The San Francisco call., 1907-01-05


company pointed proudly to the fact of
its supremacy in the matter of wages
given its men. Since that time the
wages of carmen in other cities on the
Pacific Coast have been raised from
to SO per cent. The official report of
the Bureau of Labor states that in that
period the work required of street car
men has become more arduous and that
a better class of men are constantly
being sought for these places. In none
of these other cities. has there been
any earthquake or fire. Three years
ago Tirey l.. Ford, arguing for the
company, said that wages were deter
mined by the difficulty or ease of the
occupation, by the cost of living, and
by climatic conditions among other
considerations We take these words
now and make them our own.
The carman employed by the United
Railroads is governed in every attitude
which he may assume by the COM
pany's rules. The rules prescribe how
tall he shall be. how much he shall
weigh and what he shall wear
Dietary regulations alone are omitted
from the companys rule book, and a
carman is allowed to eat without re-
strictions, if he has the time and the
money. But to carry out the require
ments of the rule book the conductor.
must be active, virile. young, wide
awake, strong, vigorous, agile, quick,
lively. brisk. spry, supple, dextrous,
prompt Industrious. indefatigable.
earnest, energetic, attentive, alert,
being courteous. polite, circumspect,
obliging. well bred, accomplished.
agreeable, gentlemanly and complais-
ant. In every respect he must be more
than paragon of virtue and the pink
Of perfection; neat. but not finical;
sage, but not cynical; never tyrranical;
ever true to the interests of the COM
pany which has employed him to col
lect the last nickel from an unsuspect-
ing and long enduring public
Passengers carried by the United
Railroads are herded like sheep in
closed cars. Two hundred and fifty are
packed in the largest cars which the
company can buy, because the large
cars are cheaper. The cars blow up,
they blow out, they break down and
they break away. Moody knows where
they are going nor whence they came.
The brakes are out of order; the fen
ders are absent; the derailing switches
are out of order. Cars are precipitated
down steep hills. Nobody cares. What
difference does it make? Passengers
fight for the privilege of riding home
as their ancestors fought in the primi-
tive jungle. Women are crushed, chill
dren are run over, men are killed. Pas
sengers are jammed together in con-
tact that blunts every sense of refine
ment and affronts delicacy. Yet the
company in four years has reduced the
number of its cars by 112 and the num-
Der of its conductors and motormen
by 167, and is carrying $4,000, 600 more
passengers with the reduced number
of cars, in order that they may make
$1.0oo.000 month from the city they
pretend to serve"
COMPANY'S HEAVY PROFITS
81 will show you why we are en-
titled to bring in here the question of
the company's earnings. You yourself,
Mr.. Moore, in the last arbitration pro-
ceedings said that the carrying of more
passengers did not mean the running
of more cars nor the employment of
more men. Now, unless you can show
us that 1t is no more work for man
to collect $4,000 in nickeis than it Is for
him to collect $2500 you are hoist with
your own petard and thus hath the
candle singed the moth. And the only
way in which we can show this in
creased work, which has been forced
upon the men without addition to their
wage, is to show the additional revenue
that has flowed into the Golfers of the
company. Did you think that we were
to make such an absurd and outlandish
argument as that the men were entitled
to dip their fingers into the money
chest just because it was full to over
flowing? If you thought that, then you
know better now.
THE sum of $4,000 in nickels collect
ed by each conductor in year-think
of it gentlemen-and. for every cent of
1t he must make accurate account. In
1902 100000 passengers were carried
per mile of road. In 1905 1t had in
creased to $4,000, and in 1906 to no.
900, and yet, in spite of this fact,< the
company on the day before the fire was
actually running less cars and employ
ing fewer men than it did in 1902. 1t
Is as patent as the sun that is glim-
mering through the clouds outside that
this is an element which you Will have
to consider.
And now the company is carrying
out it's plan to further infiict this COM
munity by the introduction of larger
cars. In which its passengers will be
herded like animals, in physical con-
tact that disgusts all. that they may
run fewer cars, employ fewer men and
take $1,000,000 a month from a long
suffering public they pretend to serve.
In this way these men grow rich upon
the public of San Francisco; but the
time is coming, and the decision which
you are, about to render will hasten
the glorious day, when it will be i'm
lpossible for them to increase their own