Arizona republican., 1912-06-17
IN AMERICA
 AND ABROAD
Railway Wages and the Cost of Living in the United States and Europe; Com parison Favorable to the Americans

The bureau of railway economies has
 completed the second of it's comparative
 studies of railway conditions in the
 United States and the principal coun- tries of Europe. This relates to the wages paid railway employees and the
 cost of living. and is based on the latest years for which comparative data are available
 The average daily compensation of railway employees of al classes for the year 1910 was in the United States, $2.23; in the United Kingdom, $1.05: excluding supplementary allowances negligibly affecting the average, it was in Prussia -Hesse 81 cents and in Aus tria S9 cents. The lowest paid railway in the United States. the ordinary trackman, receives a greater compen- sation than many of the railway em- | ployes of France, even those of higher grades and with responsible duties. The compensation of railway employees ! is from two to three times as high in | the United States as in Italy.
 A recent report of the English board ! of trade on railway wages shows that i the avera ge weekly pay of enginemen l in the United Kingdom in 1907 was 1 SILT; of firemen, $6.67. In the same year enginemen on American railways ! received an average weekly compen- 1 sation of $25.S0, counting six days to | the week, and firemen $15.24. Recent l returns make it clear that in 1912 en- ginemen and firemen in the United States are compensated at rates of pay I for specific runs that are two, three and four times as high as the cOrre- spending rates on representative Eng 1 fish railways. The annual compensa- i tion of anginemen in the United States as reported by two representative rail ! way companies, now ranges from l $1,10O in switching service to over | $2,SO0 in passenger service, and of fire l men from S700 in switching service to | over $1,I00 in passenger service. i For continental Europe official re- turns in requisite detail are not avail able for a later year than 1908 The 1 salaries and allowances of the typical engineman in Germany amounted for ] that year to s646.S8, in Austria to s87080; Of a fireman in Germany to | $42459, in Austria to $532.03. The an- nua1 compensation of enginemen on
 two of the principal railways of France ranged i'll 1908 from $505.66 to $90691 l and of firemen from $324.24 to $59598 I In Italy enginemen received in 1908, l salary and allowances included, from | s58110 to s81270 a year; firemen, from l $33030 to $475.05 a year. In these i continental countries the maximum 1 compensation is received only after many years of service.
 1 The average annual compensation of i enginemen in the United States in 1908, 1 On an estimated basis of 300 days ser
 vice, was s1,335; of firemen, $792. In l this country the rate of compensation
 to these employees does not depend on l length of service.
 In Belgium enginemen received in 1907 from $23.16 to $3S.60 a month; firemen, from s17.37 to $23.16 month; conductors and station employees, from 46 cents to 96 cents a day. In the
 United States. in the same year 1907, enginemen averaged, on the basis of
 25 days service, $1O750 a month; fire
 men, s63.50 a month; conductors. $3.69
 a day; station employees, from SITS to $2.05 a oay.
 The rental of a three or four room house or flat is almost as high in Berlin, Paris or London as throughout the United States, but in England and on the continent it generally runs from thirty dollars to ninety dollars year l less. The quantity of food and fuel estimated by the board of trade of England as the standard consumption
 of a typical workingmans family costs in the United States IFS per cent l more than in France or in Germany;
 35.3 per cent more than in Belgium. and 3S per cent more than in the United ] Kingdom.
 It is we'll within the truth to estimate in a broad and general way that while the cost of living of a railway employe in the United States is le sthan fifty per cen. higher than that of cor responding employe in the United | Kingdom or on the continent, his com
 pensation averages over twice as great