New Britain herald., 1917-09-21
10! PITY THE POOR
 TROLLEY WORKERS
Ten Per Cent. Receive Less Than
 "A Cents an Hour

of Labor, 10 per cent of the regular motormen on surface street railway lines in the larger cities of the United States in 1914 earned "A cents per hour, "A per cent earned under 26 cents 43 per cent under 2S cents, 61 per cent. under 30 cents, S5 per cent under 32 cents, and 98 per cent. un- der 34 cents.
 These figures are drawn from study of 101 companies in 81 cities, made by special agents of the bureau. Nearly all companies have a sliding scale of wages for motormen and con- ductors based on length of service. The annual increase generally is about 1 cent and some companies con- tinue such increases for 10 or more years.
 As rule, conductors are paid the same rate as the motormen. The length of service for conductors, how ever, does not average so high as for motormen. Of the regular conduct ors working for the same companies 13 per cent. earned under "A cents per hour, 33 per cent. earned under 26 cents, 51 per cent. under 28 cents, 67 per cent under 30 cents, S8 per cent under 32 cents, and 99 per cent under 34 cents.
 Extra" motormen and conductors are those having no regular runs, and generally are men new in service who take the place of regular men when absent, or take such irregular service as the company may have to offer Their wage rates are lower than the rates of regular men who have been in service a longer time. In addition to the data obtained by special agents the bureau also col lected by correspondence figures as to wages and hours of labor from more than 300 companies, most Of them in cities smaller than the 81 cities spe- cially studied. The wage rates of both groups of cities were classified in 1 cent groups. The bulletin shows the median rate for car employees. By median rate is meant the rate of the man having as many men of low CT rate below him as of higher rate above him. The median rate in the cities visited by the bureaus agents were found to be as follows
 Motormen, regular, surface, 2S and under 29 cents per hour.
 Motormen, extra, surface, 25 and under 26 cents per hour.
 Motormen, regular, elevated and subway, 35 and under 36 cents per hour
 Motormen, extra elevated and sub- way, 30 and under 31 cents per hour
 Conductors, regular, surface, 27 and under 2S cents per hour.
 Conductors, extra. surface, 24 and under 25 cents per hour.
 Conductors, regular, elevated and subway, 25 and unCer 26 cents per hour.
 Guards, regular, elevated and sub way, 23 and under 24 cents per hour. Guards, extra, elevated and subway, q and under 22 cents per hour In the group of cites for which data were obtained by correspondence the median rates were:
 Motormen, regular and extra. sur face, 25 and under 26 cents per hour Conductors regular and extra, sur face, 25 and under 26 cents per hour. In this second group the regular | and extra men were not reported separately.
 Some companies pay certain men 1 for more hours than are actually 1 worked. The extra man complains 1 of the irregularity and uncertainty of l the work given him and the length of l time he must wait to get a regular run. few companies guarantee a l minimum earning to their extra train | men. The chief complaint of the reg 1 ular man is the length of service re- quired per day, and more especially | the long hours over which the work may be spread by one or more per sons off duty in his days work. One | of the great problems that confronts l the street railway company is so to l ifc +o
 modate the variation in traffic from 1 hour to hour, and from day tC day. l A regular run is a regular estab- l lished days work, assigned to a reg ular man, which he is expected to | make day after day regularly. The l schedule frequently varies on Satur- day and more often on Sunday Of 1 a total of 3O4 43S Monday to Friday | runs on surface lines, 8 per cent
 were runs of under hours on duty,
 5 per cent of and under Sk hours
 II per cent. of S1k and under hours l9 per cent. of 9 and under 9 F hours
 23 per cent. of 9k and under 10
 hours, 22 per cent of 10 and under
 1O14 hours, per cent of 101 and
 under II hours, per cent. of II and
 under 11h hours, per cent. of Il 1a
 and under 12 hours, and 2 per cent
 of 12 hours or over.
 Because of the breaks Ctimes off
 duty) in the days work the time be-
 tween which the days work is begun
 and ended frequently far exceeds the
 hours on duty. In the same 30.43s
 regular Monday to Friday runs or
 surface lines, the outside time of l
 per cent. of the runs was and un-
 der 8h hours; of 3 per cent. # and
 under g hours; of 6 per cent and
 under 9h hours; of z per cent. 9 A
 and under 10 hours; of per cent
 of 10 and under 0A hours; of 5 per
 cent 10h and under II hours; of l per cent l. and under IT. # hours; ot