The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-07-16

Trying to Care for His Men.
TO further benefit the people of Pullman
| and vicinity, We concentrated all the work
that we could command at that point by
| closing our Detroit shops entirely, and lay
| ing off a large number Of men at other
| repair shops, and gave to Pullman the re-
| pair of all cars that could be taken care of
| there.
also, for the further benefit of our peo-
| pie at Pullman we have carried on a large
| system of internal improvements having
| expended nearly 100000 since August last
| in work which, under normal condltlonS,
| would have been spread over one or two
| years. The policy would be to continue
| this class of work to as great an extent
| as possible, provided, of course the Pull
| man men show a proper appreciation OF the
| situation by doing whatever they can to
| help themselves to tide over the hard
| times, which are so seriously felt IN every
| part Of the country
| There have been some complaints made
| about rents. AS to this, l would say that
| the return to this company of the capital
| invested in the Pullman tenements for the
| last year and the year before was ~ per
| cent. There hundreds of tenements in
| Pullman renting from Sc to So per month,
| and the tenants are relieved of the usual
| expenses of the exterior cleaning and re-
| moving of garbage, which Is done by the
! company. The average amount collected
| from employees for gas consumed Is about
| 81 a month. To ascertain the exact
| amount of water consumed by the tenants,
| separate from the amount consumed by
| the works. we have recently put in me-
| tiers, by which find that the water
| consumed by the tenants, ii paid Tor at
| the rate Of cents per 1000 gallons, IN
| accordance with our original contract with
the village of Hyde Park, would amount
to about $1,000 month, almost exactly
| the rate which we have charged the ten
| ants this company assuming the expenses
| of pumping. At the increased rate the
city is now charging us for water, we are
| paying about $500 month in excess OF the
| amount charged to the tenants. The pres
ent pay rolls at Pullman amount " dooul
s., 900 a day.
"On the question Of rents while, as stated
| above, they made a manifesty inadequate
return upon the investment, so that II Is
clear they are not in fact at an arpltrarlly
| high figure, 1t may be added that 1t WoulG
not be possible in q business sense so to
| deal with them. The renting Of the dwell
| ings and the employment OF workmeh at
Pullman are in no way tied together. Inc
dwelling and apartments are o1tereo LOT
rent in competition with those of the I'M
| medately adjacent towns OF henslnStoh'
| Roseland and Gano. They are let alike to
Pullman employees and to very many othefs
| in no way connected with the company
and on the other hand many Pullman en-
| ployes rent or own their homes in those
adjacent towns. She average rental at
Pullman is at the rate of So per room per
month There are POO tenementS or vary
ing numbers of rooms, the average mohth-
ly rental of which is SO. OF these there
are 600 the average rental OF when IS %"
In very many cases men with fanllleS
nav a rent seemingly large Tor WORK
man, but which in fact is reduced IN part,
and often wholly repaid, by the subrent
paid by single men as dodgers.
The strike Decided Upon.
Nav 10th, the day after the second confer
ence above mentioned, work went on AT
Pullman as usual, and the only 1nclueht
of note was the beginning by Mr.. Wlckes'
assisted by Mr.. Brown, the general man
ager of the company, of the PROMISED
formal investigation at Pullman of the shop
complaints. A large meeting OF employees
had been held the night before at hehslhs
ton, which, as was understood by the COM
pe,y. accepted the rro0reei's- OF INC $50
tion preventing an increase of wages but at
n meeting of the local committee held our
ing the night of May 10th, strike was de-
cided upon, and accordingly the next gay
about . 800 of the employees quit WORK. ledF-
inc GOO at work, of whom very lew were
skilled workmen. AS it was found lmprac-
ticable to keep the shops in operation with
n force thus diminished and disorganlzed'
the next day those remaining We're necesSa-
rily laid off, and no work has since Deeh
done in the shops
The pay rolls at the time amounted TO
about $1,000 a day and were reduced $o,9oO
bv the strike. so that during the period OF
a little more than six weeks when mas
elapsed the employees who quit their work
have deprived themselves and their COM
rades of earning more than 100000.
Two Branches of the business.
1t is an element of the whole situation
| NV Of hPUinntnG
| the strike the Pullman Savings bank haG
| on deposit in it's savings department $fSS,0OO
| OF which about nine-tenthS belonged to en-
| ployes at Pullman, and that this amount
| has since been reduced by the sum of 900
While deploring the possibility of annoy
/ ance to the public by the threats of ire
| sponsible organizations to interrupt the Or
| derby ministration to the comfort of travel
| ers on railway lines aggregatng $4,000 miles
| in length, the Pullman company can do no
| more than eXplair it's situation to the public.
! 1t has two separate branches of business,
| essentially distinct from each other-One is
| to provide sleeping cars, which are delivered
by it under contract to the various railway
| companies to be run by them their lines
| as a part of their trains for the carriage Of
| their passengers, over the movement of
| which this company has no control. Con-
| tract arrangements provide for the making
| of all repairs to such cars by the railway
| companies using them, as to certain re-
| pairs absolutely, and as to all others upon
| the request of the Pullman company, which
! ordinarily finds 1t most convenient to utilize
its own manufacturing facilities to make
| such repairs. The other and a distinct
| branch of the business of the Pullman
company, is the manufacture for sale to
| railway companies of freight cars and or
binary passenger cars and of street cars,
and this business is almost at StandStilI
| throughout the United States The bust
| ness OF manufacturing cars for sale gives
employment to about 70 per cent of the shop
| employees. The manufacture of sleeping
| cars for use by railway companies under
| contract. and which under normal condi-
| lions gives employment to about IS per
cent of the shop employees, cannot be re-
| sumed by the company to important eX-
| tent for a very long time, for out of the
| provision made for the abnormal travel
| last year the company now has about four
| hundred sleeping cars in store ready for
| use, hut for which there is no need in the
existing conditions of travel
| way Union officials that railway comma
MES using Pullman sleeping cars shall be
compelled to deprive their passengers of
sleeping car accOmmoda lions unless the
| Pullman company will agree to submit to
| arbitration the question as to whether or
| not it shall open its manufacturing shops at
| Pullman and operate them under a scale