The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-12-06
E|MPLOYE-E|MPLOy
COOPERATION
The DEVELOPMENT OF AN Ex-
TENslvE ExPENsE-sA
PLAN ON RAILROADS.


written by Henry NJ. Hyde for TN
Chicago Tribune:
If the coal hill for lo5o locomotive.
doing regular work can be cut $500
in q single year of panic. Why canno
that great saving be made permanent
In every great corporation there i
vast amount of unnecessary waste
bots in time and in material The
mcst efficient executive cannot stoI
IL. Chiefly il is due TO the careless
ness or indifference Of the Individual
employe. The larger the corporation
the more this waste amounts to in the
aggregate. Jones. working at desR
in freight office. with only one
other clerk. may waste half an hour q
day without attracting the attention
of his employer. Nor Will the 20 cents
which is the daily value Of Jones
wasted time make noticeable differ
ence in the footings of the monthly
balance sheet. But let Thousand
Joneses. working for the same cor
pcration, waste half an hour each day.
and in the aggregate the company
faces a daily loss on the item OF 5000
reaching in year the impressive
total of 500 600.
A single fireman, without Being un-
duly careless. may easily waste
couple of hundred pounds of coal on
q run. But with coal at 81 ton
that amounts to only 2ec a day-sure-
" not enough to worry great rail-
road company with a capital stock Of
500. 600. 900. 1t Is only when thous-
and firemen follow his example that
the company finds itself with $4,000
in prospective dividends scattered
along it's right-of-way.
But this Is not a lecture. nor
bunch of good and quite unwelcome
advice. II is rather an attempt to
tell something of the new relationship
which has sprung up between railroad
and their employees. and OF
some quite remarkable results which
have already been achieved as n re-
suit of II.
When. after those fat years. of pros
perity and expansion. the panic struck
the country the Railroads.&c. is al
ways the case-felt II more severe
~ than any other line OF business.
A manufacturer may weather hard
times by cutting down his force. work
ing only three days week. shutting
down his plant entirely If that seems
necessary. A railroad must run sew
en- days week. 1t may lay off men.
but II must always keep plenty to
move the freight traffic and keep It's
trains running on schedule.
To shut down its plant for day
would mean instant forfeiture of it's
charter
This, then. was the situation;
great chunk was suddenly and
violently cut out of the revenues of
the railroads. The cost of necessary
supplies was kept up at the old prices.
II was possible to make slight re-
duction in expense by laying off men.
But enough must be kept TO keep the
whole plant running and In order.
There seemed to be nothing to do but
TO cut wages all along the line. That
was the only factor which the rail
roads were able To control. And re-
trenchment was absolutely necessary.
Furthermore, a cut in wages probably
meant q strike. Most of the trainmen
on the roads west of Chicago had just
been given 10 per cent increase in
wages. The trainmen east of Chicago
were just ready to present their
claims for a similar increase when
the panic struck. They We're In no
mood to stand cut without fighting.
The problem WAS pretty one.
And here we come back to Jones. the
clerk who wasted half an hour a day:
To the fireman who was careless about
his coal. and to all the other 100000
men who were not doing quite all that
lay in their power To forward the in
terests of the roads which paid them
wages.
One of the first men to think of all
these things and to take into con-
sideration the possible saving which
Jones and the fireman might effect
seems to have been William A. Gard
ner. vice president in charge Of OBJ
GRAFTON on the Chicago & Northwest
ern system. One of Mr.. Gardner's
jobs Is to serve as president of the
omaha, line. subsidiary of the
with 100 miles OF track
stretching from Duluth to Omaha.
The fact that Mr. Gardner began
As telegraph operator and worked
his way up all along the line may
have made II easier for him to under
stand the psychology of Jones and
The fireman and To see the POSSIBLE
tits III lit way vi
and straightforward appeal To them.
Al any rate.'A. w. Trenholm. the gem
aral manager OF the Omaha. called
/ meeting in St. Paul which was at
ended by representatives of thu four
big labor unions 10 which most rail-
road workers belong.
He laid the case squarely before
hem. The gross earnings of the road
we're dropping fast: its net earnings
we're dropping even faster They
could do nothing To keep up the gross,
but they might do much To keep the 7.
net earnings from falling If every in /
iividuai workman would do his ut /
most In the way of economy. Other /
wise and inevitably more men must .
be laid off and both dividends and /
wages Mould have To be cut. Were .
hey willing 20 have the situation +
thoroughly explained To the employees .
,f the road and an attempt made To /
enlist the active support of every
nan.
The conference adjourned with de- i
TO give IL a fair tritl I.
Meetings Were at once held at every
division point on the Omaha. Each
vas attended by hundreds of men I
The cooperation of every individual 4
n keeping down running expenses