Omaha daily bee., 1889-04-28

yet other special departments. In the
case OF the Union Pacific, for instance,
there are two SUCH First, the comp
troller's department, which establishes
and is responsible for the whole method
OF accounting; second, n department
Gus interests which large railroad
company almost of necessity develope
outside of its strict, legitimate work as
q common carrier.
When it comes to dealing with en-
ployees Of the company, 1t will be found
that the vast majority or those whose
names are on the pay-rolls belong to
the operating department. This de-
partment is responsible not only for the
running OF trains and, usually, for the
maintenance for the permanent way,
but also for the repairs OF rolling stock.
All the train hands, all the section men
and bridge gangs, and all the mechan-
les in the repair shops thus belong to
the operating department. The ac-
counting department employs only
clerks. The same is true of the com
mercial department, though the com
mercial department has also agents at
different business centres who
look after companys interests
and secure traffic for it.
The construction department is in
the hands of civil engineers, and the
force employed by 1T depends entirely
upon the amount of building which may
at any time be going on. AS o rule the
bulk of the employees in the cOnstruc-
tion department are paid by contractors,
and not directly by the railroad COM
pauy. The legal department consists
only OF lawyers and the few clerks nec-
essaray to aid them in transacting their
business.
In the operating department of the
Union Pacific at the present time QSs6)
about IA 900 names are carried upon
the payroll. The number varies ac-
cording to the season of the year and
the pressure OF traffic. In January, and
during the winter months, the average
will fall to 1900, while in June and
during the summer it rises to 14,O00.
OF these, $500, or. 20 per cent, are en-
gagged in train movement; 4,20O, or 80
per cent, are in the machine shops and
In charge of motive power and rolling
stock; 1000, or SO per cent, are en-
ployed in various miscellaneous ways,
as hag-men, section-hands, station
agents, switchmen, ETC., etc.
So far as the wage-earner is con-
cerned, it is, therefore, this portion OF
the force of railroad company which
may be called distinctively 1.-THE SER
vice." If good relations exist between
the men employed in its operating de-
partment and the company no serious
trouble can ever arise in the operation
of the road. The clerks in the fnan-
cial department, or the engineers in
the construction department, might
leave the company's employ in body,
and their places could soon be filled. In
point of fact, they never do leave it;
but should they do so the public would
experience no inconvenience. The in
convenience-and it would be very con-
siderable-would be confined to the
offices OF the company, and their work
would fall to arrears. 1t is not so with
the operating department. So far as
the community at large is concerned,
whatever difficulties arise in the work
ing of railroads develop themselves
here. All serious railroad strikes take
place among those engaged in the
shops, on the track, or in handling
trains. That these difficulties
should be reduced to a minimum
is therefore necessity. They
can be reduced to a minimum only
when the railroad service is thoroughly
organized.
How then can this service be better
organized than it is? 1t is usually main
tained that only the ordinary relation
of employer and employed should exist
between the railroad company ana the
men engaged in operating its road. If
the farmer is dissatisfied with his
hands, he can dismiss them. In like
manner, if the laDorer is dissatisfied
with the farmer, he can leave his en-
ploy. 1t is argued that exactly the
same relation should exist between the
10 TO
of thousands of men in its operating de-
partment. The proposition is not tena-
BILE. The circumstances are different.
In the first place, it is of no practical
consequence to the community whether
difficulties which prevent the work OF
the farm from going on arise or do not
arise between an individual farmer
and his laborers. The work of inuumer-
able other farms goes on all the same,
and it is a matter of Indifference
what occurs in the management OF the
particular farm. So it Is even with
large factories, machine shops-in fact,
with all industrial concerns which do
not perform immediate public functions.
A railroad company does perform imme-
diate public functions. The community
depends upon 1T for the daily and neces-
sary movements Of civilized existence.
This fact has to be recognized. For a
railroad to pause in its operation i'm
plies paralysis to the community which
it serves.
Such being the fact, it is futile to
argue that the ordinary relations OF EN-.
ployer and employed should obtain in
the railroad service. Something else is
required: and because something else
is required but has not yet been devised
we have had the numerOusy difficulties
which have taken place during the
present year-ditficultles which have
occasioned the community much incon'
venience and loss.
The model railroad service, therefore
is now to be considered. OF what would
it consist? At present, there is prac'
tically no difference between individual:
in the employ of a great railroad cor
poration. All the wage-earners in it:
pay stand IN like position toward it.
There should be difference among
them; and marked difference, due tt
circumstances which should receive
recognition. Take again the case of the
| Union Pacific. Tho Union Pacific, i
has already been mentioned, numbers
1900 employees in its operating depart
ment as a maximum, and l2,OO as {
minimum. They vary with the seasor
| OF the year, increasing IN summer ant
| diminishing in winter. Consequently
| there is large body OF men who arr
permanen emily in its employ; and there il
| a smaller body, although a very cons,d
! erable portion of the whole. who are IL