The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-03-18


road, but address the public, for whom this ia
intended. directly. In the roads circular re-
ferred to, which is under date OF Feb %, APP
pears the following
THE important changes which your committee aug-
gests are as follows First pay to be governed solely
by the miles rn without regard to other conditions
circumstances second. large average increase in
existing rates OF pay; third, the abolition OF any
classification based upon length of service age
perience.
I'm relation to the first statement, we reply
that we have requested compensation to ha
liked by the mile because that is the method
upon which compensation 10 based on nine
tenths of the railroads in operation in the
United States. 1t is misleading to say tina { this
compensation is sought TO be fixed with
out regard 10 other conditions cir
cumstances.' True. there are some runs
on the branches of the 90 road where
the engineers responsibility appears to be less
than that on the ma. lnes because he has to
haul q smaller number of But the road
carefully eonceals the fact that on all of these
branches where the engineer has smaller num-
Der of cars to for he is compelled, ut the
end of his trip. to take care or his engine by
performing the work known TO engineers as that
of 'hostler.' The imposition of this work upon
him saves the company the expense OF employ
ing at this work On the main lines the
engineers work is ended when his train is taken
into it's point of destination. and the work OF
'hostler' 10 done in the round-houses by an ex-
ira man employed for that purpose
NV hile il Is stated that ask our pay 20 be
based upon the number or miles run, it must
also De understood that we care very little
about the terms used by the road. They San
continue to pay by the trip, in place Of paving
by the mile, If they prefer that system, provid-
ing, however, they pay as much other roads
pay for trips OF the same length The fact, then.
is as broad as 1t is long how the wages are COM
puted, whether by mile or by trip If the desire
is to pay men honestly and fairly, without throw
Ing any dust IN their eyes, or IN the eyes of the
public, EST the same rates other roads. it
will be that il 10 immaterial whether
the compensation is computed by the trip
or by the mile To illustrates: If man runs
one hundred miles on passenger train, we say
he should DO paid So so. This rate is paid by
the Rock Island. the Santa Fe, the Wabash sys-
tenn. and other systsms The o. not desiring
TO pay upon the basis that would enable fair
comparison OF it's wages TO be made with those
of other companies, abandous the mile scheme
and simply says will pay you SO for the trip
which means, in other words. cents per mile
for what other roads pay 81 cents. We think
this pretense is too transparent to need very
much discussion.
"Second-It is true that we demand large
average increase in existing rates of pay,
but the public must not be misled into the sup
position that we are demanding large increase
from the 90 over what is paid by its rivals. IL
the 90 gives TO the large increase which we
demand it will only then place us on an equal
footing with the employees of other roads. and il
will only then be called upon to pay precisely
what its neighbors and rivals pay and have paid
for years. Although, in justice. ought to
ask 1t to make restitution for the past we do
not do SO; we only ask it to deal fairly with
'In answer to the thirNpoint made by the
road, viz that we ask the abolition of any cas-
sifcation based upon length of service, age or
experience. we have to say that that statement
is also misleading. Our position is this: When
the @ road places a man in charge of one of it's
great express trains, and intrusts 10 him th0
precious lives of its patrons, by that act il
tides that he is firstclass engineer. and il
ought to pay him on the basis of its own certifi-
cate. We insist that one of two things must be-
be true-either that the engineers are first-clasa
men and entitled Co frst-class pay; second.
that the public is deceived when il is asked to
travel on trains by men who are entitled to
second third-class compensation.
"What is said in relation to the engineer ap-
plies also to the of the fireman. We in
vite the attention of the public 60 the following
comparisons: On the 90 road there is q round
trip between Rockford and Aurora which is
made twenty-six times a month by the engineer.
On the Northwestern road there is a round trip
between Rockford and Chicago which is also
made twenty-six times per month; the North
western round trip is % miles greater than the
90 round trip. The Northwestern engineer
travels 272 miles per month more than the %
by the engineers viz, 81 cents per
Esile, the Northwestern road should pay
only $50 OF per month 10 the engineer
on the Rockford 81 Chicago trip greater
than that paid to the - engineer who
runs on the Rockford-Aurora trip. But the
fact Is that the % road pays its engineers only
engineer $175. The % engineer holds just as
responsible position as the engineer on the
Northwestern. He has to three inter-
sectine roads in the making of his trip. and in
addition to his work as an engineer, the labor of
hosting or caring for the engine is imposed
upon him, while the engineer for the North
western is not obliged to care for his engine The
1atters work begins when he jumps the engine
end OF the trip and ceases when he dev-
ers il at the other end Let MS compare two
short runs: First, the Chicago, Milwau-
kee e. ST Paul road. The round trip between
Chicago and Elgin is seventy-four miles. for
which the engineer is paid SO. TO- The engineer
has full control of his time every second day,
and has not to act al hostler for his engine The
second is on the @ road The round trip be-
tween Chicago aud Aurora is seventy-seven
miles. The engineer lie paid So. 80. He has TO
hostler his engine, and his entire time belongs
to the road. Some days ne has TO be under ito
orders for eighteen hours per day.
Complaint is made IN the roads circular be-
cause We asked that 'Galesburg division engt-
neers and fremen be not required to run east OF
Aurora The idea sought to be conveyed by the
company is that this request Is unreasonable and
calculated to impose greater expense the
road. The fact is that compliance with this re-
quest will not impose cent of extra expense
on the road. No objection has been offered 70
running the engine through from GaesburG TO
Chicago The change OF crew-engineers and
hremen. at Aurora vii! not increase
the the cemp ,hy outlay There are are aoo S
live in Aurora. Many of those men own their
homes; of these homes, however. are not
en- trey paid for Ii they are compelled to run
from Galesburg to Chicago and return, they
would have sacrifice their property and
move either to Galesburg or Chicago. They
of the route only from Chicago to Aurora aud
return, and on the other end only from Gales
burg to Aurora and return. If We were paid on
the mile system. the change OF crews would not
cost the road one cent.
III is also complained that we ask that some
arrangement be made in relation to passing
brotherhood men the O. trains. We make
no demand in this regard Our purpose in
making this request was to get some uniform
rule put in force this road, the same pre-
vs. SIS other roads. We have right to de-
m,,nd this. We did not demand it. Our desire
WIS. while we were negotiating. to get this ques.
ton, unsettled, so determined that the con-
ductors would know precisely what to do and
thus be able to avoid confusion. The company
can decide this il pieases. 1t does not stand
in the road OF settlement S. z. HoGE,
Chairman Gen Grievance Cont. c., B. g. O."
Burlington Freight Refused.
CHICAGO, March 1.-THE Chicago Milwaukes
& st. Paul made no attempt to enforce it's order
to move 90" freight. and none was moved. At