At the University of Southern California, 34 men solemnly marched into a banquet hall one evening last week for a special commencement ceremony. They were trainmasters, paymasters, auditors and public-relations men. Their ages ranged from 28 to 54. Employees of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, they had just finished a rugged new six-week course: how to think clearly about the society in which they live.
This ambitious project was the brainchild of Fred G. Gurley, 63, Santa Fe president and a U.S.C. trustee. Boss of 65,000 employees and 13,000 miles of track, Gurley had watched his railroad prosper, but with...