Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1903-10-29
SEEK INCREASED REVENUES
Railroads Offer This as Reason
for Discharge Of Men.

TOT discharge 81 NleIl.
( Moue Discs Not Mean There Has
Been Falling Off In Business
/ Chicago Chronicle.)
Executive officials of rail
], roads entering Chicago have
4 entered denial of the state
. ment that recent reductions in
2 the pay rolls of the big systems
4 were due to a falling off in
: business. So far as can be
\ learned the reduction in the
s working forces is a forerunner
4 OF increased net revenues
I rather than a cut due to the de-
= creased or decreasing income.
: The discharge of thousands
4 o. employees in the shops and
8 on the construction sections has
s created CONSERVATION among
& the employees and President
\ Ramsey of the Wabash has no
y hesitation in saying that so fan
z as his system is concerned the
s reduction was made because
q the cost of material and the in
( terferenee Of la5oT leaders
4 made it next to impossible for
b the company to carry out it's
4 construction work.
) Mr.. Ramsey stated that all
3 construction wo TX would be
4 postponed until such time as
\ the condition; had changed and
3 that the discharge of so large q
& number Of employees on the
= Wabash and other railroad sys-
= tems was merely a measure of
4 economy and not a move hav-
q ing retrenchment as its object.
y The roads claim to be doing
s a record breaking business
81 both in passenger and freight
"a traffic and if the cost of labo
- and material were reasonable
% the work of construction and
y Improvement would be carried
e on for an indefinite period.
''sSs 1t was for the purpose of re-
+ moving the impression which
y prevailed when the wholesale
- discharge of employees was an
"a nounced that the railroads
IS were facing a financial crisis
% that the executive heads de-
& cided to state their position.
IN So far as the Southern Pacific
- New York Central, Lake Shore,
Il Erie and Santa Fe are con-
81 cerned the reduction in the pay
. rolls has been ordered only in
z the repair and construction
q departments. The operating
~ force remains the same as here
u tofore.
IS The significance of this is
- that the men are not laid off be
81 cause of shrinking business, but
u because the railroads have now
- almost caught up with the de.
= mand upon them, which has
been constantly growing fol
several years past.
. An executive official of the
no Lake Shore stated yesterday
en- that his road would find it i'm
Ith possible to dispense with the
nd services of any of the men EN-
of ployed in the traffic department
~ He said the Lake shore was op
Grating $4,000 cars on 500 mile
M. of main line, as compared witt
"a about the same number of car
on almost twice as much tract
md as the Big Four, yet the LAX
ifs Shore is experiencing consider
mo- ably difficulty in handling tn,
business offered.
For several years the raj
vas roads have exerted every effor
av to meet the traffic demand
~ made upon them and durin,
,'e WV this period much construction
w. was done in their own shops
The time has now come whe,
al these efforts are showing per
~ manent results and there is n
ga need for so large a force O:
10 employees in certain depart
in ments.
zen The discharge of fully l,5O
mr. men by the Pennsylvania com
10 pany was confined principal,
ise to shop and track men, an
TO most of these, it is said, wer
taken on as extra hands and O
the condition that their employ
om ment was to be temporary. Til
he Rock Island is said to be cor
;.t templating the discharge 0
~ ~ several hundred employees i
GU the shops and the Gould line
ZEN are expected to make simila
~ reductions in their workin,
''ie forces in the near future.