The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-12-16
Railways Ideas on Union La
Dor Brought Out.
Full Text of Speech by Vice
President Storey.
HISTORY OF FORMER QUARRELS
Telegraphers and Shop Men in
Engagements"
Inside Story on Deals Over the
AdamsOn Law.

AdamSOn elght-nOur law, was AuAS
discussed by w. B. Storey, Jr., vice
president of the Santa Fe. in his adj
dress before the Topeka Chamber OF
Commerce Monday.
The full text of the address is as
follows:
The Santa Fe employs $4,000 men
and distributes 52,000,O00, more or
less, per year for wages out of a total
expenditure of about sS4,00O.OOO.
You can, therefore, see what very
important item is the question of Ia
bor-by the word covering all en-
ployes.
Under ordinary conditions wages
should be governed by the supply. but
other elements come into the problem
and the supply is only one of them.
In a few directions only, in railroad
work are there fluctuations in wages,
and these are largely with the track
labor. When business thruout the
country is brisk, men for this work
are scarce and the wage rises at once.
In certain other directions we find that
raise in the rate of wages brings
either a better class of men or keeps
our old men with us In no class,
except that of track labor, however,
is there a tendency to cut when times
are dull. The fact that wages once
raised are with difficulty brought
down, operates as a bar to increases
when earnings are heavy. The road
has tried to meet existing conditions
and has raised wages when this could
be done. In making raises, however,
il has tried to recognize the principle
of length of service, and in many
branches there is a fixed minimum
salary-the lower for the newer oc-
cupants OF the place and the higher
for the oIde~. In addition, the COM
pany has offered, as reward for
length OF service, the pension system,
which provides a payment uoon re-
tireIent TO those in the service fif-
teen yeas or more, the size of the
payment depending. in a measure, on
the length of service. In addition,
there is now on trial a death benefit
to be paid to the dependent heirs of
each employe who has been in the
service at least two years This plan
is to be trled out for two years to
find out what It will cost and possibly
it will be found that some changes
may be necessary-and it is the hope
to make it permanent in some shape.
Would Hold Employees.
The design in all the methods of re-
warding length of service is to make
it a distinct object to the employee to
age, as far as possible, the tendency
to strike.
The use of the word strike"
brings me to the labor union element
in our ranks and to the troubles we
encounter and have encountered in
dealing with labor. The trouble with
labor begins and ends with so-caIled
labor unions. The principal organi-
cations that affect railroads in the
United States are the four that han
die trains, the Brotherhood of Loco
motive Engineers, Brotherhood of Lo-
connective Firemen and Enginernen. Or
der of Railway Conductors and the
Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen,
the latter taking in the brakemen and
switchmen- Then there is the Order
of Railway Telegraphers, the Order of
Railway Machinists and several other
organizations that cut more or less
figure, depending on their strength
and the individual road. The reason
or excuse given for the existence of
these unions is collective bargaining
and it is undoubtedly true that by
handling wage schedules thru these
organizations the wages have been in
creased faster than they would have
been had the menace of stoppage of
work by all hands not been present
and to a certain extent they have been
a distinct aid in making men content
ed with their work in that they remove
the hopeless feeling that a single man
dealing with a powerful corporation
is bound to feel when his views as to
wages and working conditions come
in conflict with those of the officers
of the company. On the other hand,
there are drawbacks The unions. be-
coming more and more powerful and
/ finding that their demands even if
sometimes unreasonable, are complied
{ with, get to point where they believe
1 that all demands. whatever their ma
1 ture, can be forced from the COM
/ panies if only they present a united
| front and they lose sight of the fact
! that corporations have limitations in
I the way of income beyond which it is
] impossible to go. The Santa Fe has
l never been opposed to the unions and
| as long as they are governe- by sane
| leaders and the demands are made on
a Just basis and when the men are
! willing to listen to the complaints of
! the company in the same manner that
the company listens to the demands
| of the men. no cause for a Quarrel can
exist, but when force is the only ar
] gument and where strike is the only
answer, we have in the past been
forced into seeming opposition to
some of the unions.
First Quarrel in 1900.
Originally the Santa Fe had sched-
ules and contracts with most of the
unions and we lived under these with
reasonable comfort. 1t is the custom
to reach an agreement relative to
rates and working conditions and en-
body these in a contract, which is to
obtain for at least one year, and there
after until changed by common con-
sent In 1900 came our first serious
quarrel A contract with the teIegra-
pliers had been signed by the Atchi-
son for the usual yearly period. when.
I after two months, the organization or
dered out the men on this part of the
4 system in sympathy strike
| with the men on the Gulf
Colorado & Santa Fe, the latter
| having struck to force certain de-
| mands in making a new schedule
Upon having their attention called to
the existing contract the leaders re-
piled that it was always expected that
| contracts would be broken under such
circumstances We. of course. had to
run our road The men struck be-
cause they felt that we could not run