The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-03-29
Attorneys for Railroads and
Enginemen Submit Statements
Sheean, for Roads, Asserts Men
Failed to Prove Contention.
IN Nine COMPLETE CHAPTERS
Lawyer for Enginemen Points
Goat Needs of WOrkmen.
Says ArbitratorS Should Con-
slider s'Sky Rocket" Prices.

Chicago. March 2e.-Briefs in the
western railroad wage case were filed
with the board of arbitration today
by James NJ. Sheean, attorney for the
railroads, and by William S. Carter,
president of the Brotherhood of Lo-
connective F'iremen and Enginemen
oral argument was begun and was eX-
pected to last two, and possibly three
days. Decision by the board on the
demands of the men for higher wages
and other concessions will be made
on or before April 20, and will affect
$4,000 engineers, firemen and hostlers
employed by ninety-eight western
railroads operating 100000 miles OF
track.
Mr.. Sheeans brief asserted that the
men failed utterly to establish their
contention that their labOrS and re-
sponsbilities. and their productive eff
ficiency have increased since their
wages were adjusted by arbitration in
1910. nor, said the brief had they
made good their claim that their
earnings, despite a higher rate, had
been decreased in this period. Their
contentious. Mr.. Sheean said, had not
been proven by their own exhibits,
and had been disproved by actual rec
ords quoted in the railroad exhibits.
The increased productivity of the
railroads was said in the brief to have
been due. not to any increased effort
of the men, but to stringent economies
in operation, and the expenditure of
$660,000.000 in extensions, additions
and improvements to property, includ-
ing heavier power and the reduction
of curves and grades. OF this sum
$220,O0O,000 was spent for the pur-
pose of increasing efficiency and safe
ty. and to expedite train movements.
These improvements, Mr.. Sheean said,
have actually enabled the enginemen
to earn their money in fewer hours
than prior to 1910. Firemen, he said,
actually shovel 5 per cent less coal
now than in the previous period. He
said that the railroad exhibit showing
that to grant the sixteen demands of
the men would cost $41,O0O,0OO year
had not been cOntrOverted. He point
ed out the decreased dividend pay
ments of recent years, and to the in
creaSing use of labOr-SaVing devices
on engines He referred to the high
earnings attained by some engineers
and firemen, and asser- ID that the
bulk of the engineers average between
$40 and $50 a month, and fire-nen
between $110 and Sis.
Mr. Carriers brief was divided into
nine chapters as follows:
Standardization of rates of wages;
the sixteen propositions submitted to
arbitration, earning possibilities under
existing rates and rules; economic eff
feet of the increased cost of living:
requisite qualifications of locomotive
engineers and firemen; increased
work and productive efficiency of en-
gineers and firemen; ability of the
roads to pay the increase requested
and the future outlook. Standardiza-
ton of rules and rates of pay as pro-
posed, the brief commended would be
helpful to employees and railroads
alike, tending to clarity the atmos-
phere and reduce friction and would
give the men only a living wage Mr.
Garter insisted that the railroad evil
dence endangered the earning posi-
bll1t1es of the suggested increase.
Mr.. Carter asserted that the arbi-
traitors should consider the fact that
the cost of living has gone ''sky rock
citing of recent years. He dwelt on
the long hours which engine men,
work the mental and physical strain
to which they are subjected and the
skill and care necessary to safely con-
duct high speed passenger trains and
heavy freights. In the period 1890
1913, MIR. Carter said that the produce
tive efficiency of the men as gagged
by the swelling revenue has increased
between forty and fifty per cent and
the roads are abundantly able to nav
an increased scale.
The combined accumulated sur
plus of the forty-three largest west |
ern systems amounted on June 30
1914, to 1925, 895,315 and the actual
cash on hand to $2OS,27S,196," said
Mr.. Carter
Dividends are increasing rather
the outlook for the companies is
bright, increased passenger and 4
freight rates are on the way and the |
trend of the industrial and financial |
situation in the country is upward.