The Port Gibson reveille., 1916-07-20
Condition Bettered

demands for better wages, these four
classes have succeeded in lettering
their condition rapidly and regularly,
at the expense of the other classes,
which are not so highly organized.
The trainmen, whenever they insist
on wage increase, have, on their
side, the tremendously potent argu.
ment that If they don't get what they
ask, they can walk out and tie UP the
whole railroad system. No other
class of employees could do this, be-
cause no other is so instantly indis-
pensabIe.
How effectively the four favored
classes have used their power is
shown by the cold figures. In the
ten years from 1903 to 1912, inclusive,
the salaries Of general officers In
creased an average of II per cent.
In that same ten-year period the
salaries of engineers increased "a
per cent
During those same ten years the
wages of general office clerks increas-
ed 13 per cent, while the wages Of
firemen increased 80 per cent.
During those same ten years the
wages of telegraph operators and dis
patchers increased IA per cent, while
those of trainmen other than conduc-
tors increased SO per cent.
Impressive Statement
Here is an impressive statement oS
fact about railway wages that ought
not to escape attention. There were
a total of S7,S7S employees classified
as switch tenders, crossing tenders,
and watchmen. These were receiv-
ing in 1912 an average Of $1.70 per
day, which was actually cents a
day less than they had been receiv-
ing ten years earlier.
At that time there were 4S,201 con-
ductors with whom the statistics
dealt. The conductors, therefore,
were only a slightly more numer-
Gus class than the tenders and watch
men; yet, while the conductors had
had their wages raised from 1888 to
$4.29 per day, the less fortunate
class Of tenders and watchmen had
to stand a reduction from S1.76 to
$1.7O per day.
If the cost Of living has been stead
lily advancing for conductors, so as to
justify an increase OF. 81 per cent in
their wages, it seems difficult to ex-
plain why that same cost of living
should have fallen sufficiently to war
rant a decrease Of 8 per cent in the
wages of switch tenders, crossing
tenders, and watchns1.
Take the single classification of
general office clerks. There we're
S7,1O6 of these according to the Of
fetal report. A much larger number
than Of either engineers, fremen, or
conductors.
These general oface clerks were
paid an average of 1921 per day in
1903, and of $3.50 in 1912; an In
crease of only 13 per cent in the ten
year period.
General office clerks, without ex-
ception, are compelled to live in
cities, where the cost of living is
high.
Engineers Better Off
Engineers, on the other hand, are
distributed between large towns and
small towns; on the average, their
living circumstances ought to make
their expenses average considerably
less than those of office clerks. yet
the statistics show that engineers
have received in the ten-year period
an increase of "a per cent in their
wages, making them average exactly
$5 per day, while general office
clerks have received an increase Of
only 13 per cent, making them aver
age $3.50 per day.
One Of the worst underpaid classi-
ncations Of railway employees is that
of the station agents. There are just
about 10000 of these in the country,
or nearly as many as the number Of
conductors.
In 1908 station agents averaged
s1.8O a day, and in 1912 they had
been raised to only $2.2O day, while
in that same time conductors had
advanced from 1888 to $4.20.
That is, the station agent in 1912
was getting just about half the wages
Of the conductor, and in ten years he
had had an average increase Of II |
per cent, while the conductors ini-
crease had been 27 per cent.
Here are two of the most numer-
Gus classes Of railway employees:
Trainmen, other than engineers,
and conductors, numbered
1876. 500, while trackmen numbered
837. .451. The statistics show that the
were getting IN 1903 an
average Of $1.81 per day, and in 1912 |
an average Of $3.50 per day, an In
crease Of IA per cent.
What Others Got
On the other hand, the classified
ton Of other trainmen was getting in |
1908 s2.17 per day. ahd in 1912, s2.s6 |
per day, an increase of sc per cent.
In percentage. this is the largest al |
vance received by any single class of |
ghllway employees during this decade, :