The Washington herald., 1918-03-03
The Open Forum
ENGINEERS VIE
She Gives Facts Upon Hours Of
Tr.,nr,en

To the Editor Of The Herald: OF
particular interest 20 q regular Herald
reader is the statement Of Mr.. W. O.
Edey, representing the train oispatch-
ers in their plea for Increased pay.
Evidently he 10 only familiar with the
salaries paid employees on the seaboard
Air Line Wouldn't IL be well II Mr..
Edey would fAmiliarfEe himself with
salaries paid on other lines. including
the Pennsylvinia7
He mentions an instance where an
engineer drew $40 in one month. He
didn't state how many hours thst
same engineer worked for that
amount. III venture TO say he worked
the limit Of sixteen hours out Of every
tventy-four.
1t would be a physical impossibility
for an engineer TO put In hours
enough on the road TO make ss1o =
month and live long enough TO tell
the tale.
Does he stop to realize the high
salaried engineer IL one OF the poorest
paid men in the service today for the
duty he performs7 Would Mr.. Bdey
take mis- position facing the same dan
ger. the same responsibility and say he
was wen paid?
can safely say there is not one
regular engineer in ten on the Mary
land division of the Pennsylvania Rail-
road who receives $50 a month or
over the average ray ranging from
$50 to $50.
For instance, on this same division.
an engineer receives t425 for q min
imum day of eight hours or less. or
100 miles or less in passenger service.
To Baltimore and return he receives
AB, overtime beginning after ten
hours. Think Of an engineer report
ing for duty at $50 a. m. being re-
lIeved after Il O'Clock the following
morning. which is eighteen hours, then
being told he was not violating the
siKteen-hour law as he was granted a
respite OF four hours during that
time.
Also OF running a train from WASH
ington to Manhattan transfer. a Dis
tance Of "a miles at a high rate or
speed with from 600 TO 500 passengers
and the responbility as well az the
expensive equipment, where the slight
/ est mistake could plunge all into
eternity, for Se.27.
He returns the following day and
has every third day for rest. He
couldn't make a run Of this kind
every day and live over five years, II
that long, as the strain is so nerve
racIIing with many times a rough
riding engine, which is vastly differ
ent from riding in a Pullman or sit
ting in out Of the weather discussing
the topics Of the day.
On the other hand. the train ais
patcher. safe from danger, and on
duty only eight hours. can keep neat
and presentable without any extra eN-
pense and can't possibly live on leS
than S235 a month. Seems to me pret-
ty poor figuring somewhere
He can get a light lunch at . small
cost, enough TO last until he gets
home TO dinner. whereas Il costs an
engineer anywhere from 50 cents 10
g for meals while away from home.
being gone many times thirty-six
hours and over. or else carry a lunch
box. reminding one Of srnai-siEe
trunk. TO prevent the agony OF his
stomach causing him to forget sig
mails and even the throttle and. We
as passengers. fear would stand
a poor show OF reaching our destina-
ton
l hone the day will come when we
can all have q service flag for our
brave engineers. and let's hope Mr..
Edey will reconsider before he Jumps
TO many more conclusions and take a
number of engineers. compare living
conditions and salaries with equal
numbers OF train dispafchers and not
select one engineer for one certain
division and judge the rest accord
inEly. Justice. Mr.. Edey.
AN ENGINEERS WIFE