Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-18

Draymen or men.............-.......l s3
For convenience we count the English sh
in reality it is worth only "a cents.
the marked tendency of railway men to
bring up their children in the same calling.
In similar vein of complaceny were the
remarks of Sir George Find!ay before the
Royal Commission.
Must Be Comparatively Well Paid.
This gentleman is at the head of the big
gest railway the country can boast, and
what he says is that generally the relations
between the railway companies and the men
are satisfactory" The most convincing
proof of this is, he says, "that the great
body of railway servants exhibit such
high state of discipline and such cheerful
performance of duty as could only be the
result of their meeting with fair and con-
siderate treatment on the part of their en-
ployers." When, too, we add to such testi-
mony as this the statement made the other
day by Mr.. Edward Hartford, General Sec
retarv of the Anal algamated Society of Rail-
way Servants, viz, that there had never
been strike on the part of this class OF
workers for increased pay, but only for
as though English railway men were a class
who, in comparison with other British
work rkmen, are generously paid and fairly
we'll off in the world.
Twas delighted to find here such an or
gauization as the Amalgamated Society of
Railway Servants. Within few weeks it
has absorbed the Scottish branch, so that it
represents now the entire United Kingdom.
Its membership, increased last year by
3,460, aggregates at present about $4,000,
aud it has sinews of war safely invested to
the amount of over $3.50, 600 From these
facts the reader will get some idea both of
the standing of the society itself and of the
influence and general reliability OF its sec
retarv, Mr.. Edward Hartford. With this
gentleman 1 enjoyed pleasant and profit
able interview, and one of the first ques-
tions I asked was a question which had oc-
Cured to me after reading in one OF the En-
glish papers prize essay on (which is the
Best Railway in Great Britain?'
Tho Great Roads of England.
The writer, found, had lodged the main
point. There we're four, he said, each of
which excelled in some particular thing,
but all of which, considered generally, were
about equal-the London and North West
ern, the Midland, the Great Northern and
how these great corporations treated their
men, the essayist had nothing to say, and
on that account his production, to one in
nv frame of mind, was disappointment.
What 1 had desired to know was-which of
the English railway companies pays the
best wagesr and this was the question
which put squarely at Mr.. Hartford But
that gentleman found it to be poser. He
could only say, in reply, that the best aver
age wages were paid by the great trunk
lines, the lines singled out for special praise
in the prize essay.
Between these four controlling lines there
was, he assured me, little or no choice. The
London and North Western had the reputa-
.tion for paying its signal men little better
than some of the others, but it's shunters
and brakesmen it paid worse than others.
Perhaps, too, the Great Western might be
mentioned, he said, as affording the best
paw to conductors of freight trains. These
are called here goods guards, and what 1
sought at once to find out was what the best
English pay for this class of railway men
amounted to; and 1 was told that it was 80
shillings and pence per week, making it
fall little below SS
Source of Valuable Table.
But this whole question of compensation,
Mr.. Hartford observed, had been treated
fully by his society in document entitled
"Return of the Hours of Duty and Rates Of
Wages Paid to Railway Servants on the
Principal Lines in Great Britain in Opera
tion May, 1884," and a copy Of this docu-
ment he placed at my disposal. From it
make up the table accompanying this
letter.
The return itself consists of 90 closely
printed pages and affords statistics along the
lines indicated of some So railway COM
panieS. AS, however, 1 deem it only fair
to put English railway wages before the
American reader in their best light, and as
Mr. Hartford had assured me that the best
average pay was afforded by the four great
corporations already mentioned, L omit
what is said of the others, and confine the
table to such statistics MS are afforded with
respect to these. 1 also omit, Tor con-
venience, any statistical exhibit of the
hours of,work. GIancing over the figures
afforded on this subject the conclusion to
which am led is that the time reckoned
for an ordinary day will average on all the
roads taken together about II hours. Some
work II, some 1211S, and if We are to believe
what has been said before tine Royal Com
mission on Labor, some IA and 10, at times,
with q most woiul discrepancy between
theory and practice all along the line. But
I am writing by the book and put the aver
age at IL hours.
Tho Lowest and the Highest Wages.
In regard to wages. the rate is given at
various leading stations on the line and l
note here and there a slight variation. To
be strictly lair, therefore, have given for
each class of workmen the lowest wage and
the highest wage raid on each OF the four
railways The difference, it will be seen, is
not very great, though the reader should
know that to strike u fair average many
more mus. be classcd in the lower than the
higher grades Engine drivers and fremen,
find, are put together. This is because i'll
this country every fireman is sort o! q
learner under the engineer and is supposed
to be in the line Of promotion to that place.
The inference is, of course, that the highest
wage given In this column l. tho highest