Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-02-27

his second year he will receive 81 10 for the
same service and 50 for the third and each
succeeding year. This is our chief cause OF
complaint The one year men are given ex-
actly the same work 10 do as the three year
men, and are presumably fully as capab
We offered Mr. Stone compromise last
Thursday. We offered TO accept a rate that
would average 81 cents per mile for all en-
gineers, tiremen to receive o. per cont OF
that sum, with the abolishment OF the CLASH
hcation rule. The Rock Island road pays It's
engine men All average Of 81 cents per mile;
the Union Pacific road i, 81. and the North
western road g. 70, 50 you see our 359 cents
demand was not excessive. IL We go out we
will have the switchmen anc brakemen with
us. as well as all the engineers and tiremen OF
the country"
To this the Chicago, Burlington q Quincy
railroad replied substantially as follows:
"The important changes which your com
mittee suggest are as follows:
~. Pay 10 be governed solely 10y the miles
run without regard 10 other conditions or
circumstances.
~ A large average increase in existing
rates Of pay.
"3. The abolition OF any Classification based
upon length OF service, age, or experience.
The answer then goes on to say that the
basis now in vogue is the "best one to fairly
provide for differences in the amount OF la
Dor time and responsibility required OF en-
gineers upon different runs and dlvisionA A
branch passenger engine hauling two or
three cars where there are two trains each
way daily, is more easily handled than an
important main line passenger engine where
there are twenty or more trains each way.
A branch freight engine hauling eight or ten
wi
daylight, demands less labor from engine
men than an engine on the main line with II
heavy freight train, although the mileage
may be the same.
The trip basis, in view OF all the varying
conditions, covers value received An arbi-
trary mileage basis disregards the value OF
the service rendered, and in the long run,
we fear, would be unsatisfactory to the men
and to the company.
"For example, On the Galesburg division
of the Chicago, Burlington 81 Quincy rail
road an engineer or light passenger run or
two cars between Blu la and Vermont under
present schedule, earns in twenty-six days
S123 50, and the firemen $7I 10; under ne
schedule which you propose the engineer
would receive $l7lOs, and the fireman
Sl02 Ga. Upon the first division of the
Cheyenne branch on the Burlington a. Mis-
three cars, requiring six hours and ten min
utes daily, is paying under the existing
schedule to engineers STA per month. Upon
your schedule it would pay $50 per
month. On the Kansas City, st. Joe
q Council Bluffs railroad on the run from
Vilisca to ST. Joseph and return, under the
present schedule the engineer earns for "a
month of twenty-six days Sl43, and the fire.
man $l2SJ. Upon the schedule which you
propose the engineer would receive Sl99 30
and the fireman Sl!95 50. This is three-car
run, the engineer aud fireman returning
home every night; it is also daylight run.
On the Chicago q Iowa railroad light pas
senger run between Rockford and Aurora,
which occupies four hours and fifty minutes
in making the round trip, which leaves the
engineer at home every night and every Sun
day, and gives him the greater part of each
day to himself, pays the engineer at present
$l04 per month Under the schedule which
you propose this run would pay $l3L GO per
month, which is out of all proportion"
The company then says that the condition
of business now is such as to make it exceed
iDgly difficult to maintain rates and cover
cost of transportation, especially with the
laws that are continually being passed en-
trolling rates, etc, and gives a table show.
ing that the average wages for engineers and
tlremen on the C. B. Q per month are re-
spectvey Sll5 and So. Proceeding the
answer says:
"The company must reserve absolutely the
right to ascertain, by whatever examinations
it may think advisable, whether its employees
of all classes are capable of fulfilling the du
ties they undertake, and the public also de-
mand that the railroad company shall take |
every precaution to employ only those men |
who can safely perform the work intrusted
to them.
"The company at present furnishes over |
its lines free transportation to its employees |
in good standing, and to their dependent
families 1t also furnishes free transporta-
ton to employees and their dependent fam
lilies of other roads upon the request of their
officers. This has been our prac-
tice for years, and we believe that in doing
it we are dealing generously with railroad
employees. To extend this to all members of
an organization, which. however, good its
objects, is purely private affair of indi-
yiduals and to grant free transportation to
them as right seems unreasonable and I'M
just, and, moreover, in direct violation of
aw."
The strike will affect %, 600 men, General
Manager Stone says he has applications by
wire and letter from any number Of men,
md has sent word to all of them to coma on.