The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1916-09-28
ROADS APPEALING
! TO THE FARMERS
ON WAGE RAISE
II Demands Are Granted The Farmers
Will Have To Pay Big Part OF
The Increase.

washington, ID. III uOuSH AosA nA-
ers usually feel little interest IN
railway labor disputes and are dis
posed to think that such troubles are
remote from them and cannot toucn
them directly. In the pending cues
ton between the Brotherhoods or
freight trainmen and the railways OF
the country the railways evidently
are making special effort to inform
the farmers on the points involved
and to enlist their attention.
It is argued by the railroad man.
ayers that the final disposition OF the
dispute will be made by public senti-
ment They reason that the farmer,
when 1t comes to q final show
down. really controls not only the
political power but the sentiment OF
nearly all the states. Therefore, they
are trying to appeal to his horse
sense. They are sending out good
deal of literature directed especially
to the farmers-probably the first
time such a course has been taken
in any great labor struggle. They
say they are convinced Of the gene
raj public's confidence in the horse
sense, the insight and the fairness of
the American farmer, and that, there
fore, his influence must be powerful.
High Wages Now Paid
They are dwelling especially on the
argument that the freight trainmen
already are the highest paid laborers
in the world. They submit figures to
show that in many instances freight
train employees earn from $500
month for the trainmen, or brake
man" as they used to be called, to
$4,000 a month for engineers, work
inig from 20 to 25 days a month.
They are asking farmers to inquire
into the facts and convince them
selves that most, of the talk Of ex-
cessive hours of labor on railways is
empty and contradicted by the fats.
More than sixteen hours of continu-
Gus work in railway service is for
hidden by law. The instances of
men kept on duty SO long as sixeen
hours are a very small fractional per-
centage of the total employment:
they become less every year, and al
most invariably are due to accident |
or some unusual weather conditions. |
The managers of the railway COM
panies point out that the farmer him.
self accustomed to from twelve to |
fourteen hours a day Of steady work /!
rarely earns in a year as much cash |
money as a trainman on duty from |
ten to twelve hours, and never con- |
at work, can earn, resting |
1nh vw%h
third OF his time. In the south 1t is
a familiar maxim that cit takes thir-
teen months to make a cotton CROP"
The man who raises ten bales Of cot
ton gets for it from $450.0O to $4,000,
and from this must pay his fertilizer
bills and labor. The trainmen are said |
to average $4,000 a year, this being
the estimate of the Brotherhood lead Il
ers themselves, and the engineers
draw from $1,500.00 to $2,500.00
year, the conductors and f1remen
trainmen and engineers.
Farmer vitality Interested
Aside from the question of justice,
It is pointed out that the farmers
direct interest in the matter is that
mis- welfare demands freight traffic
adequate to the needs of the country,
and that whatever Injuries the rail-
loads or hampers their operation or
prevents their development is a direct
injury to him. If the trouble should
1evelop general strike of the freight
rain employees, resulting in a tie
10 Of traffic, the farmer would be un-
able to ship out what he raises or
% get in what he wants. He will he
asked to consider whether the rail.
'oads should be crippled by being
compelled to pay 25 per cent increase
n wages to men already receiving
ar more than the average prosper
rus farmer, with resulting injury to
he. farmer himse1f-and if the rail-
Dads are compelled to grant the in
;rease and have to raise their freight
'ates, the farmer will have to pay a