I don't know if this has been posted before. I found the article interesting.

Tom

Railway Age Gazette

October 10, 1913

Safety First Meeting Illinois Central Time Service Department.

A "Safety First" meeting of the time service department of the Illinois Central and Yazoo & Mississippi Valley was held at the Stratford Hotel, Chicago, on September 8 and 9. The meeting was presided over by Webb C. Ball, general time inspector. Various question of mutual interest to the company and the inspectors were discussed, having in mind the betterment of the time service, such as the changing of the time of inspections and a more rigid enforcement of the weekly comparisons and efficiency tests to ascertain whether or not employees have in their possession of all times weekly comparison cards. A permanent organization of the authorized local watch inspectors of the Illinois Central system was effected.
Among the points taken up was the subject of establishing a uniform price for standard watch repairing and the importance of allowing no one but reliable watchmakers to handle employees' watches. A schedule was presented, voted on and passed. Mr. Ball in remarking on this said in part, "The spirit we want to inculcate in the minds of railroad men is that when they come to a railroad watch inspector, they are getting the best it is possible to obtain. The watchmakers selected by the railroad company for this work are the best in the profession. When a railroad man leaves his watch for repair, with a local watch inspector he secures a standard loaner watch, which he is given to carry free of charge while his watch is being taken care of. These loaner watches meet the requirements of the time service and are the investment of the local watch inspector and are given just as careful rating and attention as the employee's own watch. The figures showing the number of these watches being carried in service, loaned by the local watch inspector each month, are really remarkable."
It was unanimously agreed that standard plain dials be adopted for use on all railroad standard watches, and that all fancy dials with a circle of marginal signs or other "freak" designs be condemned ns being unreliable and unsafe for railroad service The inspectors also went on record as condemning the practice of placing pictures on watch dials or crystals. The meeting closed with general discussion of the rules now in effect, and a long talk by Mr. Ball, giving instructions to the inspectors as to the proper handling of the service. The arrangements for the meeting were carried out by W. F. Hayes, assistant general time inspector, through instructions issued by T. J. Foley, general manager of the Illinois Central, and Webb C. Ball, general time inspector.