The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-02-09
GERMAN RAILWAYS,
Very Slow Time-A Sample Trip-Lov
Wages of EMPLOYEES

do not know the exact number OF miles
between Munich ana Berlin, but | do
know that we left the former CITY at 7:3O
o'clock in the morning, and that we
reached Berlin little after 10 in the
evening, and there was no changing OF
trains nor.,was there any long stoppages on
the way. 1t was the express train, or what
they call here the schnell zug 70 have alb
sorbed all of this time on an English mail
tram, or fast express train in America,
which averages about fifty miles an hour,
we should have accomplished over
200 miles, but | understand that the
distance between the two cities is
less than 800 miles. Hence it will
be seen that the German express trains are
anything but fast, and to us Americans
who would be glad to travel by electricity
are terribly slow and tedious. 1t seemed
all the time as if the putting little engine
was pulling us up some steep grades with q
small pressure of steam, or that we were on
some funeral train which was travelling at Il
slow rate OF speed in Difference to the feel
lngs OF the mourners or board. Were there
to be collision Of two of these schnell Zugs
travelling in opposite directions, verify be
lieve that all the damaged sustained would
be put to rights by an expenditure of few
dollars IN repairing the cow-catchcrs. The
slow trains which stop at every little sta
tion and known as the personnen zugs,
are patronized largely by those who
are economical in their expenditures.
and whose time is of little account
| The fare on them is about 20 per cent. less
than on the schnell zugs, and they crawl
over the ground so slow that a man could
easily jump off one and recover his lost hat
ana then ovcrtake the train before it could
get twenty rods away. Perhaps this slow
rate of travelling is owing to the system
adopted by ell German railway companies
IN paying their employees. Their wages are
q mere pittance compared to the wages paid
III America 20 employees of the same grade.
Locomotive engineers receive only 1928 to
$40 per year, conductors $iG0 to $3.50 per
year, brakcmen from $40 to $l65 per year,
road keepers and swtchmen $3.50 to $3.50
and $50 per year In addition to these
small salaries they are paid small amounts
as perquisites which help to increase,
though not to large amount, the sums
annually received The engineer gets n
percentage on the number of kilometers he
runs his engine during the year, and, being
allowed certain amount ofcoal and oil for n
prescribed number of kilOmeters. he is paid
"a percentage OF 30 per cent. premium on
what he saves on coal and about 16per cent.
on oil, so he has a strong pccuniary induce
mcnt to be as economical as possible in ruiz
nlng ms engine, and uses as little fuel and
oil rs necessity will require. 1t is to this
economy on the part of engineers in the
saving of coal and not keeping up sufli-
cent head of steam, that the slow rate of
railway travelling is mainly attributed. The
sum total paid the engineer for this years
labor, including salary, mileage percentage
on coal and oil saved, and for extra labor
that he may perform in the machinc-shop,
seldom amounts to over 500 or $3.50 a wear
The conductor, who is also allowed a per-
centage on the number of komeicrs he
travels over in year, receives in all about
500 to $50; second and third-cass con-
ductors who act IS brakcmen, and whose
pcrquistes are little or nothing, only get
about $3.50 or S215.-[Cor, Springfield Re
publican.