The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-15
RAILROADS BON !. ].
TO EMPLOYEES
THROUGH UNIONS AND LrGrsLA-
rUREs WORKERS HAVE
UPPER HAND.
BLOW TO DISCIPLINE
TRAINMEN, MAY STRIKE. BUT
LINES CAN'T SUSPEND
OPERATIONS.
BLOW TO DISCIPLINE
BY LOGAN G. MCPHERSON.

| ~sAtAo &AO CA0a8Cu ia oOA viS~c ssA~e - y
not absolutely peculiar to tho rail-
ways. They are fitted to do similar
kinds of work in mines, mills and fac
tories. When there il q general busi-
ness depression these are the men
that first lose their positions and that
have the greatest difficulty in nnding
other employment. In times OF pros
perity their services are competed FOR
by the railways and the great Indus
trial companies.
The remaining employees. number
ing over .one-half million, are about
as follows: General and other officers.
1900; general Office clerks. $4,000;
| station agents, assistants, cashiers and
clerks, 10000; section foremen. 49,
900, and those engaged in the running
Of trains, $50, 200.
The distinctively railroad men are
the general officers, the chief clerks
and other principal clerks, the agents
at the principal stations and the men
engaged In the running Of trains.
The running Of trains IL the essen
tial function of q railroad company.
Therefore, excepting only the mana
gerial and directing officers. the men
Immediately engaged in the running
of trains are performing the most re-
sponsible service OF any Of the en-
ployes Of the railroad company.
The safety of lives and property
directly depends upon their alertness,
their fidelity. their intelligence. their
discretion. These men are the en-
ginemen, OF whom there are 10000:
flremen. $4,000; conductors. $4,000:
other trainmen, 10000, and the dis
patchers and telegraph operators,
$4,000. These men who run the trains
do work that has all the distinctive
| ness of a peculiar vocation. They
must have sturdy intelligence and
common sense, physical strength and
| physical courage, and these traits are
combined usually with a certain in
dependence Of character. Their voca-
tons require skill and experience,
which can be obtained only through
a period Of training. Their number,
even in times of commercial depres-
sion, has never consider ably exceeded
the demand.
Before the civil war there was not
much Of what is now known as the
railroad labor problem. There was
an engineers strike on the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad in 1884. This and
the growing demand for engineers.
which was such that many inexpe-
rienced, incompetent and intemper-
ate men were engaged caused the
older and more thoughtful engineers
to discuss some means of mutual pro-
lection and improvement. A conven-
! ton Of locomotive engineers was held
! in Baltimore on November s, 1855.
An organization was formed which
had but a short existence.
| Permanent organisation OF locomo-
tive engineers seems to have had It's
beginning in the middle States in
1863 and the movement progressed
until the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers came to embrace. ~ at
present, the greatest number of the
engineres OF the country. The irst
organization Of railway conductors
was in Illinois in 1858: the organiza-
ton under the present name was
formed in 1878. The Brotherhood
OF Locomotive Firemen was organized
in New York In 1873, the Brotherhood
/ of Railroad Trainmen in 1883, and
the Order Of Railroad Teiegraphers
| in 1886.
! Disturbed by War.
| The dates of these organizations in
dictate that they had their cause in
the conditions that followed the civil
war; The sudden resumption of civil
pursuits by hundreds of thousands
OF men who for Ave years had been
| imbued with the spirit OF warfare
and habituated to the manners Of the
camp was alone enough to derange
the commercial structure. Such men
fiocked to the valleys of the Missis
sippi and the Missouri rivers and
took an active part In the construc-
ton and the operation Of the railroads
that were extending beyond all pre-
cedent in these regions.
Practice was not established; rules
were not crystallized; methods Of dis
| cipline were not fxed; bosses were
outspoken and 30 were employees. It
was at the will Of the boss whether
a man should be suspended or dis
charged. The decision was not infre-
quently rendered In haste and in an
ger, and II there were personal Ill
feeling between the boss and the en-
ploye, the employe sooner or later had
! to go. Then again in those days as a
superintendent or a trainmaster or
this or that oflcer left the service of
one railroad for that OF another he
was apt to take his adherents with
him and to discharge employees Of
his new allegiance to make room for
these henchmen. One OF the pur-
poses Of the railway brotherhood was
to prevent such injustice. to secure
to an employe tenure during compe-
tency and good behavior. In this
they have attained such marked sue
cess that they have at times been &C
cused Of using their united strength
to retain an UNIT ,employe in his posi-
ton.
There has always been room for
difference Of opinion az to what con-
stituted q run, as to what the rate OF
pay should be, and az to the division
Of duties and responsibility between
enginemen and conductors. between
enginemen and hremen, between con-
ductors and brakemen. There have
been disputes as to hours OF labor.
as to pay for overtime, a. to the order
Of promotion.
Seek Better Conditions.
The constitutions OF the railway
brotherhoods contain beneficiary fea-
lures declarations for the promo
ton Of social intercourse between
members, and that training which
would lead to the better performances
of their duties. 1t was natural that
these organizations should take UP
the endeavor to secure better condt-
tons of employment for their menu
beers and that the railroads, ~ rule.
should refuse to recognise their right
to act In this capacity. saying that. It
u the right Of railroad company to
deal directly with its employees.
= The different standpoints from
which these questions have been re-
garded by the employers and the
employed have been widely discussed.
Had the managing officers OF all the
railroad companies always conduct
ed themselves In spirit of fairness
toward their employees and had the
AmplOyea OF all Of the rniyroaA s,nvvn.