Luther G. Smith - Baltimore, MD
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 39° 17.102 W 076° 37.965
18S E 359182 N 4349678
Monument to Luther G. Smith the founder of the Brotherhood's Relief and Compensation Fund is located at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum at 901 West Pratt Street in Baltimore, MD.
Waymark Code: WM16JEC
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 08/13/2022
Views: 2
A larger than life statue of Luther G. Smith is set on a round bronze plinth which is inscribed in raised letters
LUTHER G. SMITH. Smith is wearing a shirt with it's sleeves rolled up to his elbow, a tie, and trousers which touch the top of his shoes. He is standing with his right hand on top of a bronze tablet which contains historical information. The tablet has the
BRCF logo of the Brotherhood Relief and Compensation Fund and is inscribed:
On June 12, 1912, Luther G. Smith, a locomotive engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad, founded the Brotherhood's Relief and Compensation Fund (BR&CF). The BR&CF, a non-profit corporation established in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, provides job income protection to railroaders throughout the United States and Canada who are "Held Out of Service" as a result of a suspension or dismissal.
Brother Smith did not object to the railroads using a method to discipline employees when such discipline was necessary, but he did not see the logic in innocent family members having to suffer when the head of the home made an error in the performance of his duties that resulted in a suspension or dismissal.
The BR&CF has assisted tens of thousands of railroaders and their families in their time of need over the past 100 years. Brother Smith would be proud that the BR&CF has withstood the test of time. On behalf of rail labor, we salute Brother Smith for having the courage, wisdom and vision to create the Fund and for accomplishing what many said, "could not be done."
This project funded entirely by the
North American Railway Foundation
The statue is set on a triangular brick and concrete base. Each concrete side of the base is inscribed BROTHERHOOD'S RELIEF AND COPMPENSATION FUND
Luther G. Smith was born in 1870. He joined the the Pennsylvania Railroad as a brakeman in 1887, was promoted to a fireman in 1889 and then to the position of a locomotive engineer. As a union member he realized there was a gap in union benefits. To fill this gap he became the founder of the Brotherhood’s Relief and Compensation Fund, a non-profit corporation to provide job income protection to railroaders who were out of work. Luther G. Smith died in 1938.