Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-12-18
LABOR RECEIVES
CHRISTMAS RAISE,
BIG CORPORATIONS MAKE WAGE.
INCREASES AGGREGATiNG
ALMOST 100000, 900. \

Pennsylvania Railroad Takes the inlsi
tiaI step-Well Known corporatlons1
Fall in Line-Thousands Of Em-
ployes Benefited.
Within month practically everNl
important railroad system and the
largest Of the Industrial corporations |
have declared increases in the wages /
of employees. The Pennsylvania rail~l
roads took the lead voluntarily. it's
$4,000 employees east and west Oh
Pittsburg will receive million dollarsi
more than they did in November an
the result of the recent 10 per cent!
advance.
Railroads Follow the Lead.
When the Pennsylvania announced
its raise In wages it was predicted1
that the example would be followed
1 by other large employers of labors1
One after another, In quick successionSj
a dozen or more corporations gave thea
glad tidings to their employees. Thel
Reading made a general advance Of 101
per cent, the Erie conceded a mileaged
basis for payment of engineers on alll
divisions, the Lackawanna increased
the pay Of employees in the traffic de.i
partment from to 20 per cent. and
the New York Central granted itsA
/ f1remen ten-hour day and substa4l
tial increase. The roads centerinnEi
in Chicago increased their switchmen's
pay four cents per hour The Chicago.
Milwaukee and st. Paul declared as
4 general advance Of Ia per cent fors
switchmen. seven and one-half PERI
cent for firemen and 10 per cent foM
all other employees.
Other Corporations Accede.
Il The Standard Oil company has ind
creased the pay of It's refinery EN-.
4 ployes 5 and per cent. The United
States Steel Corporation has allowed
Il 10000 of It's laborers an advance Of
4 10 cents day About IL 900 employees
of the American Express company get
a raise Of 10 per cent, a total Of $780,
! 600 a year. and 1000 employees OF the!
! National Express company get a sim.
J liar raise. The Amalgamated Copper
company has declared an advance In
I, the wages of $4,000 employees.
Mine Workers Benefited.
The z per cent increase which the
anthracite mine workers received on
November's production was the culmi.
nation of an upward wage movement.
which began with / per cent In July
and reached per cent in October. Be-,
tween June and October the eight
principal anthracite producers paid
!. in wages about $1,25O000 more than
I'll thu Inv
! cording to the June scale. More than
| 100000 anthracite mine workers have
, benefitten by the operation Of the
cite strike commission.
Total Increase on Railroads.
One calculator has figured that the.
total increases in the wages of rail.
, road employees this year will amount
to $S2,0OO,0O0 annually, or nearly
per cent of the gross earnings Of all
the railroads combined in 1905. Ana
{ other estimate puts the total increases
that the railroads will grant to their.
employees at $100,000,000. The increases
on the Pennsylvania system alone
amounts to about one-eighth Of that
sum.
Many Employees Affected.
A comparison between the number Of
men employed on the Pennsylvania
lines east of Pittsburg and Erie Sep.
TENDER 80, 1901. and the number en-
ployed September 80, 1906 shows that
the wages increased by greater per-
cenrage than did the employees In
. five years the total sum paid to en-
ployes increased so per cent, while
!, the number of employees increased but
: 38 per cent The following list shows
the increases:
Lines East Of Pttsburg and Erie.
: Total number of employees Sept. 30.
: 1901, 1924.
Sept. 80, 1906. 134,041.
? Increase 36,317, or SO per cent.
Amount paid to employees per month
a in 1901, s4,4S9, 422.
). Amount paid to employees per month
in 1906, $7,125,017.
t Increase, $2,635,595, or SO per cent.
These figures are for September so
j and, therefore. do not AXE account Of
the recent 10 per cent advance de-
;. clared by the Pennsylvania On the
t eastern lines 125,440 employees are at
I fected by the advance and the In.
crease on the pay roll for the year
t amounts to nearly $500, 900.
t On the lines west about 10000 men
t are affected, the increases amounting
to about $3,500,00O. Thus the whole
s Pennsylvania railroad system has de-
b clared an extra dividend Of $4,000, 900
year to its $4,000 employes-in
4 itself probably the greatest dividend
t to labor ever declared by single cor.
: porate interest and initiating the most
!. remarkable wage increase movement
: in the history of this country.
t for the A. D. T. company, was here
d inspecting the plant Thursday.