The engine-cabs of
England, as of all Europe, are seldom made for the comfort of the men.
One finds very often this apparent disregard for the man who does the
work--this indifference to the man who occupies a position which for the
exercise of temperance, of courage, of honesty, has no equal at the
altitude of prime ministers. The American engineer is the gilded
occupant of a salon in comparison with his brother in Europe. The man
who was guiding this five-hundred-ton bolt, aimed by the officials of
the railway at Scotland, could not have been as comfortable as a shrill
gibbering boatman of the Orient. The narrow and bare bench at his side
of the cab was not directly intended for his use, because it was so low
that he would be prevented by it from looking out of the ship's port-
hole which served him as a window. The fireman, on his side, had other
difficulties. His legs would have had to straggle over some pipes at the
only spot where there was a prospect, and the builders had also
strategically placed a large steel bolt. Of course it is plain that the
companies consistently believe that the men will do their work better if
they are kept standing. The roof of the cab was not altogether a roof.
It was merely a projection of two feet of metal from the bulkhead which
formed the front of the cab. There were practically no sides to it, and
the large cinders from the soft coal whirled around in sheets.
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