The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-11-11
WELCOME VISITS Of PAY ckR
us Tssg t5a 4 sNFsa 81 sfepaee4ts
10 Thousands

csrwsaonaenes q &c 81. - 10

DrznS<ral
waah.ngssa. n c. Jan. Ait IS
do1hsfus II here arc SIX lass II The
yaS.1 IA uao.e importance ~ tae ra-tcas
employees ~ the ountry than those ..
January ie % Is, inclusive, ~ sach year
On the tirsf late m~ensioned Tie pay car
generally Stars cut irorl the dne-onI
company headquarters, and tor the
naxt SIX days spreads happiness over
the land. Tbs cause OF This particular
pay day being Of more importance than
the others Is THAI il comes directly after
Christmas, 4 day musal thought o. by
railroad men. and all the spare money
oesalnable has been spent for the paN
two weeks.
In conversation with a prominent
paymastsr on one of The eastern roads,
who spen. his Christmas vacation IN
Washington IN, a Globe-Democrat repre-
sen was given many inside IDEAS
as 10 the Importance OF pay day and
the dignity OF the paynlaster. The lat
ter said:
Those people who reside in the large
cities can hardly form an idea OF the
swath the pay car cuts in the country
districts. The employees of other cor
po1atioas or private firms usually re-
ceive tle.r salaries every Saturday
night, or. at the longest, like the gov
on the LIST and 18th of the
month. With the railroads it is differ
ent- It requires fully tea days to make
out pay rolls, syn checks and other in
cidenEals, and, as a result, the employees
receive their one but once a month.
During eleven months OF the year
the general run of railroad employees
VIII manage to skim Along with just
enough money to last out the month,
but January generally finds them broke
on the first day of the month, and for
the X ten or fifteen days their eyes
are "a toward the calendar. Christ
mas cause this, as they would sell their
highly priced watches to make their
little ones happy, and, as a consequence,
they do not think of results until that
natal day has passed. Business bright
ened up considerably during the latter
part of last year. and. as a result, large
checks were generally drawns n a
lowed. My trip last month was a happy
one, but the one this month will be
much more appreciated.
1.-THE pay rolls-each month will aver
6 all The way from $4,000 10 81, 900, 600.
the former being on the smaller roads,
While the latter is about the amount
our road pays out every month. IL has
been charged by the enemies Of the rail-
roads that the reason the money is held
hack is on account OF the interest that
can be realized on the ten days of each
month, but, as / have stated, the cause
is the multiplication OF names and
small details incidental to rounding up
aaDH ,,o,,rl'. on1,,, m, To- :, ,il--,
Ike the Pennsylvania. the New York
Central or the Baltimore and Ohio. The
t~reasurer's Office canno be located in
several cities. and the accounts must all
go through this office. The former
roads lines extend as far west as st.
Louis and branch out in a hundred
ways between New York and thai city.
Each division must keep separate ac-
counts and they cannot be sent in until
every hour of the previous month la
been covered. These accounts cover all
the labor on the division, from the train
service, clerks, down to the track men,
1T Is not hard, then. 10 imagine the
t~reasu1er's office after the month has
closed. Divisions nearest the head
quarters coming in on the
first day of the month, n for the next
six days a continuous stream Of ac-
counts pour into the office. The first
accounts are verified and the payroll
Immediately made up. This is the rea-
sen why some part Of a large corpora
ton receives it pay o the 10th of the
month and another portion on the 18th.
along the lines OF all the big raj
reads are towns with populations of 500
to cities of 10000. These places know
the full value of the passing of the say
car. Some ines the smaller towns are
made UP entirely of railroad men. and
the DISTRIBUTION of thousands of dol
lars-in such places causes a spasm of
business revival for a week or two that
Is really astonishing.
Eat such times it is amusing to note
how money is spent by the employees.
II they be of the lower class and have
made considerable extra time, THEN
checks are likely to be large in their
eyes. Nothing is too good for them. 1
have seen men lug home the largest
watermelon TO be had, and pay as high
as 81 for ii, while a week later the same
man will be found standing off his
groceryman for a pound of beef Or a
leaf Of bread. This not only happens
once bat twelve tines a year.
A!lOIlS Lie DClGSI eu0Caleu ana DeI-
ter paid employees. the reverse is the
rule. The rainy day Is their objec-
tive point, and a Little he E with a
small store attached is the / blest am
biy.on of three-fourths of tlre railroad
employees.
We have an engineer on our road.
running into Baltimore, who has for his
better half a woman of remarkable bus
mess ability. They have bought a
home and started a good sized grocery
store. the wife attending TO business
while her husband is on the road. AS
a consequence, although the husband
draws S125 a month regularly, he has
admitted that his wife does even better
than this with the little grocery Not
w.ths landing this nice income on the
side. you could not pull that engineer
off his engine for good with a derrick.
Men of his class have been at the bus
mess 80 long that it is like giving VI
part of their life t quit work.
MANY people have an idea that the
president of q. ra4'road is the biggest
man in such g. corporation, but I'll ven
ture the assertion that a paymaster has
far and away the best Of it with the
employees, both as to respect and &C
quaintanceship. l recently heard a
good STORY at the expense OF President
rt ~ 80 800