Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-02-20

! they reach the age of 55. When an
employe is retired he is given one
half of the salary or wages he re-
ceiyed at the time of retirement This
pension continues so long as the ben
eticiary lives. The superannuated
fund Of this road has now reached
nearly 100000 and is still growing
at rate that viii bring it into the mil
lions before many years. On the lines
of the Grand Trunk between Chicago
and Port Huron or in the United
States no plan exists for taking care
of aged employees. 1t is said that the
management of the road is planning tor
abolish the superannuated fund. or
rather turn it into a fund for pensions
and abandon the rule exacting pay
ments on the part of employees, and
extend the more modern arrangement
over the entire system. 1t is figured
that by investing the 100000 now In
the treasury fund sufficient income
would be derived to pay pensions
without further burdening employees
by monthly contributions and at the
same time making no demand on the
treasury of the railway. Employees of
the Grand Trunk, it is said, are not en-
-irely satisfied with the results of the
superannuated arrangement as it now
exists. The most serious objection to
1t is the fact that ii an employee quits
after five years he gets none of his
money back, nor is he benefited In
any way by the fund. Under a pen
sion plan an employee would be out
nothing in case he did not serve long
enough to be retired on account of
age. 1t is said that the Canadian Pa
cif1c, being subsidized by the colonial
government, may petition the latter to
help contribute to a fund to pension
the employees of that system.
Passengers are not permitted to
carry into tourist cars anything that
otfends sight or smell. Limburger
cheese and loud smelling sausage are
barred. They must be left behind
or passenger Is refused entrance to
the car. 1t requires a smart man or
woman to smuggle a cat or dog into
the cars of the finer trains nowadays.
1t is attempted every day, but seldom
escapes detection. The animal is
hustled into the baggage car, and it is
not an unusual sight to see a woman
make frequent trips the length of the
train to sooth and feed Hle pet that
has ruthlessly been taken from her.
Railway passengers who remove their
shoes to ease their feet in an all
night journey are not permitted to
occupy seats in the chair cars. The
porter who finds man sitting in his
stocking feet gently orders him to
put his shoes on or go into the smok-
ing compartment. This rule is now
in force on the Omaha line of the
Illinois Central, and was quite recent
ly enforced on an Iowa stockman,
who was an extensive shipper of live
stock over the CentraTs western
lines. The passenger demurred,
appealed to the conductor, and was
promptly ruled against by that official.
Other Chicago roads are no less par
ticular in this respect, and still others
will probably adopt the rule.
Brakemen on several of the larger
divisions of the Milwaukee and st.
Paul road are said to be dissatisfied
with the scale of wages now IN effect.
A meeting of the trainmen will be held
soon at which the question will be
fully discussed. 1t is said that the
dissatisfaction applies only to the
brakemen on divisions where Increases
were recently asked. These include
the river and La Crosse divisions.
Some weeks ago the brakemen
through their general grievance com
mittee applied for increases in their
wages. 1t develops that the officers
of the company have declined to ac-
cede to the demands on the ground
that the wages paid on this system are
as high as those paid by the North
western and other competing lines.
These demands are in line with the
requests of railroad employees all over
the country for advances in their
wages on the ground that the compa-
MES are earning more than at any
time in their histories and that the
big cars and locomotives recently put
in service on majority of the roads
are causing additional work for the
men.