The Alaska daily empire., 1918-02-09
AdamSon Act Caused in- crease of 100000 Annually to the
 Railroads.
REDUCE WORKING DAY
Commission Makes Its Report to the Presi- dent on Working
 of the Law.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.-The re port of the commission of three ap pointed in 1916 to observe the opera ton and effects of the Adamson S. hour law has been transmitted to the President and to Congress- It is signed by Geo. w. Goethals, chair man; E. E. Clark, and George Ru blee. The report contains, among other things, the findings of the commission with regard to the eff fects of tne institution of the S-hour standard workday upon wages and hours It shows the increase in cost of the railroads, the increase in wa ges, as affecting the individual em- ployes, the amount of overtime pay ments and additional allowances, ty pical wages by occupations in rela- ton to services performed, and the average hours of service.
 An Accomplished Fact
 The S-hour day, says the report, IS measure of days work for the purpose of reckoning the com pensation of certain classes of rail road employees, has become an ac- complished fact, and it is not under stood that the roads have any in tention of further contesting the es- tablishment of the S-hour day for the employees concerned. These em- ployes recognized by the roads as entitled to the 8-hour basis under the law are: Engineers, firemen, con ductors, assistant conductors, bag gagemen, brakemen, and flagmen, n road and yard service, and gen. orally also hostlers. The average number of employees in these calsses the calendar year 1916 was 308,- 373, or about F per cent. of the .otal number of railroad employees.
 Permission of Overtime
 The law does not limit the actual duration of work to eight hours per lay As actually applied in prac- ice, the eight-hour standard which is being observed in road service is the so called speed basis of 12R miles per hour This means that on a run of 100 miles or less, over time begins after eight hours, while on a 125-mile run it begins after 10 hours Notwithstanding the per mission of overtime, the law has had some effect in reducing the ac- tual hours of work This is true chiefly in yard service Between March and October, 1917, over H. 900 yard crews were placed on the eight-hour shifts.
 In road service the reduction in hours has been slight. Where hours have not been reduced, the law has had the effect of increasing wages. Detailed reports for the month of January, 1917. indicate that the law caused the addition of over $61,000,- poo annually to railroad operating expenses To what extent economies may be introduced to offset this in crease in expense can not be stated.
 Passenger Service Little Affected
 Except in short turn around and suburban service, the passenger ser vice is but little affected by the law. In road freight service the increase Il wages averages about 15 per cent. and about 25 per cent. in yard ser vice. Where, however, there has been an actual reduction in hours, the total pay of the individual work CT is not necessarily increased by ;he eight-hour law, and his pay may actually be less than it was in the year 1916, before the law became effective.
 A detailed study of the pay rolls indicates that 12.6 per cent. of the employees in the classes named re- ceived no increase in pay in January, 1917, under the eight-hour law; 30.2 per cent received less than $10 per month increase; 227 per cent re- ceived from $1O to s20 month in- crease; and 345 per cent. received $20 or more per month increase. These figures are subject to modifi- cation to the extent that hours of work subsequently, have been re- duced.
 Hours of Labor in Eastern Districts Concerning the hours of labor, the report says, that in the eastern dis trict in slow freight service the ac' tual time during which engineers are on duty is from F to 13 hours