The record-union., 1895-09-09
WORKERS HEARD FROM.
Petition Presented to the Railroad
Commissioners,
How the LaRue Resolution Would .Af-
feet the Wages OF Railroad ana
Other Employees.

0OW vic LdIu0 w Ouio t<Al'
feet the Wages OF Railroad ana
Other Employees.
AT the meeting of the Railroad Com
missioners in San Francisco on Saturday
George w. Ficks appeared with a petition
signed by over thousand men of this
city engaged in various branches Of
skilled and unskilled labor. The sigma
lures to the petition had been secured in
a very few hours. In its report of the
proceedings of the board the Chronicle
has the following:
George w. Ficks of Sacramento arose
and asked permission to address the board
which was accorded, and he spoke as
follows:
l would state Mr.. Chairman and the
honorable Board OF the Railroad Com
mission, that the petition which hold in
my hand, comes from the representatives
OF the skilled and unskilled labor in the
city OF Sacramento. No class of men in
the State OF California are more interested
in the question before your honorable
body than they are. You have had the
railroad side of the question presented.
You have had that OF the farmers, but
there is another side. which has not been
presented to your honorable board. In
this state there are thousands and tens
OF thousands OF men who earn their bread
by the sweat of their brow tina. are deeply,
seriously and earnestly interested in the
question now before your honorable body.
With your kind indulgence. | will read
the petition as follows:
sacramento, September 6, 1S95.-To
the Honorable, the Board of Railroad
Commissioners OF California-Gentleme
The undersigned employees of the South
ern Pacific Company, and skilled and
unskilled labor generally, represent To
your honorable board, that they have not
been prompted in this petition by any
officer, ember, agent or employe of the
Southern Pacific Company. directly or
indirectly, by suggestion or in any other
manner, but that they thus act of their
own motion and without the knowledge
of said company or any member or agent
OF 1t.
1--WE, therefore, freely, with entire COM
prehen9iOn Of all the matters and things
involved, respectfully protest against the
proposed horizontal reduction of freight
able Chairman, and for these reasons,
to-Wit:
such reduction will be inequitable; it
will also affect the income OF the Southern
Pacific Company, that it will make even
and we believe of .necessity-by reduc-
tion Of wages as about all other charges
and burdens OF SAID company are fixed
and unyleidlng.
The reduction of wages by the said
company, the largest employer on the
coast. will be great injury and perma-
nent harm 10 the grower OF grain and all
produce, and to all furnishers of the sup
plies OF life, and, therefore, will more
than offset the supposed gain Tor the
wheat-growers by reason of the proposed
reduction, because of Iessened consump-
ton aud for other obvious reasons.
"We are perfectly and fully aware that
this is the equivalent to saying that tn 9
present rates are equitable. and we say
this because we are convinced that such
proposed reduction as moved by your
Chairman, will pei such company to
cut down wages In order To retrench
sufficiently to meet its obligations OF
maintenance and operation.
ANY such result would be little less
than calamity to this State and every
interest in il.
"We, therefore, in the name of labor.
skilled and unskilled, protest against any
such reduction proposed by Hon. II. NJ.
LaRue, because If made it will strike
down fair and living wages to a de-
plorable level, and that example will be
followed by employers outside of said
company, aud the consequences will be
felt deplorably all along the line of in
dustry ana trade. Respectfully, etc."
This petition, continued Fcks, is
signed by nearly q thousand men en-
gagged in different vocations of skilled
and unskilled labor, Mr.. Chairman, and
| will interject that this petition was got
ten up aud these signatures at1ix xed after
the san francisco papers had reached
Sacl amento yesterday, SO as to have it
ready for me TO bring before you this
morning, or it would boar three or
four times as many names OF the
workingnIen of Sacramento. If you
will grant me the privilege, L will add
that the skilled and unskilled mechanics
of Sacramento are deeply and vitality
interested In this question, for the reason
that we believe we can truthfully say
that there are more homes owned by
skilled and unskilled laborers in the en-
ploy OF the Southern Pacific Company at
sacramento than can be found in any
other railroad town i'll the United States.
affirm now, as fact, that in the city of
Pltisburg, one of the great railroad CEN
ters of the United States, that there are
not as many homes owned by employees
OF the great Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany as there are owned in the city of
Sacramento. Now, then, Mr.. Chairman,
and honorable mem bers Of the board, ii
this horizontal reduction is made, If this
arbitrary reduction III railroad rates is
enforced, where will the railroad COM
pany go in order to get revenue to pay
their operating expenses and fixed
charges. You, Mr.. Chairman, as an en-
ployar of labor, know very we'll that the
first vital point in the reduction of sx-
penSes TO be struck at is labor. 1t is a
rule that prevails everywhere and in all
kinds of business: therefore il is only
reasonable to suppose that this great cor
poration Will not make any exception to
the rule, and II reduction should be
made so as to injure their revenue and
prevent them from getting sufficient
money 10 meet their necessary eXpeudi-
lures, the first vital point you strike at
would be labor-would not only af-
feet the employees of that company,
but the wages of employees in every
department OF the Stale and in every
other business. And a reduction of
wages on the part OF the railroad COM
pany would have a disastrous effect upon
the wages of skilled and unskilled labor
all over the State, as the standard paid by
other people is governed largely by the
wages paid by the Southern Pacific Com
pany. Now, Mr.. Chairman and gentle
mon OF tho board, in dealing with this
question, we earnestly trust and sin
cerely hope that tho interests of the thou
sands and thousands of laboring men
the State of California will be
considered. We ask you To consider their
side of the question iii connection with
the railroad side and the farmers side
If you do l am satisfied that you will do
justice TO the laboring people. who speak
to you through that petition from the
very lowest kind of labor to the very
highest skill. The laboring men OF Cali
fornia have nothing to expect from the
great land barons of the Sacramento Val
ley; il you had To depend upon them to
Ii Y no of Ihnra il, n