The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1916-03-24
ANOTHER MOVEMENT
FOR HIGHER WAGES

| Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen
and Enginemen, the Order of Rail-
way Conductors and the Brotherhood
Of Railroad Trainmen, have com
bined in a nationwide movement for
a general advance in wages for their
members, and other employees of the
same classes, on all the railways Of
the United States and some of those
in Canada, including 100000 miles of
line.
The movement involves about $780,
600 men. According to the statistics
of the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion there were employed in the
United States in 1914, 61,365 engi-
neers, 64,335 firemen, 47,621 con-
ductors, and 1883 trainmen.
The average wages per day of these
employees in 1914 showed the fol-
lowing increases over those paid in
1913: Engineers, 80 per cent; con-
ductors, 80 per cent; fremen, Al per
cent; trainmen, AZ per cent.
A 500, OOO, 900 Increase or A Great
Railroad Strike
1t is estimated by the railroads that
the additional increases in wages
these organizations have announced
their intention of demanding would
amount approximately to $1O0, 0OO,-
900 a year. AS the total payroll in
1914 for the classes of employees in
volved was $500, 600, 900, this is an
increase of about 25 per cent. The
railroads believe these demands are
not only unreasonable, but of such
magnitude that they cannot even
be considered with the present level
of railway passenger and freight
rates.
Officers Of the brotherhood have
refuse to submit their demands to
arbitration and hat unless the in
rease is granted a general strike of
the enginemen and trainmen and
men will be called. This movement
is of tremendous Importance to both
the ~enginemen and trainmen will
be called. This movement is of
tremendous Importance to both
the railways and the public. The
question presented is not one that
concerns only the employees and the
railways; for any large advance in
railwy wages, in addition to the large
increases that have been made in
recent years, would have to be borne
by the public; and it is needless to
point out the disastrous effect on the
public that would be produced by a
strike which would tie up all the rail-
roads of the country and the COM
merce of the entire nation. This
would be the first strike that ever
tied up anywhere near all the rail-
ways of the United States. 1t would
be without a precedent in history ex-
cept in the case of the strike a few
years ago on all the railways in
France, where the mileage is not one
tenth what it is here.
The proposed demands were formu-
lated by committees representing the
eastern, southern and western asso-
Citations of the four br~otherhoods at
a meeting held in Chicago in Decem-
Der, and their terms nave been en-
bodied in a letter ballot sent out to
the employees under date of January
10, to give power of attorney to the
chief executives and committees of
the bro~therhoods to negotiate with
the officers of the railways for a
favorable settlement.
Accurate figures on earnings were
obtained in the western arbitration
hearing. These figures show the
earnings of engineers and fremen in
western territory to be as follows:
Hours Days Wages
Daily per per per
Earnings. day. month. month
Engineers $6.73 1O.5 22.2 $149.61
Firemen 4.27 1O.5 1913 84.34
The Chicago Evening Post, Thurs
day, March 2, says:
The crisis in foreign affairs should
not make America blind to the crisis
in its domestic affairs.
The domestic crisis is the threaten
ed strike of all the railroad men in
the United States for a "basic eight
hour day."
For weeks this peril has been creep
ing upon us. For weeks there has
drawn steadily nearer the possibility
that our returning prosperity will be
stopped and turned into adversely by
a paralysis of the transportation sys-
TENS of the country.
AS a country we have made no
preparation to meet it.
Our governmental machinery for
preventing the railroads from getting
too great incomes still lacks any in
strument for adjusting the demands
of labor to their fair place in the
economic structure.
Into this gap the Chamber of Com
merce Of the United States steps with
a proposal that looks to the rights of
the public, the inevitable third party
to the dispute. In an emergency
resolution passed by its executive
committee it says:
Whereas. it has come to the atten.