Daily Kennebec journal., 1916-09-27

information upon the subject and has
dealt sanely with the facts. a follows:
The threatened railroad strike has
been temporarily averted by the pas
sage Of a wage-dxing act by Congress,
intended to apply to the railroad work.
| ers. Where originally the strike was
threatened by the engineers. dremen,
| conductors, and trainmen. this wage
fixing law, as passed by Congress. may
fairly include all railroad workers. on
the ground that they are all engaged
in interstate commercee so that the
| bill, as passed, means a greater sum OF
| increased expenditure to the railroads
than the. original demands Of the four
brotherhoods.
This is a new departure for Con-
gress. Heretofore it has been ad-
mitted that Congress had the right to
| fix hours and wages Of employees OF
the National Government, but now
Congress assumes to dictate both the
hours and wages Of private employees
for these railroad workers are priv
ate employees even though they are
employed by public service corpora
! tions.
If this act Of Congress should stand.
there is no longer any right of freedom
of contract between any employers and
employees, for, in most cases, Congress
could step in and establish wages ana
hours on the pretext Of regulating In
terstate commerce.
The employe in a shoe factory max
ing shoes to be sold in other states, or
a store clerk selling shoes made IN
another state, may be held by Wild
eyed Congressman to be engaged IN
interstate commerce and mt subject TOT
a special act of Congress. 1t looks
far fetched, but so does the revolu-
tionary act of Congress, and If this IS
good law, the right of collective bar
gaining, so long contended for by or
ganized labor, is no longer assured.
Wrong in theory and conception,
confiscatory in it's provisions as this
bill is. and generally believed to be
plainly unconstitutional. any who
question the validity or who object to
having their property confiscated are
threatened with imprisonment. Inls
is the answer of Congressman ADAM
son, the author of the bill, to the pro-
test of President Ripley of the Santa
Fe Railroad.
Just how sweeping and conf1scatory
this wage fixing bill is in its provl-
stons. if it goes into effect, may be
realized by the following illustrations:
On the Boston & Maine Railroad a
baggage master gets $2.75 for ten
hours work. On one run the baggage
master was on duty 13 1-3 hours, IN
cluding both running time and lay-on.
This gives the baggage master $s.o'
per day, or $22.02 per week. Assum-
ing the ten hours pay at $2.75 Is paio
for eight hours, he will then get .S44
ner hour. which at 1S 1-3 hours woulo
| give him S45S per day. or $27.4S per
week which would be over $500
! week increase.
| A conductor on the Boston & Maine
Railroad gets $3.50 per day OF Ten
hours. The conductor on this same
run. working 13 1-3 hours, gets $o.oo
ner day. or $4,000 per week. Apply
ing the eight hour bill to this wage,
the hourly rate would be 1925 instead
of AZ. and on the basis of 13 1-3 hours
would be $3.50 per day. or $4,000 per
| week.
We have seen that If the same runs
| and hours are continued, the oassase
master gets an increase OF $5.4O pei
week, and the conductor gets an IN
! crease of $500 per week. 1t Is unne-
cessary to figure out the same fllustra-
tions on the engineers and nremeh
which would work out about the same
wav. Nor is it necessary to follow ou'
/ these illustrations with the other kinds
of railroad labor that are included
within the scope of the bill. for 1t Is
nerfectly apparent that this piece OF
| LEGISLATION, enacted with scant consld-
Grafton either as to it's scope or ERECT
thrusts upon the railroads revolu-
tionary wage condition heretofore un-
heard of in all the history of indus
| try.
If is q misnomer to call 1T an Eight
Hour Bill. Eight hours is impractical
on railroads, and all the men know It
The length of divisions and runs &c
not permit it. What they wanted was
an increase in the hourly rate and an
increase in the overtime rate. The
| bill SAYS the ten hour wage shall DC
paid for the eight-hour day and over
time. This fact makes 1t a wage FIX
ing bill and nothing else.
It is undoubtedly important to every
business interest in the United States
| if the labor cost of operating the rail-
roads, or to put 1t another way, If the
entire payroll of all the railroads, 1s
increased 20 to 25 per cent. as the
figures given would seem to show
Where is this increase to come from
Surely the railroads cannot pay 1t out
of their presnt income. 1t would GER
tainly mean a very radical increase II
freight rates, and probably an increase
in passenger rates, and this, too, with
out an assurance as to where the enc
of it will be. Next year, or the mex
time, the railroad brotherhoods ane
other railroad workers could say. 1--WE
demand a six-hour day at the same
daily wage" and thus increase the
labor cost of operating the railroads by
thirty per cent more, or, in the event
of failure to receive such extravagan
wage increase, they will tie up the
transportation facilities of the coun.
try.
I How would business men in othel
lines of business like to have thes.
same perverted principles applied t.
their business: How would labor lik'
to have the same powers exercised
against them by an unfriendly Con