Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-05-16

answered the contentious made in his
memorandum. The contention of
Major Moody against the inclusion of
the Chicago shop operated by the city
OF Chicago has some merit and it will
be observed that this shop is not in
Guided in the list insisted upon By
the committee. If the rest of the Chi
cago shops are allowed and the in
vestigation is confined to the tri-cities
including Silvis and Chicago l am
sure that the municipal shop in Chi
cago will not be a bar to coming to
an agreement. The contention made
by Major Moody that a large per
centage of the men employed
at the arsenal come from places
outside of Chicago is met by the fact
that new men at the arsenal are not as
rule able to do the best grades of
work and therefore, this fact does
not prove that the vicinity from which
they come furnishes the grade of men
employed as whole at the arsenal
Major Moody contends that the turret
lathe operators were developed al the
/ arsenal. Men have to be developed
somewhere, but wherever they are de-
Veloped after they have developed they
are entitled to the pay of mechanic
/ While these men at the arsenal have
| been developing men similarly situated
have been developing at the Silvis rail
road shops and are receiving $3.50 per
| day while the arsenal men are still
| considered in the process of develop
ment.
Don't Have Gardens.
"19. With reference to the statement
made by the commanding officer, en-
bodied in his first endorsement of Dec.
Is, 1915, I believe the general state
ment made above is a reply to most Of
the contentious made therein. Para
graph ) of his first endorsement, how
ever, contains the statement to the eff
feet that the tri-cities is a rural com
munity and that employees live more
cheaply due to having gardens and
other advantages incident to semi
rural life.
20 | am advised by the employees
that they have Investigated the per-
centage Of machinists employed at the
arsenal who are living in such d way
as TO avail themselves of gardening,
and they find that only per cent of
the men are doing this. However, even
though this be true of all the men
when a man work a garden he is la
boring for what he IS getting, and his
employer is not entitled to receive the
benefit Of his extra labor. In the larg-
er cities employees are often engaged
in the evening at other kinds of remu-
neratlVe employment such as Operat-
ing moving picture machines and the
like, which employment is not avail
able to those living in smaller cities.
81 The commanding officer ap-
pears TO contend that the cost of Iiv-
ing in the tri-cities is about the same
as in the other smaller cities in Hi
n0is and Iowa contemplated by the
management. The employees do not
think so, and this is another reason
why they so strenuously oppose their
inclusion. 1t would make the inyesti-
cation Of such scope as to make it al
most unavoidable because the cost Of
living in these places should be inyes-
tigated in order to make a proper com
parison. The commanding officer also
appears to contend that Chicago is a
more expensive place in which to live.
. This is doubtful. While rent may be
slightly higher in Chicago provisions
and clothing are unquestionably cheap
eer and the employees are perfectly
willing if it is desired by the depart
ment 10 give the relative cost of liv-
ing between Chicago and the tri-cities
its due weight in the investigation. We
believe, however, that the advantages
and disadvantages in Chicago will bal
ance as TO cost of living and that it
would be an unnecessary element TO
go into.
% With reference TO paragraph 6
in the commanding officers statement,
the past unsteadiness of employment
at the Silyis railroad shops and the fat
rate appear, in his opinion. to be a bar
in their inclusion in the investigation
| desire TO say that the slackness of
work there during the last two years
has had no bearing whatever upon the