The Washington times., 1916-01-24
RAILROAD MEN TO
DEMAND MORE PAY
Four Hundred Thousand Engi-
neers, Firemen, and Conduc-
tcrs Voting on Question.

NEW YORK. Jan. Zi.-EhS'hceiS'
firemen. conductors, and trainmen
throughout tho United states arc now
voting authority to their leaders to
bargain with the roads for more pay.
The result of the vote will be known in
March, and If It IS favorable. as the
leaders confidently expect stimuli
tancous demand will be made on all the
roads to adopt the new wage scale.
This will be the first countrywide
demand by railroad workers for more
wages. The battle-ground for bigger
pay checks has never before extended
beyond tho boundaries of one section
of the Country--thc East, the West. or
the South: and oven in these territorial
struggles the four brotherhoodS have
never made joint demands.
The demands now anticipated by
the railroads will be made by almost
10000 employees. Complete statistics
have not been prepared for the 1919
fiscal year but those for preceding
years illustrate the situation.
Number of Men Involved.
In the fiscal year ended June 80.
1914. the total number of railroad en-
uloyes was reported as 1,695,4S3. That
year, however was not normal, and
the number of employees in the current
year probably will be larger than in
1919 when 1.S15,239 persons were en-
ployed. In that year there were 6I,O26
cnginemen, 70477 firemen. 52.OS6 cOnduc-
tors, and 1856 other trainmen, or n
total of 336,44i. These figures do not
include returns from railways with an
nual operating revenues of less than
100000.
In the same wear eneinemen received
IN Sf tos Of sdnd@Sta$s re%n tota
Of $i326l Coz. and other trainmen g. total
"f SlS9. .409.443. an aggregate of $39l.-
80, 900 or approximately Sio per cent of
the total payroll In the same year the
payroll took almost - cents of each
dollar of operating revenue.
The following table shows total op-
Grating revenues and total compensation
VI employees in the three fiscal years
from 1912 to 1914 inclusive:
Year. Revenues. Payroll.
1912 ............. $2.S26 95S.3G6 81 .245, 03i $50
1918 ............. 3l2j. .135, 19S 49,, $50, ,5s9
1914 ............... 3.0i7,0l9,90S 1873. APO 272
It will be noted that the decrease in
the 1914 payroll was INSIGNIFICANT. al
though the total number of employees de-
creased from l.Sl5.239 too 1866. .iS3.
Steady Wage Increases.
The average daily compensation of en-
rrcers has increased steadily for years.
In 1909 it was a.44: in 1910. si.55: in 1911.
$40: in 1872. So; in 1915 $50: in 1914
@5.2i. Similar steady increases have
been won by tircmcn, by conductors and
bv other trainmcn.
Wages earned by the men of the trains
vary all the way from $500 year paid
The green" brakeman to the $500 to
$1,000 4 %caI piled up by the "aristocrats
of the rail- the engineers on the best
passenger runs. Thousands of the men
at throttle earn upward of $1,000 year
and monthly pay checks of $500 to $3.50
are common. Many of the engineers are
paid more than bank presidents in the
smaller communities through which
they run.
Ine higher wage demands to be made
~ the leaders of the brotheThoodS pro-
NIdc that the basic pay day, Tor all cX-
ccptinE passenger service, shall DC
changed 10 100 miles, or eight hours
WIN pay Tor overtime at one and II
hali times the new higher rate.
Raise Sought For Overtime.
In other words. the demand Is that
the freight speed basis tor wage COM
putting shall be increased from 10 to FL
miles an hour, or p per cent, and the
overtime Iate increased S1l2 per cent.
When an engineer is now paid 81
Tor hundred-milc run IN ten hours
or at the rate of 30 cents an hour. tnc
proposed schedule would allow him So
Ior the first eight hours. or 62lA cents
an hour; and for the next two nours
"5S4 cents an hour, making S6.S7 for the
same service now costing the railroads
50. This would mean a wage increase
ol 3ra per cent.
Applying similar rate of increas sc
throughout the railroad industry Cpas-
ing your hSureS on 1913 resurtS), the
aggregate increase would exceed S5lJ,-
900, ,OW.