The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-22
RAILROAD WAGE ARGUMENTS HEARD
 BY COMMISSION Railroads Try to Show That En- gineers Ought Not to
 Have Pay Increase B. A. WOrthingtOn Presents Railroads Side of the Case
 to the Arbitration
 Committee

gineers some $7,5OO,O0e annually, today
 resumed sessions, when railroad off,
 cials began the full presentation of their case.
 Last week was taken up with a pre-
 liminary presentation of the railroads
 case, and the full presentation of the engineers arguments for an increase. A careful analysis of the demands
 presented by the locomotive engineers shows that they are demanding: CD The adoption of the principle 1 that wages and rules of service shall
 be standardized throughout the East ern territory.
 CD The adoption of certain stand
 ard rates of pay and certain standard rules of service, resulting in increased compensation to the engineers (3) The adoption of the principle
 that locomotive engineers shall have ] the right to operate the motive power when it is changed from steam to electricity or other motive power, and that electric service shall be govern ed by the schedule covering rates of
 pay and rules of service in steam ser- Iyice.
 t4) That locomotive engineers shall have the right to operate electric or
 multiple unit trains when the same enter upon steam tracks or tracks for
 merly operated by steam, or where trackage rights are leased to holding companies.
 The railroads, on the other hand,
 are rejecting the demands of the en- gineers as above set forth, upon the ground that existing rates of pay are l full and liberal, that existing rules of service bear some relation to local conditions, that standardization of either rates of pay or rules of serVce are not justified by conditions, and
 that electric service is not entitled to be paid upon steam basis.
 Tn arguing the railroads side of the
 case, B. A. Worthington, president of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, said: "In nearly every instance standard ization will have the effect of smpos- ing a very heavy burden on a very weak road.
 ssThe railroads claim that the exist | ing wages are fair and liberal" says
 MT. Worthington, because railroad employees are as well, if not better, paid than labor in other employments. Engineers constitute the highest paid
 class of employees in the railroad ser l vice.
 'sThe existing differential in the rate of pay in favor of the engineers against the conductors, growing out of the wage adjustment of 1910, corre- 1 spends in a majority of cases with the differential heretofore existing for a 1 number of years in favor of the en- gineers. The. 1910 adjustment of en- gineers' wages was made, excepting in three or four instances, on the fifty two railroads involved, subsequent to 1 the adjustnfent with the conductors and tfainmen. The engineers have worked gunners the existing differential l for the past two years without protest until the issue raised at this time Engineers wages increased in 1910 approximately $4.044,230 per annun. or l 1884 per cent. at which time full consideration was given to all the con- l ditions of service then prevailing. Since that time there has been no.in- crease in risk or responsibility or phy- sicaI labor of the individual engineer either on account of l) the size of engine (2;) the speed of trains; or (3) the loading of trains"
 The spokesman for the railroads also said: There were ZOOS locoIuo- l tives purchased since the last adtust- ment with the engineers for the fifty l two roads,. only 68 of these engines were of the MalletA or double-engine Ltype, and most of them were parA chased for helper service; 202 were of the Mikado type; e810 Consolidation | type, while 524 had about 10 per cent excess capacity over an engine with | slightly less than 200, ,0O0 pounds on 1 drivers; from which. it is quite clear this could hardly be used as an argu- ment for increase in compensation based on the size of engine There has been a very slight if any, increase in the average speed o1 1 passenger and freight trains in the past six years. There surely is noth- 1 ing in connection with the speed of trains that would justify any in crease. s.fF
 we do not dispute that there has
 been a gradual increase in trainloads, and that this difference has been quite marked. In this period of ten years, the increase is about 40 per cent. The engineers wages have not increased be expected they would for the fol- lowing reasons:
 with the frequent demands of wage increases and increased operating ex- penses incident to full crew bills-it is costing the road east of Chicago
 about three million dollars per an
 mum. With reference to full crew bills the railroads get no benefit at all from them. The third brakeman
 on these trains performs no service
 and it simply makes employment for
 another man..
 s.The very marked increase in taxes.
 '"The very large expense incident to
 the installation of the various safety
 appliances required by Congress, to
 which the. railroads do not take ex-
 ception-we think they are a good
 tting;we are in favor of the safety
 appliances, yet they cost money
 And other increases in operating
 expenses in the way of increased
 prices for materials and supplies.
 "A glance at this situation will dem-
 onstrate that the railroads have been
 confronted with a very serious situa- tion, and are today so confronted. The
 items of wages, full crew laws safety appliances, materials and supplies, are inf1exible. Noeeconomies can be ex-
 pected in that direction.
 'The only flexible item that the railroad managers could see was one that would produce greater operating
 efficiency. and the only available one,
 you might say, was to move the ton-
 mage in larger train units. Tn doing
 this and increasing our train load, we have been able to induce the train
 miles to handle given tonnage. And
 the engineers have, we feel, enjoyed
 their full share of the economies that
 have resulted. as we have had to take
 care of all these other. things as we'll
 as inc wages of the engineers and