The sun., 1906-12-26
TIE WAGE NCREA SES OF 1905.
4 HUNDRED MILLIONS BY THE
RAILROADS ALONE.
The Great Industrial Corporations Add
as Much or MOre-Many Christmas
TlonuSes --seNe eraI savings Banks Add
I.2 Per Cent. TO the Interest Rate.

NhVhO-stNahy
TlonriSes--seNeral savings Banks Add
I-2 Per Cent. TO the Interest Rate.
A glance at the financial records in the
daily newspapers for the last two months
furnishes pretty good evidence that yester-
day was a good Christmas for the average
American workingman.
There has in the last quarter Of a year
beeu added to the wages OF railroad en-
plovees alone about SlOO,O 900. Nearly
all the roads in the East have announced
increases of from S to 10 per cent. in the
wages Of most OF their employees, and
many of the lines in the West and South
have followed suit.
The industrial corporations have kept
pace with the increases made by the car
rers. the advances in the steel and textile
industries being especially noticeable. The
wages paid by the textile mills in Rhode
Island and Massachusetts. for instance,
are the highest ever paid in the industry,
and at the same time the statements OF the
companies show the largest distribution OF
dividends in recent years. The United
States census for 1900 estimates the amount
paid out in wages by manufacturers in
that year at 81 $3.50 823, ,615. A 10 per cent.
increase in wages on a basis of figures COM
pied six or seven years ago would bring
the amount into the hundreds Of millions.
One Of the most important increases made
in the last few weeks was that OF the Penn
syvania Railroad. The officials Of that road
gave all of the employees on the system
east and west of Pittsburg who were receiv-
ing less than $500 a month a raise OF ~ per
cent. This affects 1s5. 900 men and involves
the annual outlay OF sl2 .0OO, 900. The same
class Of employees got an advance of 10
per cent. in 1902, which makes an increase
of 20 per cent. in four years. Besides this
the company made a readjustment of sal
aries which affected loss men and involved
the expenditure OF an additional $50, ,793
month, or S36s, ,7so a year.
The New York Central, the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western, the Long Island
and most of the other big Eastern roads
followed the example of the Pennsylvania
The United States Steel Corporation anI
nounced as its Christmas gift to employees
an increase of 10 cents a day to all common
Ahorers at the plants of the subsidiary
companies. About 10000 men are classed
as general laborers in the corporation's g
employ. This increase came to the men
unsolicited, and iron and steel men UNDER
stood that IL was q substantial recoRnition
by the board of directors of the loyalty of
the men through year in which every de-
partment OF the industry has been run at
the maximum and under conditions that
have taxed the powers of all hands from
top TO bottom. In the depression of the
iron and steel trade in 1903 the corporation
did not make any considerable reduction in
wages.
Besides voting the increase the directors
OF the United States Steel Corporation have
made their usual offer to employees of allow
ing them to subscribe for the preferred
stock OF the corporation below the market
quotation. This year the subscription price
has teen set at lo3. Last year it was at
par, and - ,25o employees took $4,000 shares.
Among the othHr steel corporations
which have done 40 the United States has
done is the Illinois Steel Company. The
raise there affected 5000 men and amounted
10 5000 year. ~
The Standard Oil Company is another of
the big corporations which has made a gen.
eral Increase without being asked for il.
From to 10 per cent has been added to
the wages OF all men employed in the re-
hnerles OF the branch companies. About
5000 men have been affected by the in
crease. The highest percentage Of increase
IN the case of the Standard Oil Company
goes to the lowest paid employees, the per-
centage decreasing in proportion to the
person 8 salary.
The Consolidated Gas Company has
added lOper cent. to the pay of all its en-
ployees who are drawing less than 81 ,OCO
year. This affects $500 of the 5000 men
on the company's payroll. The increase
will add 100000 year to the fixed charges
Two big express companies. the Adams
and the American, have made increases
affecting a large percentage of their en-
ployees.
Many banks and trust companies have
admitted their employees into an increased
share OF the general prosperity: Most of
these increases never come to the know ledge
of the public. but they are made just the
same The Brownsville branch of the
State Bank in Brooklyn voted TO its officers
and PmplOvaee who had aaen ten yaars
service a gratuity Of 20 per cent. Of their |
annual salaries and to those who had seen |
less than ten years service gratuities rang
ing in amount from 10 to is per cent. The |
directors of the Union Bank in Brooklyn |
gave their employees a dinner. At each |
mans plate was fine new pocketbook |
with two weeks salary in it, August Bel |
mont Co. and many other downtown |
firms will give bonuses to their employees |
before the new year begins.
Among the employees of the Remin gton !
typewriter works at lion more than |
$4,000 in gold was distributed tn q other
day as bonuses. About two hundred and |
seventy employees received money, averag-
ING some $50 each. |
While the railroads and big corporations |
nave been announcing increases, savings
banks have been offering added induce
ments for deposits by raising the interest |
rate from 81 to 4 per cent. Among the
New York banks that have done this are the
bowery Savings Bank, the Dry Dock
Savings Bank, the Metropolitan Savings
Bank, the Irving Savings Bank and the
herman Savings Bank.