The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-02
NINE-HOUR LAW
TO Be ENFORCED
Railways Will Close Small Sta
tons on Principal
Systems.
LACK OF NECESSARY CASH
NO GENERAL REDUCTION IN
IMAGES OF OPERATORS.

Washington. March American
railways have made arrangements to
comply with the provisions OF the
"nine-hour law" The operation of the
law will mean the employment by rail-
road companies of several thousand ad-
ditional operators and the closing of
a large number of small stations on
the principal systems While discOn-
tinUing of railway service at many
points, it is. thought. will induce at
least temporary inconvenience to the
travelling and shipping public. in order
to reduce operating expenses, which
now seems necessary, the operating Of
ficials of the railways believe that this
is the only way that they possibly can
meet the situation with which they are
confronted.
Inability to Pay.
During the hearing of applications
for an extension of the nine-hOur law
by the interstate commerce commits
sion, some astonishing statements were
made by the operating officials of
important railways. A good many lines,
owing to a reduction in the revenues
and to their inability to command the
cash necessary to meet their payrOlls,
have been forced during the past four
months almost to the point of asking
for receivers. In the opinion of railway
officials expressed at the hearing under
oath and in private conversation this
condition does not seem to have been
due to the enforcement of regulative
laws or TO the incapacity of railway
management. Most of the railway Of
ficials attribute the difficulty TO the
unfortunate banking situation which
developed last September The railways
did not feel the stringency in money
until about the first of November. In
fact, the month of October was one
of the best in the history of the bust
ness of American railroading.
Came Like an Avalanche.
Then, without the slightest warm
ing" II. L. Nudge, vice-president and
general manager of the Rock Island
system, expressed it. I'VE were plunged
from prosperity to adversely A year
ago our system could not handle the
traffic offered US Today we have H.
600 idle cars Five months ago we suf-
fered from congestion of freight. now
we suffer from congestion of empty
cars"
What is true of the Rock Island is
true also of scores of other railroads.
One railway official ventured the state
ment that in the country today there
were 100000 idle freight cars. and one
line which he instanced was declared
to be hauling empty cars backward
and forward because IL had not yard
room or sidings to accommodate them.
Depression Cannot Last.
Not a single official of a single rail-
way line who appeared before the COM
mission. however, expressed the belief
that the present industrial depression
wOuld be lasting. In the testimony Of
nearly every witness before the COM
mission, there was a note of conf
dence, because nearly every one of them
practically believed that the stTingency
in the money market from which the
country has suffered is not due TO
fundamental causes. They point out
that the crops last year were good,
that prices were excellent: that indus
trial enterprises throughout the gun
try were flOurishing. It was iSFrely
the inability to command ready cash
and the boarding Of money by panic
stricken individuals which produced SO
suddenly the remarkable depression
from which all have suffered. They
practically uniformly express conf
dence that the return of prosperity will
be almost as sudden as was the COM
ing of adversely and in their argu-
ments as to the enforcement of the
nine-hour law they pointed out TO the
commission that such q return of pros
perity might seriously embarrass them
in complying with the law. because it
would render it difficult to command
the services of competent operators in
sufficient numbers to meet the needs
of prosperous conditions.
Few Reductions Proposed.
With four or five exceptions, no i'm
portant railroads in the country have
indicated an intention to reduce the
wages of their employees. AS Chair
man Knapp of the interstate commerce
commission expressed it:
so far as I am informed, there is
no concerted action on the part of the
American railway companies to reduce
wages. Instances of an intention to
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