The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-08-02
WHAT THE ENGINEERS WANT


of the railroads, to-day presented ex-
hibits in the case of the arbitration
proceedings now being held at the
Oriental Hotel, Manhattan Beach,
by which the railroads endeavored
to prove their contention that the
engineers wages are full, fair and
liberal, and that there has been no
marked increased responsibility and
risk in their work in the past few
years.
Some sixty-odd exhibits were sub
mitted today by Mr. Worthington.
The most important of these concern
alleged increase in size of engines,
the age of engineers, engineers IA
tality statistics, and the average
speed of freight and passenger trains
from October, 1905, to October,
1911.
One OF the railroads exhibits
shows that only about two per cent.
of the locomotives in service are
those which have been termed by
the engineers heavy" They weigh
some 17S,OO0 to 461, 200 pounds.
This statement of the railroads led
to some discussion as to the train
load, in which Mr.. Morrissey, one of
the Commission, said that the rail-
roads get a greater return for the
service of the engineer on the large
engine. Mr.. willard, President of
the Baltimore q Ohio Railroad, and
a member of the Commission, said in
this connection
Should not you, IL you take into
account the tendency of the engines
to increase,-should not you keep
in mind the fact that there is a
higher rate established for the
heavier engines AS Mr.. Worthing-
ton has stated, the engineer does
not run the larger engine at the same
rate at which he runs the smaller
one. 1t might be thought, for in
stance, while the engines have in
creased in size, the engineers have
received a steady, stationary rate.
That, of course, is not true, because
the heavier engines carry a higher
rate on the majority of the roads"
Mr.. Worthington endeavored to
explain how the railroads had at
tempted to make their economies
to meet the increases in operating
expenses. This followed a question
from Commissioner Judson, who
said:
II suppose this tendency to get
larger engines is greater on roads
which Mr.. Worthington replied:
The tendency of the rate struc-
ture has not been upward by any
means. The expenses incident to
full crew bills has added largely, as
we have by one of our exhibits, to
the expenses of the railroads. The
safety appliance laws-to which the
railroads take no eXception-we
agree that they are good and sound,
for the benefit of the public, and are
very wise; but they have added very
largely to our expenses. The in
creases in wages of all classes of
employees which we have had to
meet have increased very largely,
and the railroads on the other hand
have had but one flexible factor with
which to meet this situation. The
wage question was absolutely in
flexible; there was no chance for
any economics there, in the reduc-
ton of wages. The prices of ma
terial and supplies have been of a
somewhat upward tendency. The
full crew bills must be met, and the
safety appliance laws must be taken
care of, and the only flexible factor
that the railroads could find was to
promote higher efficiency in the op-
Grafton of the plant, and about the
only war and about the most sue
cessful way that that could be done
was to move the tonnage in larger
train units; therefore the railroads,
regardless of their wishes in the
matter, have been forced to adopt
the larger locomotives. 1t has some
with modern practice and it has re-
suited in good to all sides"
In concluding his remarks on the
railroads exhibit on the number of
locomotives in service and the
weight of the same, Mr.. Worthing-
ton pointed to the fact that the ex-
hibit showed that only twelve per
cent. of the total number of loco
motives in service on the fifty-two
Eastern railroads are of the heavier
type, that is, those weighing over
100000 pounds.
AS a reason why an increase in
compensation should not be granted
to the engineers-whoh had given as
one reason for raising pay the al
legged increase in speed OF trains
the railroads introduced an exhibit
showing the average speed of pas
senger and freight trains in the
month of October for the years
1905 and 1911. This showed that
the average speed had been very
slightly increased, only a fraction
of mile on most of the roads, and
in some cases a small decrease.
Mr.. Worthington introduced one
exhibit to show the length of SER
vice of the engineers as engineers
This indicated that the average
length of service at the present
time is 12.4 years.
During the discussion Of the
question of the sixteen-hour law
Mr.. Morrissey asked Mr.. Worthing,
ton If it was not intended, in rating
the slow freight service, to secure
from the engine and tEainmen
hour for hour, the service for which
the company pays, for each trip
Mr.. Worthington said:
Il do not believe, that in any en-,
gine rating system, any railroad has
IL 4.