The Washington times., 1915-05-03

The award OF a wage increase to e1-
ginemen, firemen, and engine hostlers
on the railroads of the West by a board
Of arbitration sitting in Chicago, has
served to attract attention to the facil-
ity with which skilled and highly or
ganized labor in recent years has Sc
cured increases of its compensation,
while unorganized or unskilled employees
have enjoyed comparatively much
| smaller advances.
No other industry provides as good
data as railroads from which to OBJ
| serve how efficient Is organization In
getting wages raised, or how much
more organization gets than unorgani-
| zation.
The railroads touch every section, ak
most every community, in the country
Their conditions of operation are az
nearly uniform in different sections as
| those of any other industry.
| They employ great bodies Of very nee.
essary. highly skilled. and powerfully
| organized labor.
| On the other hand, they also employ
| still greater numbers of unskilled and
unorganized workers. whose places
could be filled with comparative ease.
Get Low Wages.
These latter are. of course, the ones
who get the low wages. while the
skilled and efficiently organized are the
ones who get the high wages.
Statistics on the subject OF wages
have been kept by the Interstate Com.
| nerce Commission for long time, and
| these. under examination. shoS In
| striking way the advantage that lies
tions, such as the engineers. flrenen
switchmen. machinists. and the like.
| Not only do these. whose numbers are
| comparatively small. earn absolutel!
| the largest wages. but they enjoy the
/ creates, absolute and also the greatest
proport!onate increases.
! Taking for instance. the period from
i 1903 to 1912. inclusive. II is found tina
fireuen led the list in ratio of increase
with 40 per cent wage advance to thei1
credit.
There were in 1912 only 67,1s5 fremeI
in the service to get this big advance II
wages.
Requires Little Skill.
Against their bunch OF prize none!
gained. may be set off the showing 70
switch tenders crossing tenders. AM
watchmen," who suffered an actual re
duction of 34 per cent in the sam
period. They have no organizations L
fight their wage battles. and their worl
requires little special skin.
| Yet there are shown to have been al
most 20 600 of this class who suffered
reduction OF per cent In wages, Will
$1,000 iremen were getting an advanc
OF - per CENT.
How do the firemen manage to lea
the procession thus impressively? Stu
dents of the railway wage situation
and there are a good many OF ther
nowadays-say that there are <w
answers.
First. the fireman is a highly skille
work/. who. in 1903. was averagin
s2.2S a day and shoveling out the fue
OF the company. IT was discovere
that If he were more skilled and eff
Client he could save a great sum in fue
costs The roads have been disposed t
pay him better as a premium for bette
work. for fuel economies.
Second. the fireman Is an under
graduate engineer; he is on the wa
to promotion that will make him
member Of the guild that includes tn
most highly skilled and responsible
of all pailroad workers. In recen
years the engineers and the fireme
have co-operated pretty closely 1
their wage efforts, giving the fireme
, the moral backing in many cases O
their seniors. the eng ineers. Thes
planation of the. remarkable advanc
of firemen's wages.
Have Done Well.
. But the engineers have done righ
= we'll In 1903 they were getting a
: average daily wage of $4.o1: 1t wa