The Washington times., 1916-04-20
HIGHEST PAID CLASS OF MEN.


On behalf OF the enginemen and
trainmen who are making the demand
for n la!ge wage decrease. II Is urged
that the higher cost OF living Justifies
their deriand. Yet these men. the en-
gineers, flromen. conductors and brake
men, are the highest paid classes OF
railroad labor. The question being ask
cd Why an engineer getting an aver
age wage In 1913 OF $50. should require
an increase. while trackmeh. who were
getting Si5s per day. should be left
out?
| Again. the average wage OF conduc-
tors In 1913 Is shown by the statistics
o! the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion TO have been A.3 per day. At the
same time. telegraph operators and
dispatchers were getting an average
wage of seq per day.
| II the increased cost OF living for the
s.3o conductor necessitates a large I'm
crease in his compensation, where does
the SEE dispatcher come In?
No demand Ia being urged on behalf
Of the operators and dispatchers, and
some OF the railroads have lately been
lintimating vigorously that II big ad-
ditional burden must be laid on their
labor funds they would like to give the
beneft 10 the poorer paid classes OF
employees.
The truth OF the whole business is
that. as A whole. the railroad employees
OF the country are not very highIy
paid as compared to other people. a
few classes of railroad men are paid
very high wages. The most fortunate
Of all these classes are the engineers,
fremen. conductors and brakemen.
Rate Rising Rapidly.
Not only are these four classes paid
much more literally than other en-
ployes. but the figures show that their
rate of wages has been rising more
RAPIDLY than that of any other classes
In 1914 the Interstate Commerce Com
missions report showed tho number OF
railroad employees for the entire country
TO be l7l0.296 out of this number there
were 60 .O2i engineers. $3.50 firenlen, ~
POI conductors, and lS6,so9 other train.
men: n total OF lly90. or just ABOUT
one-sixth OF the entire number.
I At that same date, the number OF
trackmen exclusive Of foremen, was
Az ISL That Is the number OF common
laborerR on the section was greater than
the entire roll OF engineers, ttremen
conductors. and brakemen. Yet this
huge army OF trackmen was WORKING
for an average wage OF tl.5S per DAY
while engineers were getting I'D, nre'
men were getting S213, conductors were
1 getting $40, and other trainmen were
> getting S3Ot. These figures are the com
missions averages for the entire coun
, try.
, Condition Bettered.
= Largely because they are the best or
2 ganIzed classes OF railway workers ant
. have been unremitting In their demands
for better wages. these four classes hav'
succeeded In lettering their condition
rapidly and regularly. at the expense o
the other classes. whlch are not 81
>. highly nrgaOiZed.
| THE trainmen. whenever they insist OF
| a wage increase. have. on their slde, th'
| tremendously potent srgument tnat
: walk out and tie up the whole railroad
, system. No other class OF employees
could do this. because no other Is 81
instantly indispensable.
, How effectively the four favored
a classes have used their power Is shown
. nv the cold figures. In the ten Near
from 1909 to 1912. inclusive. the salaries
| Of general officers increased an average
, Tn that same ten-vear period tn
/, salaries OF engineers increased "a ne
cent. a.
a WAGES OF general office clerks increased
n IL per cent while the wages OF hrcmel
o incTea Sod % per cent.
+ During those same ten wears IN
!. wages OF telegraph operators ana aiS
patChers increased II per cent, whI
. those OF trainmen other than conduc
. tors increased SO per cent.
Impressive Statement.
y IIere Is an impressive statement o
i fact about railway wages that ouch
. not to escape attention, There were
total OF 1873 employees classified a
switch tenders. crossing tenders. an
wotchmen. These were receiving !
e 100 an average of $40 per daN. whic
IS was actually 6 cents n DAY less Una
they had been receiving ten year
e earlier. 40 "a, ,.r
o ductors with whom the statistics deal
r. The conductors, therefore; were oniv
e slightly more numerous class lnnn W
l. tenders. and watchmen; Vet, whllc w
n conduc hrs had had their vases raise
II from s3S TO 81 % per day. the less torl !.
l. nate class of tenders ana "atcnih'h n'
= 10 stand a reduction from N,76 to 81
y piT The TIC cost of living has been steadi
~ advancing for conductors so as
II justify an increase OF ~ per cent a,
- their wages IL seems dithcult TO e.
!. tJoin WHY that same cost OF livir
~ should have fallen sufficiently to wa
,e rant a decrease OF per cent IN u
,S wages OF switch tenders crosslt
!, tenders and watchmen,
T. rake the single classification OF gel
70 oral office clerks. There were S7lO6
n theEc according to the official repoT
IT. A much larger number than OF elth
- engineers tremen, or conductors.
N These general office clerks were pa
o. an average of sci per day In 1903. al
10 OF 80 in 1912: an increase of only
% per cent In the ten-year period.
Is General office clerks, without exec
pr ton, are compelled to live In elite
ii where the cos. of living Is high.
m Engineers Better OFF.
r. Engineers. on the other hand, are di
ne tributed between large towns and smt
er towns: on the average. their living CT
u cuInstances ought 10 make their @
~ penscs average considerably less TN
en- those OF office clerks. yet the statisti
show that engineers have received