The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-22
S2OO.
 WAGE. BOOST.
I.e4O, 300 EMPLOYEs OF COUNTRY TO
 PROFIT BY BIG INCREASE.
Railroads Lead in Raising Pay Of Huge Army of WorI<Ren-Otber Cor p0Fations Sharing in Pros
 nerify Wave Follow Suit.

Chicago Chronicle.
 Wage earners of the country to tho number of 1,640,300 will receive an ln- crease in wages the coming year which will aggregate nearly $20O,000,oOO. The reason for this unexpected har- vest is the prosperity which has strncK the country. beneating both rich and poor. Among the first of the large corporations to bring joy to the hearts
 of the workers are the railroads, whose pay rolls have been increased nearly
 s1O0, ,000,0 poo annually
 History has no precedent of such sweeping move from all parts of the country voluntarily to increase wages by the employin companies. This ne- ton of the railroads has been like magic wand as most of the large cor porations have joined in the movement.
 One of the chief reasons for dis tributing such enormous sums Is the wonderful industrial and agricultural prosperity oI the country. Railroad officials and others seem to see a signi-
 icance in the spirit of unrest, as shown
 in the recent elections, and they desire to lessen the antagenism existing be- tween capital and labor. The present
 out look Is pregnant with the expecta-
 ton of an increase in wages of practt-
 calIy every wage earner in the United
 States.
 Living Highest i'm Twenty Years. It has been shown by Dun's report
 that living in the United States at pres
 ent Is higher than 1t has been in
 twenty years Many workers claim that an increase of 10 per cent will not offset conditions, as the purchasing
 power of a dollar Is much smaller than it was few years ago.
 When the Pennsylvania Railroad granted an Increase to It's 1S5,O00. em- ployes aggregating $l2.900,Oo0 wear, it took the lead only to be followed by
 8 number of other reads. Eorty-hve thousand switchmen representing the
 Philadelphia and Reading, Delaware Lackawanna and Western and the Chi ! ca go and Alton will receive an increase of 10 per cent or part. The Chicago,
 Milwaukee and St. Paul, the Chicago l and Northwestern, Rock Island, Balti-
 more and Ohio, New York Central lines, | the St Louis and San Francisco system
 and the Santa Fe Road. together with
 the Hartman lines, are reported to
 have decided on a 10 Fer cent increase. An Increase an merit and requtre-
 ments of the work has been announced by the Lake Shore and Michigan South ern Railroad, and it also states that 1 further general advarces may be made The granting of $s,0o0,000 2 year by 1 the Western lines to their switchmen was one of the most important conces- sions made by the railroads.
 , Steel Empleyes fo Rroft.
 The United States Steel Corporation
 is considering the question of raising The pay of it's 1T5.000 employees and also the Amalgamated Copper Company,
 which has proposed an advance of 10 per cent to it's employees in the mines and smelters. The Standard Oil has given an increase of 25 cents a day to it's employes in. Monts la, which number
 I2,OO9.
 Employcs of the American and Ma tional Express Companies who get less than S200 a month are to receive sn in- CT ease of 10 per cent Word comes
 from Boston that the Boston Elevated Railroad Company controlling most ot the trolley lines of Boston, has an- nouneed an increase of 10 cents day ! to its $500 men.
 Wage-earners of Chicago will also
 come in for share of the prosperity,
 1t Is reported that the Crane Company has close to $1,00o,000' to share with | It's employees.
 Despite the evidences of good times, representatives of forty-hve railroads have been in conference at Kansas City relative to making a demand on
 the companies for an increase in wages.
 Railroad engineers and conductors will not be satisfied with 10 per cent in
 crease, but will ask for a scale of eight
 hours q day and mileage.
 The anthracite coal operators state
 that the wages of more than 150,0Q0 miners have been steadily increased
 since the first of last June. Secretary
 Job of the Employers Associationl re- ports a labor shortage in the country of from 100000 to 500,o0O mem. :