The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-24
Locomotive Engineers
 Criticize Statistics of
 Railway News Bureau

Washington,- D. C., Aug 24-Charg- | ing that the publicity agents of the railroads have attempted to create the impression that the arch enemies of the railroads themselves are their or ganized employees, the Locomotive En- Bureau Of Railway News and Statis- tics in Chicago, which is conducted by Slason Thompson. sharply to account for it's statistical methods.
 | It seems that in MT. ThoInpson's an nual publication a diagram was print ed purporting to show what proportion of each dollar of railroad revenue is absorbed by payments to railroad em- pioyes and what proportion goes to capital The diagram for 1913, for ex- ample. showed that out Of each dol lar received by the railroads, only funded debt, 4.92 cents to pay divf- dends, while 44.o5 cents went to rail- road labor. The Engineers Journal ldoes not object to the method by which the diagram was prepared, but to the uses to which it has been put and to what it, claims is an erroneous and unjust impression. created by its publicity and dissemination.
 This campaign of publicity, illustrat- ed in this instance by the railway dollar diagram, the Engineers Jour- nal asserts, is designed to put forward i i the false claim that railroad labor is
 getting more than it's fair share of revenues as compared with capital or: Iinvestors, and that labor outlays
 are greater. in the transportation in- dustry than in other indus trial enter l prises.'s Both of those claims, the
 Journal asserts, are proven to be un-
 true by official statistics. Moreover, 1 the statistical methods Of the rail- roads own publicity agents would
 make it appear that the railroad man i7Hcre
 measure the proper return to capital by the proportion Of the total revenue ] going to dividends rather than by the
 rate of dividend on capta1 invested.
 As a matter of fact, the Journal points
 out, the recognized principle by which Iprofts are measured is, of course not
 the relative proportion of revenue ispent in the form of wages or for any I Iother operating expense, but the net
 profits on the investment which those
 expenditures will bring about
 Issue is also taken with the infer ence supplied by such methods of sta I tistieal presentation that, enp pIoyes ought not to get as much of the dollar l in times of decreased freight rates, or ia periods of heavy expenditures for I improvements, although the same or more labor is performed. This does not take into consideration, the Jour
 nal points out, thas labor is forced to work harder and longer in order to off 1 set increased expenses in other lines. 1 or decreased revenues. Nor is the l fact brought out in such an analysis that the proportion of the tsraflroad I dollar actually going to capital has I been sufficient not only to provide for expensive Improvements, interest, div dends, and the like, but also for many additional benefits to stockholders in
 the form of increased value of their holdings. These gains have been made jpossible, according to official figures quoted in the Journal, through the
 greatly increased productive efficiency Iof the employees, their increased re- hours.
 The actual labor cost in railroads, the Journal asserts, have increased
 more slowly than in; other enterprises Wage cost of engine crew, for instance on A leading western roads for haul ing 1000 tons one mile was 33 cents Hess in 1913 than in 1890. .tThe method TOT argument based on the analysis o1 the Bureau of Railway \ ews and Sta tlstics, says the Journal, ''is not only fallacious. misleading and unfair tc railroad employees. but is is shortsight- ed business policy. The real facts will
 become known