Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-04-15
Railroad Brotherhoods
Present Their Side of 1t

A statement hnsl been frequently
made by the railroads that the present
demands of the railway train service
employees are not really for an eight
hour day but are intendent to secure
increased wages.
This is not true, rs the employees COM
posing the four brOtherhOods want
shorter hours. They want their work
ing day to be as near eight hours as it
can be made
To any reasonable person it will be
apparent that it will be useless to Sc
cure an eight day unless there Is
some penalty attached for overtime. In
all the trades where the eight-hOur day
obtains, there is an extra charge for
overtime; otherwise, there would be no
eight hour day, the work would 90 on
at the same rate per hour just as long
as the employer cared to work the men.
1t has been amply demonstrated that
eight hours hard work is enough for
any man and any hours he works more
than eight, simply draw ON his re-
serve energy and vitality, shortening
his life and his available working
years. II has also been proven that a
man working eight hours is more eff
cient, does better work, and is in every
way better citizen than a man work
ing longer hours.
The railroad train service employees,
in asking the railroad companies for an
eight hour day, also ask for time-and-
One-half for overtime, but this extra
rate is merely penalty" upon the
railways and is considered an effect
i've method for preventing overtime.
"Overtime is commonly called blood
money, - and saps the very life out of
the employees. We trust that the,pubic
will consider the fact that it is the
overtime and exposure that is now
wearing out the employees and
prompts many employers to set their
employees age limit at 2l to 30. In
other vOcations a man can work at
least 30 years-nOte the difference in
railway work. Considered in this way
the railway employees could, in exact
Justice ask for twice their present rate
of pay, but the employees are not seek
ing the enormous increase, but de-
sire better living conditions.
The physical and mental strain on
train service employees, compelled to
work long hours, is beyond comprehcn-
sion by the average mind. Virtually
all the accident and old-line insurance
companies classify railroading as extra
hazardous, many Of them refusing to in
sure railway employees on account of the
great risk of loss, and where these en-
ployes IRE injured, there is a definite
limit set ON the amount of the risk, and
an extra charge is made to the insured.
In reality, the railway employe re-
ceives Il less hourly rate of cOmpensa-
tion than almost any otner trade. A
hod-carrier receives $3.50 for eight
hours-or about SO cents an hour. The
30 cents an hour, II the hOd-carrier
worked as many hours as the railway
conductor he would draw larger sat
AIRY and could then be named by the
railways us the "arstoerat of the la
bor world.
If the railways complain that time
Iand-a.half means in some instances an
increase, let them avoid the increase by
avoiding the overtime for that is the
desire aud purpose of the employees.
The railways claim there was an in
crease in wages to the men of between
80 and - per cent from 1908 to 1914,
This is partly true, but the price Of
living and the additional work required
of the employees has more than offset
it. Also, the said wage increase came
mostly to the employees having regular
assignments and established hours for
service, but the very great majority of
the employees, VINO work in the irregular