Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-01-07
PENSION system
BETTER THAN A
BIGGER WAGE
Believed That New Santa Fe
Policy viii Have Beneficial
Effect on Operation of the
Road and Spirit Of Employees

The announcement of the new pen
sion system which goes into effect on
the Santa Fe this year. has been IN,
subject of widespread in
the railway world and in the press
generally. The Los Angeles Times
says:
The president of the Santa Fe
railroad makes a New Years an
nouncement which undoubtedly will
be highly gratifying to his great army
of employees. The meager press dis
patch conveys but the mere outline
and no details of the pension system.
From the tenor of the dispatch. HOW
ever, il seems fair to draw the con-
clusion that the pensions are to bn
graded and that probably theV will
depend upon the length of time an
employe remains with the
as wen as upon the f~aithfulness and
efficiency of the services rendered.
These would certainly be necessary
conditions upon which to base pen
sions. On such a basis the system
would be good both for the railroad
company and for the employees. 1t
would be an inducement to workers
to remain uninterruptedly, as well as
To be diligent n duly careful in the
performance Of al their duties. Con-
strued in this manner. the pension
would be really an addition to the
wages and salaries paid. II would
simply NEAR the holding back OF a
certain portion of the earnings of the
toilers to be paid upon a continuance
of service and maintenance of high
standard of f~aithfulness and care.
Looking at ii i'm this way, the pen
sions would be in the nature of a
savings bank for the employees. The
company would retain in its hands
a percentage of the earnings to be
paid inc the condition that the
highest efficiency and care were
maintained on the part of the en-
plOye. The benefit to the ac-
cruing from continual service on the
part OF its employees for a long period
of Gears is too manifest to require
comment. The premium offered for
high efficiency and conscientious care
in the performance Of duty will also
make very materially for the advan-
tage of the company.
As to the g this system properly
adjusted and carried out viii be more
satisfactory in numerous cases than
an actual rise in wages or salary
would prove. In the end, undoubt-
edly a majority of those employed by
the company will be much better off
in worldly goods than had this PEN
sion money been paid them month by
month. 1t is too evident that the av-
erage mans way of living is to spend
everything that comes into his hands
as fast as he gets it or indeed a little
faster. If the Atchison, Topeka e.
Santa Fe Railroad company had adj
ded materially to the wage schedule
Of all the men and women in its en-
ploy, much more han half Of these
persons would simply spend the
money week by week and in time OF
sickness or old age would find them
selves in pitiable want.
The benefit to the public will be
greater than that to either the rail-
way company Or its employees If this
system works. The destruction of
property resulting from railroad
wrecks is an almost incalculable loss
to the railroads, and the destruction OF
life is appalling. Undoubtedly. as in
the recent railroad wreck near Wash
ington, it is always a case where
someone had Numbered If a mans
pension is to depend upon his faith
~fulness. it will be an added incentive.
and a great one, to these railroad men
to exercise a greater care than some
of them have been showing in times
past. Perhaps the added inducement
viii not be sufficiently strong in NAM
cases to effect the reformation in
tended and which should follow. but
it viii help. 1t really seems as If the
courts would have to lay a strong
hand upon the railroad companies
and their employees, in these numer
Gus Instances of railroad wrecks and
pursue to the uttermost the guilty
persons. The destruction Of human
life by railroad wrecks in this country
every year is so great as to disgrace
the business management of the
roads and the intelligence Of the em-
ployes and to constitute a crime of the
very graVest character.