Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-06-27
THE RATE oF WAGES.
The Question Discussed from the labor
Standpoint

]
Standpoint.
The following interesting and practical dis
cussion of the question as to the eff sct that
reduction of the rates Of fares and frsightl
will have upon the wages of employees oc
CURED at the meeting of the Railroad Com
mission on Monday, when ex-Mayor Jabes
Turner, Of this city, appeared and addressed
the Board in reply to remarks of G. b. Mer.
riam; made at a previous meeting. Mr.
Turner said:
Mr President and Gentlemen Of the Honorable
Board of Railroad Commissioners : l will say in the
fir t place that We a delegation of mechanics
from the Central Pacific Railroad shops. Some OF
our people there noticed through the public press
that ut your last meeting gentleman believe bv
the name of Merriam appeared before this Board
and made certain statements. We heard also that
another gentleman would address you to-day, rep
Iesenting the mechanics and laboring people Of this
State this question. It Is true that In the
employ Of the Railroad, but, as understand it, we
are still citizens OF the State of California No mat.
ter how much Of the odum OF the railroad you heap
| upon us, we surrender none Of those rights. AS
was going to explain TO you gentlemen. of the
| men, without anything like organizatiOn-for we
| have no organization there-talked this matter up
| amongst themselves and one Of them impromptu
drew up set OF resolutions which, If you please
| would like to read 10 you.
| Mr. Carpentsr-what do they relate to?
| Mr. Turner-To this q lestion, sir, that is before
| yOu or ! would not READ it.
Mr. Carpenter-I want to conine the discussion
to fares and freights right down to the be 1rock.
| Mr.. Iurner-I wish to be as gernane to that
point as possible [Reads.
| ITO the Honorable the Board of Railroad Com.
missioner5 OF the ate of California; Gentlemen
"WHEREAs, One Geo B. Merriam, claiming to rep
resent t working classes, has appeared before
your honorable Board and made false statements in
regard to the treatment of railroad employees by the
company, and as We understand that another pre-
tended champion OF labor will address your hon
orabe Board the same subject, therefore we, the
/ employees of the Central Pacific Railroad Company,
| in justice to employers, feel il our duty to pre-
sent to your honorable Board our feelings in this
matter, and in accordance with this feeling, Of our
free will and Accord aitX Signatures to the
| following resolution
l will just say hope the gentlemen viii not take
| it at all being foreign to the question. 1t simply
| leads to it, you will find directly.
" ResOlred That our treatment by the railroad
| company has always been geutlemanly and just,
and any appeals made by US have received imme-
| diate and courteous attention.
| "ReS0lred That we feel that in the matter of
wages We have always been more highly favored
than employees Of the railroads East of the Rocky
mountains.
"Resolred That in our opinion any iuter'erenc
with the prosperity of the railroad company wi
suit IN labor troubles, aud consequent red lction of
wages. As the rate OF wages throughout the State
is virtually fixed by the railroad company, the en-
tire laborIng population will be materially affected
thereby.
"ResoIred That we DO hereby appoint from our
number the following named employees to represent
our views your honorable Board and reply TO any
charge that may reflect upon cur relations to the
railroad company
will lust read the names and hand the document
to you Jabsz Turner, machine shop; Thomas
MoPe blacksmith shop; James DUNCAN, boiler
shop; john Hansman, foundry; II. L. Blackwell,
car shop. And would say, as pass that book over
10 YOU that every that has been affixed to
document has bapO Of the x free will
There has not been the slightest official pressure
brought to bear upon us 1t was thoroughly Spon-
taneous with us. have no doubs you will find by
looking over 1t that there are Sl2 names Our time
for the canvass very Short or the list would have
been much longer. Not every man that it was pre-
sented to signed it; some, OF course from one mo-
| tive, and some from her There were even
some men there who thought it might be construed
into saving good word for the company, and that
OF course i'll their estimaton,i would bring upon them
| the odium which | have referred to before. Now,
the gentleman who has just addressed you has said,
in to a rather incoherent way that the reduction
Of ireights and fares would rebound TO the benefit
| OF labor. Now will deny it.
Mr.. Carpen:er-I will call yeur attention to one
| thing il that resolution you have just read. That
| is that the railroad company, companies, fixed
the rate of wages throughout the State How do
| YOU explain that?
| Mr. Tuner-Well, that means this way They
employ many more men than any single firm in
| the State. OF the wages they fix, or which
are paid by them, and they are little higher, in
4 fact CONSIDERABLY Dlguer On tne average
than in the same branches Of business
| throughout the State San Francisco or
elsewhere. That is the meaning OF that. Not that
| they have any hand in fixing 1t. have every rea-
son to believe that men running factories machine
! shops and ot-er factories here iii San Francisco
i have again and again brought pressure TO bear
| tn m to reduce wages. When it is stated the Cen
tral Pacific Railroad Company are eneai-s to labor
| we deny it. We do not say this as coming here as
apologists for the gentlemen who operate the Cen
| tral Pacific Railroad company by any means There
! is not one in thousand OF US that has ever come
personally in contact with them. 1t IS simply on
business proposition We are looking alter our own
interests, and we know that reduction OF fTeghts
and fares will not only be detrimental to inter.
ests, but to those OF other labOriLg men in the
I State When ! say every laboring man. of course
there might be here and there man that might be
bencfi ed in some way. mechanic is apt to think
that the soluuon OF this problem should be
| brought within the realm Of theoreti-
! cal and pracic mechanics, and the mechanic
| learns very early in his pursuits that 1t
| takes great deal more force to move Il weight up
an inclined plane than over level one, and he
| knows that eve pound OF force has to be pur-
chased at the expense of something. Whether it is
wood or coal or food 1t is all the thing. Now
if you reduce freights and fares something must be
cut off, Of course, TO compensate for 1t. The wood
| OF COURSE is not got for nothing. 1t has to be
hewn down in the forest, driven into convenient
place, hauled TO the side OF tho track, sawed up and
| thrown into the fire-boX End the coal whether it
| comes from Australia Washington Territory or
British Columbia, or wherever they get it, Of
| they have to pay for it.
| Mr. Foote-On that wood proposition, do YOU
know what It costs the railroad company get the
wood they use the mountain division!
| Mr. Turner-I believe it is about 81 Is, and from
that to S. somstimes little less it fiuctuates
Mr. Foote-I was informed in Truckee the other
| day-they take many thousand cords there every
day down that fiume that cost them S2 80 delivered
| on the side Of the track-by man that furnished
wood to the railroad company. number Of thou
sand cords every day are loated down the Truckce
river some nine or ten miles up in the mountains and
| goes down fiume arrangement, and then falls into
the water and is umed right to the side OF the rail-
| road track Are you familiar with that country?
Mr. Turner | never was there but in my
llie We get part OF it there, OF couJse but good
deal of it they have to get lover down.
Mr. FOote-I don't know what it costs lower
down, hut that is what | am informed it costs them
Mr. Turner-I would not make any positive state
| ment about that simply make this illus
tration OF course the company could operate the
| road great deal cheaper there is no question
| about that for a moment Every thing in matters
| of taste and establishment and connected with
chinery and their cars and depots, and every
! thing else, might be dispensed with, but
that would be a direct blow at labor. There
would be no question about that. Is there any
man, would ask, who knows anything about the
way labor is paid in this State, so extremely green
to believe that if $1,000 tons OF grain lying on
| the Glenn ranch this year, and the company
compelled to carry it at 80 cents per ton cheaper
tha that Will 90 into the hands OF those poor devils
| that moil and toll in the winter rain and summer
sun, the men who plow ard SOW, and all that kind
| of thing? That $4,000 viii go dreetly into the
| hands Of the accumuators, not into the hands Of
| the laborers. You can follow it all through this
| State know from the experience have that the
wholesale dealers and retail dealers, and all have
| taken advantage Of this bugbear Of high freghts.
! [ friend of mine told me-he down 10 Tulare
| county, a little town down there, few yesrs ago
/ he told me be had contract with carpenter He
went to the store TO get nails and other hard
ware used in housewo k. Nails eight cents
| pousd. We l." he eaid, gentlemen, that is an
| awful price compared to the San Fran isco rrice."
| "Oh it is the swiul freight have to pay
| to this railroad monopoly" lie sent to San
Francisco for few kegs aud ether things and paid
| a fraction over three cents pound He paid no
more freight than they did, perhaps not so much.
/ That mall quantity When any man will
stand up here or anywhere else and attempt TO
cheapon any service in the interest Of labor am
| free to tell him that he Is not friend of labor
Here 10 this State OF CalaoTnia though our condi-
ticn il not what it ought 70 be perhaps it is GER
tsny infinitely better than any here in the world
| today. l know what the ,ndition OF things is
east OF the Rocky Mountains, and / know what
| = Is in Europe, and it is to our interest
| to keep things going on as progressively as
| we positively can. Our educational institu-
| tions, our inv. ntioas, our machinery and
every thing is tending to produce the development
of high nervous organization. 1t costs more 30
| keep US, and we want more wages. / am not op-
posed OF course the Interests Of any class Of the
community, but do hope that mechanics every
where will see 20 it that they not used by any
| class of men % grind them down. Il is not the
poor man tbss pays fares TO any great extent it is
the business men and the pleasure seekers who pay
| these fares. We Of necessity, ef course at times
must trayst from one place to another. But / say
that the little he does pay, the infreguency with