The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1907-11-02
RAILROADS ARE
RETRENCH|NC
Men Laid Off and Hours Shortened
With That Object.
(FrOm Fridays Daily.)

L
9 Houston, Tex, Oct. 31.-Rerrench
r ,meHt in all operating expenses, an,
, economy Of management seems to b
the order of the day among railroads
, Drastic laws. combined with reve
nne-decreasing legislative acts. hav,
brought the roads according to rail
road officials to the point where the,
must spend less money If they wisl
10 reserve sufficient to paw the inter.
est on the bonds and make something
for the stock holders. Some officials
take pessimistic view of the sit
uation by cul!ing out all unnecces-
sary expense. and saving every cent
pos ible
An instance of the necessity far
economy is advanced by the action
OF the Hartman lines in Texas in
abolishing the 10 hour day and do
'AS """S WitH dtI over time ana
| Sunday work. Shop, round house
and outsire yard labor are paid per
hour. Consequently every hour that
can be knocked Off the mems salary
means saving for the company.
overtime and Sunday work is paid
at double hourly wage, and the cut
Ting off of all this adds to the COM
pany's savings. If these sections are
enlarged and the section gangs made
numerically smaller, another saving
will be accomplished A report in
circulation is that the Hartman
'oads contemplate SO doing, but no
:erification can be had.
And not alone the Hartman roads
of Texas which are being affected
Other Texas roads find themselves in
the same boat and are pruning ex-
Denses vigorously. In interviews
md published statements the man.
asements hdve endeavored to fortify
heir positions by saying that
he Texas statutes have cut OF
their revenue and caused theml
Unnecessary expense through legis-
latiOn, lowered their freight rates,
md the railroad commission is now
exercising such supervision that the |
toad management can hardly move |
land or foot without having to ac-
:ount to the railroad commission for |
t. The incomes of the road so they |
;ay, has decreased in proportion to |
he amount of business transacted.
md it developed on them to do one
# two things: Decrease the expen-
ltures so as 70 make both ends meet
II finally go into the hands of a re-
eiver through inability to make
10Th ends meet, or finally 60 into the
lands of the receiver through inabil-
ty to meet their outstanding obli-
Just why this season of the year,
the busiest of the entire
ear. should be chosen for the time
or retirement is something which
ven the officials do not explain ex-
ept by saying that it is necessary.
)sually during October, November,
December. January February and
1arch. the cotton movement in this
tate is such that all the roads espec- i
ally. need every bit of their equip
1ent, motive power and road forces
handle the cotton crop. The dull
months begin in June and terminated
n September. If any men are laid
IT it generally is in June or July.
or this reason the action of thel j
company in practically laying of
len at this time-for the reductiont s
n working hours is equivelant tol .
aging OFF such numDer of men asI
would do the work in cutoff time
GEMS inexplicable.
President Ripley of the Santa Fe, g
eld out no great hopes that thel s
Dads would spend no great amount {
t money during the next year Or
wo. He laid it to the money mar L
ct furry, the attitude of railway .
abor organizations, and the tenden- !
y of some legislatures, and he es- :
ecfally mentioned the Texas law q
laking body, to make laws whicnI =
ost the railroads millions to obeyi Z
hen apparently failed to fulfill the 9
urpose for which they were passed $
[e also asserted that a reaction was
oming, and that while the railroads. =
'hile more than ordinarily prosper .
us, yet could not cOunteract the in 6
uences Of the three causes mention r
d above. There was bound to be '
:onomy, he said. and this economy 6
as bound to fall on those OvcrI /;
hom the railroad companies held c
le wage check. r
Sawmill Burns. i