The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-08-19
SOLVING THE PROBLEM.

How Great German Railroad Company
Helps to Lodge, Educate and Provide
for Its Employes-Hlnts to American
Managers-Strikes Impossible Under
Such System.
We purpose to acquaint our readers
with the manner in which one of the
foremost of European railroad corpora
tions has solved q problem that has re-
Gently assumed such Importance here.
The company referred to is the Stats
Eisenbahn-G -Gesellschaft of Austria,
whose main track extends from Bazias,
on the confines of Hungary and Servia,
to Bodenbach, on the frontier of Bohe-
mia and Saxony, and whose various
lines aggregate over 1000 miles in
length. The capital of this company
on December 81, 1875, was 253, ,OO0, 900
florins (about 300, ,000, 900 in gold),
and the number of persons employed in
| its various departments, including
mines, iron and machine works, chemi-
cal factories, etc., as well as on its do
mains in Hungary and Bohemia, ex-
ceeded 34,50O. It detracts nothing
from the practical value of some of the
measures adopted by the company in
the interest Of its employees that they
were primarily dictated by necessity and
considerations of self interest. The
works Of the company being mostly
situated in districts where labor is
scarce, it was necessary to attract
workmen from other places and to pro-
vide them with homes. Large houses
for the accommodation of so-called COL
onies were erected, as well as small
dwellings for single families. In 1875
the company owned 662 such buildings,
which could be purchased or rented
by the laboring population, their
The company advances loans to labor
ers wishing to build their own houses,
the ground being sold to them at merely
nominal figure. The difficulty of obtain
ing even the necessaries of life for the
laborers on the works in the remote dis
tricts of the former Banat (Southeast
Hungary led to the establishment by
the company of large storehouses for
the supply of provisions and clothing.
The benefits of this arrangement
which adds merely small fraction
for freight, etc. 70 per cent. on an
average) to the actual cost on the arti-
cles, while weight and measure are
guaranteed-have been extended to
the laborers employed in the cities, in
Guiding Vienna. The goods may be had
on credit limited to one or two-thirds
of the monthly earnings. The average
saving thus effected to the laborer is
estimated at from Is to 20 per cent.
In Pesth, Prague and elsewhere eating
houses are connected with these estab-
lishments. The sales Of the storehouses
of the various railroad stations amount
ed in 1875 to about 10000 florins; at
the works in the Banat to over 1,U00,-
600. While thus assisting the laborer
in his material wants the company
endeavor to promote his intellectual
improvement. In the Banat it has
thirty-three well appointed schools, in
which nearly 1000 children are gratu-
itously instructed. The school-houses
have been partly erected by the COM
pany, one of them at a cost Of over
49, 900 florins. The expenses of these
600 florins, and nearly equal sum
ious purposes. The company's pat
ronage extends to thirty-two parishes,
with thirty-eight priests of the Roman
Catholic and Greek churches. Five
places of worship have been wholly
erected at the expense of the company.
Independently of the charities of the
company, life assurance association
has been formed by the officials and
subalterns. This association numbered
in 1875, A, 153 members, and the amount
assured (the policies not exceeding
1000 florins) was 3,052, ,250 florins.
From the time of its establishment, in
1864, to the close of 1875, the associa-
tion has paid 34S, 1856 florins to the sur
vivors of 524 members. The total in
come during this period was S04, ,26S
florins, and expenses were Ala, ,293 forms,
the fund of 390,975 florins thus remain
ing being 22,221 florins in excess of the
liabilities as computed ON the 31st of
December, 1875. A part of this fund
is profitably employed in loans advanced
to members, 1874 such loans, to the
amount of S95, ,242 forins, having been
granted since the establishment of the
association.
In addition to the advantages of the
institutions mentioned, the employees
of Stats -Eisenhahn-G Gesellschaft enjoy
various minor privileges, such as the
purchase Of fuel of the company at the
cost price. Two scholarships, more
over, endowed at the Commercial High
School Of Vienna, are open to sons of
meritorious officials, and an annual
grant Of 500 florins each is at present
made to five sons of employees in the
Banat, for the pursuit Of higher studies.
All in all. these measures testify to a
better appreciation OH the part of the
Stats -Eisenbahn-G Gesellschaft of the
true relations between labor and capital
than is to be found, to the best of our
knowledge, among railroad men in
America. n. Y. Nation.