The record-union., 1895-08-31
THE WAGES OF LABOR AND THE
REDUCTION OF RAILROAD
RATES.

RAIES.
One feature of the showing made be-
fore the Railroad Commission in op-
position to a present reduction Of the
rates of grain transportation should not
fail to attract attention. ". G. Curtis, on
behalf of the railroad company, pre-
RsDted figures under oath showing that
60 per cent. of the entire cost of opera
ton of the railroad system of the Pacific
Coast is paid out in wages to labor.
When, therefore, the cost of operation
reaches S40.0O0,0OO per annum, as it does,
and is doing. s24. .OOO,0 is paid to labor.
The Southern Pacific Company. in the
light of these revelations, appears as the
largest employer of labor on the coast.
1t is perhaps paying more money to
laboring people than all the manufactur
ing establishments together. and vastly
more than all the wages paid by the
agricultural and horticultural interests
of the State.
Mr.. Curtis valuable showing also in
cludes the statement that 20 per cent. of
the gross operating expenses is paid for
coal. Eighty per cent Of the entire
operating expenses is therefore en- braced
cent relates to fixed expenses. The
only elastic element in the cost of operst-
ing railroads is therefore coal and labor;
but since the cost of coal is not at the will
of the railroad companies, it may be said
with truth that the only elastic element
Ia labor.
When, therefore. q reduction of reve-
nues is forced upon railroad companies
by the regulative authority of the Board
of Railroad Commissioners, the only
point q. which it may recoup the loss is
in the payment of wages. This is the
only element of expense under its con-
troll. 1t can do this in two ways: by re-
duction OF the force to. a minimum. or by
q reduction of the wages of the force as
now employed. This is a season OF
be said that it was a total failure. The
revenues to be derived from the wheat
crop this year will not be so per cent. OF
an average crop. Ii. in addition to this.
the rate OF transportation on the volume
of tonnage is to be further reduced, the
measure will, in q sense. be direct on
fI,o loI
We have had occasion before 10 call at
tention to the fact that in times when la
Dor is turbulent, making demands for in
crease of pay, and enforcing those de-
naands by strikes. the press and the peo-
pie generally declare that they are in IA
vor Of the payment of high wages. High
wages to labor means high price for the
product of labor. The man who declares
that he is in favor of higher wages to
shoemakers and, at the same time, re-
Guction IN the cost Of shoes, is simply a
pettifogging demagogue.
The relation between the price paid for
labor and the value of it's product is ab-
solute and arbitrary. Labor receives q
reward in proportion to the value of the
service rendered, and that value is meas
ured by the value of its product or out
put. This law has its application to labor
employed by railroads as well as in other
callings. 1t is simply absurd to suppose
that transportation is not the result OF
labor. The movement of grain from the
interior to the seaboard is the result OF
labor. It is idle to suppose that the value
of the labor performed-tkat the actual
return in money for that labor performed
will have go influence on the rate OF
wsges.
Railroads cannot and will not be run al
g loss. Assaults on rates OF transporta-
ton are therefore direct assaults on the
wages of labor, and the sooner this is re-
allied the better. Is would be criminal
folly to attempt to conceal the fact that
this ia a hard year for the railroads, as
well as every body else, and that II the
bardships which beset them st present
are augmented, reduction in wages will
xesult, The arithmetic of finance is mex