When the writer, nine years ago, investigated for the Bureau of Education the subject of education for railroad service, the whole matter was in a very indefinite status. The monograph published at that time was little more than a collation of widely diverse opinions of railroad men. The advance made in the present decade is very surprising to those who may not be informed. Ideas of practical men on the subject are now less indefinite and conflicting. The relation between education and efficiency in railroad service is coming to be generally conceded. The most successful managers have seized on its financial import, and in their fiscal policies and operating organizations are giving it recognition. The large educational value of the railroad service itself is being turned to systematic practical account, and the value of educational agencies in preparing for specific industrial efficiency is better understood. The railroad service in the United States will shortly reach a total of 2,000,000 men. It is the largest and most highly organized example of associate effort in an epoch conspicuous for industrial and commercial concentration. In this view, the methods here evolved for preserving the proper balance between individual and group efficiency at any one time, and so of assuring the largest continuing effectiveness of the whole working body for the longest period of time--these methods take on especial significance. Among such methods, education in a broad sense must always be a large factor. The review of the subject here given is not intended to be statistical. The schools and railroads described have been cited merely in illustration of the particular methods which their practice typifies. Two appendixes present: (1) Statistics of railway apprenticeship; and (2) Educational and welfare work on European railroads. An index is included. Individual sections contain footnotes. [Best copy available has been provided.]