The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1912-06-17
RAILWAY WAGES AND COST OF
LIVING IN THE UNITED
STATES AND EUROPE.

the principal countries of Europe,
This relates to the wages paid rail-
way 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 all classes
for the year Of 1910 was in the
United States, $2.23; in the. Unit
ed Kingdom, $1.05; excluding sup
Elementary allowances negligibly
affecting the average, it was in
Prussia Hesse 81 cents, and in Aus
tria 50 cents. The lowest paid
railway employee in the United
States, the ordinary trackman, re-
ceiyes a greater compensation than
many of the railway employees of
France, even those Of higher grades
and with responsible duties. This
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
hoard OF trade on railway wages
shows that the average weekly pay
! of enginemen in the United King
! dom in 1907 was S11.17; of fire
men, S6.67 In the same year
enginemen on American railways
receive an average weekly com
pensatfon of $3.50, counting six
days to the week, and firemen
sI524 Recent returns make it
clear that in 1912 enginemen and |
ffremen in the United States are
compensated at rates Of pay for !
specific runs that are two. three |
and four times as high as the cor
responding rates on representative
English railways. The annual
compensation OF enginemen in the
United States, as reported by two
railway companies,
now ranges from S1,1OO in switch
ing services to over $4,000 in pas
senger service, and of firemen from
$500 in switching service to over
Sl,700 in passenger service.
For Continental Europe official
returns in requisite detail are not
available for a later year than
1908. The salaries and allowances
Of the typical enginemen in Ger
many amounted for that year to
S646.88, in Austria to $S7o.80; of
a fireman in Germany to $424.59,
in Austria to $532.03. The an
nual compensation Of enginemen on
two of the principal railways Of
France ranged in 1905 from $685. I
&C to s9O6.91, and of firemeh
from S324.24 to $595.98. In Italy
enginemen received in 1908, salary
and allowances included, from
/ $5St10 to $81270 year; fire
men. from $4,000 TO S475.05 a
year In these continental coun-
tries the maximum compensation is
received only after many years
of service.
The average annual eompensa'
ton of enginemen in the United
States in 1908, on an estimated
basis of 900 days service. was
$685. of firemen. S792. In this |
country the rate of compensation |
to these employees does not de
pend on length Of service.
In Belgium enginemen received I
in 1907 from s23.16 10 $3.50 a
month; firemen from s1737 10
$2316 a month. conductors ana
station employees. from 40 cents ,
to 96 cents day In the United
States. in the same year, 1907, Z
enginemen averaged on the basis .
of p days service, SIpT.59 q
month: f,remen s63.50 a month .
conductors 1886 a day station
employees from SITS to $2-65 a 7
day.
The rental of three or four
room house or flat is almost a.
high in Berlin Paris. o. London
as throughout the United states.
but in England and on the con
tiueut it generally runs from thirty
dollars TO ninety dollars year
less. The quantity Of food and
fuel estimated by the board of
trade Or England as the standard
, consumption Of q typical working
mans family costs in the United
/ States IFS per cent more than
4 in France OF in Germany 35.2
per cent more than In Belgium,
and IS per cent more than In the
United Kingdom.
Il IS well within the truth TO
estimate in broad and general
/ wav that while the cost 81 living