The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-11-16
RAILROAD NEWS.
Railway View of Attitude of En-
gineers' Trouble.
Declare Brotherhood Does Not
Want Arbitration.
ATTITUDE NOT SAME.
Now Road Managers Who Desire
to Come to Terms.
Other Items of General Interest
in Traffic World.

The Railway Age Gazette, which
usually reflects the views of railway
managers, says of the impending trou-
BILE with engineers of western roads:
THE representatives of the brother
hood of locomotive engineers and the
officers of the western railways, who
have been negotiating at Chicago over
the matter Of an advance in the wages
of the engineers, have been unable TO
agree, and on November 7 the former
broke off the negotiations and an
nounced that they would submit to
vote of their members the question of
authorizing a strike. The two impor-
stand out prominently are these: First,
the railways offered the engineers ad-
Vances in wages which would have av-
eraged 916 per cent. These advances
would have been as large in proper
ton as the state and federal boards of
arbitration last summer held out to be
given to the SWitchmen and firemen
on the same roads. Second, the rail
way managers have been willing
throughout the negotiations, and are
willing now, to submit the questions in
Volved to mediation, either by repre-
SentativeS of the railways and the
brotherhood of locomotive engineers, or
by Chairman Knapp, of the interstate
commerce commission and Labor Com
missioner Neil, or to arbitration under
the Erdman act. On the other hand,
Grand Chief Stone, of the brotherhood
of locomotive engineers, has declared
that he will not submit any of the
questions involved to arbitration. These
facts seem to be all that are necessary
to show which side is confident that It
has the more meritorious case. The
attitudes Of railway employees and
railway managers toward arbitration
have been remarkably reversed within
the last few years. Formerly it was
the employees who demanded arbitra-
ton and the managers who hesitated
to consent to it Now It is the man
ayers who suggest it on every occasion
when they can not reach a settlement
otherwise and the employees who run
away from it. Almost every sugges-
ton for mediation or arbitration of la
Dor differences on railways which has
been made this year has come from the
railway managers.
Motor Cars and MalIet Engines.
1.-TWO of the points regarding which
the managers and engineers were I'M
able to agree were to what extent the
jurisdiction of the brotherhood should
be extended over the operations of
gasoline motor cars and the differen-
tial that should be made between the
wages of engineers on Mallet and 9TH
er locomotives. The managers are
willing in employing motormen to give
the preference to experienced engin-
GERS who have qualified themselves for
motOrmen, but they are not willing to
make employment on motor cars and
on steam locomotives interchangeab
There are various reasons for this. One
is that as the operation of a steam
train gives employment to more men
than the operation of a motor car,
it is feared that engineers on motor
cars would not handle them in such
way as to get the best results from
them, simply because anything that
prevented them from giving good re-
suits would tend to cause steam trains
to be substituted for them. AS to
Mallet engines, the railways are buy
ing them for the purpose of effectfng
economies in operation. The main
reason why their use makes possible
economies is that with them a given
number of employees can get over the
road a very much larger train load
than with less powerful engines. The
operation of a Mallet engine involves
somewhat more work and RESPONSE
bility for the engineer than the OPP
Grafton of a smaller engine, and for
this reason the railway managers con-
cede that engineers on them should
be paid more. They. therefore. offered
them a differential of rs cents day;
but the officers of the brotherhood in
sisted that engineers on Mallets be
paid practically double what others
receive. The evident desire is to get
established the principle that the
wages OF engineers SHdll De DdS6O OH
the amount of tonnage handled by
them. But If this principle should be
applied to fixing the wages of engin-
GERS, why should it not be applied to
fixing the wages of conductors and
firemen? Why should it not be applied
so that the train dispatcher will be
paid more for dispatching a long
freight train than a short one, or
fast train than slow one? The adop-
ton of the principle that engineers,
running MalletS should receive any
thing like twice as much as engineers
on other engines would very seriously
interfere with the economies for
which these engines have been invent
ed and introduced. 1t is to the public's
interest that all possible economies in
the cost of transportation shall be
made which do not impair the service
given. Therefore the railways in re-
sisting the attempts of the brother
hood to penalize the use of large en-
gines are protecting not only their own
interests, but those of the public.
b. of L. e. Fine Organization.
1.-THE brotherhood of locomotive en-
gineers is perhaps the finest labor or
ganization on earth. Certainly no
other has a more intelligent member
ship or a finer record for able lead
ership and wise action. For these rea-
sons it occupies very high place in
the estimation of the public. But the
brotherhood of locomotive engineers
can not, any more than any other la
Dor organization, reject an offer of
a 91A per cent advance in wages. re-
fuse an offer of arbitration, and strike,
without arraying public sentiment
against it; and public sentiment large
ly determines the results of strikes.
Because the mem bers and officers of
the brotherhood know this. it is a
safe prediction that, no matter what
the vote of the brotherhood is, there
will be no strike and that ultimately
either the managers and the represen-
tatives of the brotherhood will agree,
or all of the questions involved will be
ar bitrated.
ASK TO ENJOIN RATE SLICE.