Business: Great Western Unswanks

There will be fewer men “wearing the seats of their pants shiny” on Chicago Great Western Railroad after Jan. 15, according to energetic, hard-fisted President Patrick H. Joyce (TIME, Nov. 16). Ancient tradition of railroading is that passenger departments must be represented by swank offices in the business and shopping centres of major cities. Convenient but expensive, this idea was challenged for the first time last week when Great Western announced it would abolish all such offices. Passengers in Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City, Minneapolis will have to go to the station for their tickets; the road will not even share in a Consolidated Office.