The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1917-03-20
THE NIGHTMARES HAS PASSED.

The tense situation which has exist
ed for several days due 10 the fact
hat the country was facing wbat
probably would have been the greatest
strike in us history. involving com
plete paralysis OF the transportation
lines OF the United states IL the state
ments Of tho brotherhood leaders were
to be relief upon. has vanished. at
least for the time being. The railroads
surrendered to the brotherhoods.
granted their demands. and the strike
was a,crted Following closely on the
heels ~ this settlement came the de-
cision Of the supreme court UNFOLDING
the validity ct the Adamson law maxi
ing eisht hours a DAYS work for rail-
~ employees in train and engine
service. II appears, that the specter
of working hours and pay Will not
appear to friRhten MS again in the |
near future. Just what question viii
be the next To- come up remains 10
be seen. That some controversy will
appear ON the horizon sooner or later
is almost a certainty. But II looks
like the question of working hours
and wages has been settled for a good
MANY years TO come.
There hare been two sides 90 this
dispute an along. No doubt IL the
underlying motives were known the
men did rot desire an increase In
wages 50 much as they did some rule !
that would require the railroads 90
get their trains over the road quicker. .
or, falling 10 do so. to ~penalizc them
la the way OF additional payment To-
the crews for every hour in excess ~
eight hat they were compelled to
work. All men In the train and m
CINE service do not lead lives OF case.
as some people imagine. Il IS tru
that there are many runs whore the
hours are short and the pay Is good.
But Il must be remembered that the
men holding those runs have had To-
pat in many years at hard labor be-
fore they acquired seniority enough
TO entltle them TO these snaps ON
the other haiie there are lots Of runs
where men are on duty from Nv tive
10 sixteen hours. Their duties are
onerous, Working this number Of
hours in all kinds Of weather condi-
tons Ia no easy matter. Furthermore,
thor minds are supposed to be alert
al all times. should they. because of
wearincss make a mistake IL meana
generally the loss OF their position.
On the other hand IL has never ap-
pared that the railrGad heads were
willing TO practice economy. II is a
noteworthy fact that many Of these
officials draw larger salaries than
they could hope to command in ans
other line Of work, and. to an out
slider, il seems that in many cases
they are too high considering the
responsibility involved. Hut you never
hear Of an officials salary being re-
duced. Another thing Officials. even
Though times are hard and everything
IL COINS to the bow-wows, as they as
sert, travel around In their special
cars with frequent regularity. In fact.
the harder times are the move travel
ing they seem to find 1t necessary 20
do. The. are not content To- merely
travel themselves, but they often take
their families and friends along aud
feed them AZ the cNpens ~ the COM
pauy. And, believe MS. they live GU
the TAT Of the land. No ordinary grub
goes. They consume the best Of every
thing. They are not even content 10
drink ordinary water hut must have
mineral water. They care nothing for
THE high cost 81 living. The company
Is footing the bills, 50 why economics %
This may seem Ike e small item.
But iu the course OF q wear IL will
iamount to q considerable sum ON any
large railroad system. However. Il rs
the principle that count Employees,
noticing this what appears to them
ox%travagance and disregard for cX-
pensoS, become restless, ylsmor FOR
more pay and the first thing We know
the country is marking time while the
railroad managers and brotherhood
headers settle their differences.
And, in tho end who b. going g.
foot the bills II g. estimated that
the increase i'm vac viii mou %
ia total Of 100000. 900. The railroads
are O going 60 hclr this drain on
their treasures Tho first thing We
know they win he asking for an in