The Sentinel=record., 1914-04-14
ITALIAN GOVERNMENT IS USING SOLDIERS AND SAILORS TO
 OPERATE TRAINS.
GENERAL STRIKE IS FEARED
Operating Force of Italian Railways Number About 150,oo0 and They Are Asking for a Minimum Wage of Sixty Gents Day.

Rome, April 13.--The question of a strike of the railway men throughout | Italy still hangs in the balance, but 1 the government, in order to be ready for any eventuality, already has oc- cupied certain stations with detach- ments of troops
 Arrangements have been made to replace with bluejackets the sailors of the postal steamers plying be- tween the continent and the islands, while the engineers and stokers of the warships will if necessary assist the military engineers to carry on the train service.
 In several cases damage has been done to the engines and those re- sponsible have been dismissed The 1 leaders of the railway men have been holding secret meetings but what they have decided upon is not known. It is thought by some that the strike may be suddenly proclaimed. The operating forces of the Italian state railways number about 115,000 individuals. They are joined in a league which has been pressing for increases of wages and diminution of hours of work.
 The mems chief demand is for a minimum wage of so cents a day Some get only 34 cents a day. 1 Twenty cents extra per night for night work is demanded Engine drivers and firemen want to work not more than ten hours by day and | eight by night out of the twenty | four when working slow trains, and asked that their hours be diminished as the speed augments until they are reduced to a minimum of five hours daily, and all men to have a thirty four hours rest weekly in the town where they reside.
 Travelling officials, according to the demands, are not to work more than twelve hours with a thirty-four hour rest weekly, while station ten hours or less than eight with one hour for luncheon, the maximum of night work to twenty nights a month and men to have thirty-six hours rest week,
 The guardians at the flag stations and the grade crossing women are to work ten hours day with one day of rest q week, the latter having no night work and no work when ma ternal duties interfere.
 Pensions are demanded for all em- ployes who are obliged to leave the service through infirmity caused by their service. A minimum pension of $100 is asked. There are some employees who after thirty years service, only receive $50 pension a year.
 The government asserts that these claims cannot possibly be accepted. as they involve yearly expenditure of over $20,000,0O0 which the budget of the country cannot stand.
 In 1885, when the economic and financial condition of the kingdom was very precarious, the government ceded the control of the railways to three private companies for a period of twenty years. This freed the gov ernment from the large expense con- nected with the working of the lines and insured a participation in the profits, which in 1905, when the rail- ways were taken over again by the state, reached $17000,00O yearly. The private companies, however, had managed the railways almost exclusively as speculation, so that their system was a failure from a permanent standpoint. When the government took back the ten thou sand miles of railways, heavy ex- penditure was necessary for the pur- chase of rolling stock, for he laying of double tracks. for the enlarge
 ment and rebuilding of stations and for increases in wages, salaries, and
 pensions. All this brought about an
 improvement in the service, also a
 decrease of profits, so that the rail-
 ways now bring in a net profit of
 about s7,000000 a year--an insignifi-
 cant sum considering that they rep
 resent capital of five billion dol
 lars.
 Since the government took over