New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1916-08-26
EIGHT-HOUR DAY IN THE
RAILROAD WORLD

}. the news reports Of the ne"otia
tons taking it for granted tn
: public is as familiar with the de
tails and technical terms of tn
controversy as are the writers.
: The best evidence Of this con
fusion is the prevailing belle
that the railroad brotherhoods ar,
demanding a literal eight -houI
day, with overtime pay for ever,
minute worked over the aetna
EIGHT hours. This is not the case
What the brotherhoods are really
demanding is that railroad,
speed up" the schedule of their
frel"ht service to an average rate
of IL 1-2 miles an hour. 1t is
now 10 miles an hour. The eff
feet of this would be to make the
average working day Of the
brotherhood men an eight hour
day. There is a vast difference
between the average day and the
actual day in the railroad world.
The explanation is as follows ::
Railway employees who have act
ua[ charge of trains are the
road men" as distinguished
from the yard men, the "sec-
ton men, and other divisions
Of railroad laborers. The road
men are the ones involved in this
controversy. Road men run be-
tween two fixed stations, called
division points. The crews of all
through trains change at these
division points. Local trains
generally run between these two
points. That section of a rail-
road system between these points
is called a division, and a divi-
sion is the unit of all railroading
and railroad organization.
Owing to geographical, typo
graphical and traffic conditions.
all railroad divisions are not of
the same length. But in order
to get some unit Of measurement
Of service and wages it is at
tempted to have divisions approx
innate 100 miles in length; some
are longer than this, some are
shorter, but that is the average
and that is taken as the unit in
railroad management.
Under modern conditions the
average progress Of the ordinary
freight train is 10 miles an hour.
The actual running schedule is
much faster, but the time must
be taken out for delays at sta
tions where cars are to be
picked up" or dropped" or
freight to be unloaded or loaded,
and for delays at sidings to let
and through freights
have the right of way. So the
law of averages has worked it
'ut that it takes 10 hours for an
ordinary freight train to cover Q
w miles-or the average rail
Dad division. This is an average .
chedule of 20 miles an hour. On a
he average division, therefore,
he road men in charge of the
freight train worked 10
ours to cover their division. So
. hours came to be accepted as
he standard day for road men,
nd the wages Of all road men
'ere fixed on this basis.
There is this important excep-
on to be noted, for it is the d.
ONT that is misleading the pub to
c in this controversy. If a d. -
lsion was longer than the ave- to
age. thereby requiring more than til
hours to cover it, running at tie
lie average progress of 10 miles vi
4 hour, the road men on that Ga
vision were not paid extra for FRI
lie time over 10 hours they pr pr
orked. On the other hand, if
division was a short one, not Ju
auiring 10 hours at an average Al
'ogress of 10 miles an hour, the
ad men received pay as though E.
ey had worked 10 hours. For -
is reason freight jobs on short
visions. and passenger jobs (be- 10.
use passenger trains make fast
progress than 10 miles an hour)
e considered the best Jobs on
railroad.
The road men-who compose
g brotherhoods-are now ask =
that freight schedules be ".
peeded up" to an average of eau
IL miles an hour. This would dry
1uce tho timo neoossor, g.. nv and
Al. -. ~ |seiz