERVICE. There is no request in there for Jitney Buses.

Newspaper stories of this kind constitute the most effective form of educational propaganda to persuade the public to take a better attitude toward the industry.

Display Space Used

Some manufacturers have been presenting excellent articles to the general public through the medium of advertising space in the general magazines.

Others have been sending out inserts with dividend checks, reminding the stockholder that he is serving his own interest when he helps the electric railways to get fair treatment. An insert of this kind, with a pointed heading, such as "Be Fair to Your Electric Railway,"almost invariably makes a lasting impression upon stockholders of manufacturing companies - and there are thousands of influential citizens in that class who can easily be reached in that way.

These are only a few of the various ways in which the manufacturer can spread the gospel of “Fair play to the Electric Railway."

A great deal of productive work in the way of winning active co-operation from various manufacturing companies, and pointing the way for helping to carry out the plans of the Committee, has been

accomplished by Mr. St. Clair, of the A. E. R. A. Staff, and by Mr. Kelsey, Publicity Director of the Community Traction Company, Toledo. Both of these gentlemen have made personal visits to many of the manufacturers in connection with this work.

Many Are Helping

Response to these efforts has thus far been very gratifying. A large number of manufacturers are co-operating with us splendidly and their efforts are sure to show results.

The other day a motorist was driving through the country and he came to a big mud hole. He thought his car could get through, but right in the middle the wheels began to spin and the car wouldn't budge. He noticed a little colored boy near by, with a mule and a rope, who seemed to be just waiting to be called on, so the motorist engaged him to hitch on to the car. The machine was pulled out in a jiffy and the motorist asked how much he owed. "Ten dollars," was the prompt answer. "Ten Dollars!" echoed the amazed motorist. "Yassuh, boss," said the boy, "Dat's mah standard price." The motorist said, "Why it only took you two minutes." The boy said, "Yassuh, boss, but it took me half a day foh to carry de water foh dat mud hole.”

Under similar circumstances, your Committee feels sure that those wide-awake manufacturers who are backing up our movement would have been busy mixing cement to eliminate that mud hole, instead of carrying water to fill it.

Manufacturers should be made to realize that the electric railways appreciate the work that is being done. In some cases, Electric Railway Managements are questioning every representative, who solicits their business, to ascertain whether or not his company is taking an active part in this work. Are you, Mister Railway Manager, paying attention to this point? Do you check up to find out which of the concerns from whom you buy are members of the American Electric Railway Association, and if they are making an honest effort to co-operate in this educational movement? Don't overlook the fact that a word from you will carry no little weight in this matter and that you are certainly justified in doing all you can to further the cause. Why should you continue to help support the manufacturer who makes no attempt to carry his share of the burden who is, perhaps, not even interested enough nor progressive enough to become a member of this Association?

Honor Roll Coming

One railway man has suggested that we publish, in AERA, an "Honor Roll" containing the names of the manufacturers who are showing evidence of the fact that they are taking an active part in the work of this Committee. The idea is a good one and the list will appear shortly.

Some of the inactive manufacturers will probably tell the railways that they are willing to co-operate but can't figure out how to start. In that case, they should be referred to their old arithmetic. It is really surprising how many problems can be solved by just plain elemental arithmetic.

Recently a fellow who had no previous experience in that line was put in charge of the refreshment committee for his company's annual outing. He was able to estimate pretty well how much ice cream the boys would eat, but he had no idea how much to get for the girls. He happened to meet one of his old school teachers on the street, so he asked her. She said, "Look on page 49 of your old arithmetic, and you'll find how much ice cream one girl can eat." He didn't think much of the idea, but followed her advice and sure enough, there was the answer:

"I gal - 4 quarts."

These fellows who can't see the use or necessity of helping, and think they can evade the issue gracefully, should realize that they are not fooling anybody but themselves.

Like the man whose wife said to him one night, “I found a piece of paper in your pocket with the name Lilly written on it. Who is Lilly?" "Oh yes, Lilly, yes, yes, why that is a horse I bet on the other day." "Did you win? " 'No, I lost as usual.” A few nights later his wife said, "Do you remember that horse you bet on the other day and lost?" He said, "What horse?" "Why that horse named Lilly." "Oh! yes, I remember." "Well," said his wife, "IT called you up today."

Your Committee plans to follow, during the coming year the same lines which it pursued in the past, and to extend its work further, especially in the direction of " ready-to-use " material, which can simply be unwrapped and utilized to advantage.

Posters Being Distributed

Along this line, we are distributing now a series of colored posters, which strike at different phases of our problem, and drive important points home. These posters will be sent to the manufacturers for use on factory bulletin boards.

We may use a slogan in connection with some of these posters. Everybody recognizes the value of a slogan - even the Tombstone manufacturers. At their recent Convention they adopted this slogan:

"WE HOLD 'EM DOWN."

It might be a good idea for this Industry to have one, or perhaps several slogans.

For instance, to combat the "wildcat" buss, we might say:

"THE BUSS MAY BE ALL RIGHT IN ITS PLACE, BUT NOT IN PLACE OF THE TROLLEY."

Or to impress the factory worker, something like this might be used to advantage:

"SQUARE DEAL for the Electric Railway Equals SQUARE MEAL for you."

For use before the general public there are any number of ideas which might be used. For example:

"The Trolley Tracks are the VEINS and ARTERIES of the City."

Some short-sighted people have been all too ready to give up the trolleys and take a chance on the jitneys.

They are like the Irishman who fell off the scaffolding of a new building and landed on a network of wires. He clutched a wire and hung on, while his friend Pat yelled from the ground that he'd get a mattress. Before Pat could get the mattress in place, Mike let go of the wire and landed on the sidewalk. When he finally came to, in the hospital, Pat was at his bedside and said, "Why the divil did you let go of that wire before Oi had the mattress under you?" Mike said, “Oi was afraid that dum wire was goin' to break."

Identifying the Jitney

The public should be shown that the jitney is in the same class with the tourist who arrives in town, uses the lavatory in the best hotel, eats a basket lunch in the park and goes away without spending anything but the afternoon and without leaving anything but some waste-paper on the grass.

There is an over-supply of people who have too much tortoise shell on their glasses and not enough focus in the lenses. They can't see that the " fade-away" jitney buss, which sucks like a leech at the lifeblood of a city's legitimate transportation system, damages the citizen and the city, as well as the street car company. It is up to us to make such people realize that adequate transportation service in every kind of weather, all day long and most of the night can only be furnished by a trolley system and that they, as citizens, have a personal and selfish interest in seeing that the vitality of their city's trolley service is not sapped by Jitney leeches.

Insert slips ready to put in envelopes with dividend checks will be distributed to manufacturers during the coming year.

Some more leaflets will be furnished — particularly to organizations which have no factory publications.

Short addresses will be prepared suitable for a manufacturer to present before his foremen and employes. Other little talks will be supplied for use before Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs and similar bodies.

Some May Not Give a Damn

The Committee feels that it will be providing material adapted to the use of every manufacturer and that the ones who can't see their way clear to active cooperation must be blind - blind to their industry's need