The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-07-14
PULLMAN TELLS HIS STORY
GIVES REASONS WHY HTS EM- PL0YEy WAGES WERE REDUCED.

said us to the position of tho Pullman
 company, but I have so many indica-
 tions of the facility with which my ex-
 pressions and those authorized by mo
 have become distorted and thus mis-
 leading to the public and of .sp entire
 forgetting of my earnest efforts eo pro-
 vent the strike, that perhaps It Is well
 that should again make public as-
 surance that the deplorsble events of
 the last few weeks have not been caused
 by the Pullman company taking m ob-
 stinate stand In debatable matter and
 refusing to listen to reason. The leaders
 of disorder have not hesitated to harass
 the public by all means In their power
 because, as they say, the Pullman com pany would not submit to arbitration,
 and now that disorder seems to be
 quellsd they are reinforced in their
 clamor for arbitration by one prominent
 newspaper, but so far as I know by very few if any business men.
 What Is the demand concealed under the innocently-sounding word arbitra- ton? A little more than year ago the car shops at Pullman were in a most prosperous condition, work was plenty wages were high, and the condition of the employees was indicated by the fact that the local savings banks had of savings deposits nearly s700,000. nearly all of which was the property of the employees. Our pay rolls for that year show an average earning of over $500 per annum for every person, man. wo- man or youth. on the roll.
 Then came the great panic and de- pression of last summer. Many ous- toners stopped negotiations and can
 celled orders, and our working forces had to be diminished from nearly 5000 to about 2,000 in November. 1s93 The great business depression: that existed throughout the country had naturally resulted in a wage depression and the
 only hope of getting orders was by bid ding for work at prices as low or lower
 than could be made by other shops, and this, of course, necessitated re- duction in the wages of the employees at Pullman. This was arranged satisfAo- torily as I supposed. and in close com- petitions disregarding all capital and
 machinery, secured enough work to
 gradually increase our force to 400,
 the number on the rolls last April.
 Mine weeks ago the carshops at Pull-
 mon were working with oar-building
 contracts enough on hand to keep them
 going about sixty days and with all
 business forecasts leading to the belief
 that no considerable new orders could
 soon be had. The most important of
 the work in hand had been taken by me
 in competition at prices which were less
 than the actual cost to the company of
 delivering the cars. without any reckon
 ing for the use of capital and plant.
 This work was taken to keep the large
 force of men employed, and to postpone with the hope of avotding-the num-
 berless endorsements to all classes
 of people at Pullman and its vicinity of
 a closing down of the works, to prevent
 which the company considered 1t wise
 policy to operate the shops temporarily
 at a loss.
 ''In this condition of things came the
 agitation seeking to create a labor or
 ganization embracing all railway em-
 ployes and apparently other industries.
 It is my belief that the controversy ex- cited at Pullman was merely move in
 the greater scheme, these shops being
 selected not on account of discontent in
 them. but because of their prominence
 in, rin ~H hoo AZ
 chance of a show of justification for a
 simultaneous and ceaseless attack up- on the railways of the country, for the
 use under long contracts by three
 fourths of them of the Pullman sleep ing cars, a branch of the company's business totally distinct from its manu- featuring of cars for sale. .S
 "In the early part of May a commit tee of the employees demanded . restor- ation of the wages of a year ago. I explained to this committee minutely and laboriously the facts, showing that the company was already paying them more than 1t was receiving for their contract work and. offered them for complete assurance and to end all ques- tion an inspection of our books and contracts in hand. This and the be- ginning at Puliman'of proposed care full investigation of . number of shop complaints seemed to end all trouble, but a few days later under tho excite ,nent of their recruiting into a new or ganization. the workmen closed the shops by abandoning their work, thus themselves doing what was strenu- ously trying to prevent being done by the depression of the car-buildif1g busi- ness and the employees who have quit their work have deprived themselves and their comrades of earnings of more than $500 900 up to this time. The de- mand made before quitting work, was that the wages should be restored to the scale of last year or in effect that the actual outgoing money losses then being daily incurred by the company in. ! should be deliberately in- creased to an amount equalling about one-fourth of the. wages of the em- ployes. s, +e | " IF
 Tt must be clear to- everyone that no prudent employer could submit to arbitration the question whether he should commit such piece of business folly. Arbitration aways implies ac- quiescence in the decision of the arbi- ] trator, whether favorable or adverse, How could I. as president of the Pull man company, consent to agree that if | any body of. men not leoncsrned with ! the interests. of the leonpAnr.x share. | holders. sheuld as arbitNtosgefor any sseming good to them 70 decree,,