Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-06
ONE PHASE OF IT


EAJOR GENERAL AFTER
M BURY talked vigorously and
without reserve at a welcome
home" celebration the other day
This railroad leader of vision and
experience is entitled to speak or
such an occasion. At an age when
many men are thinking of retiring
he volunteered for, service in France
and was sent abroad to undertake
the herculean task of organizing a
railroad system capable of handling
100000 men, supplies and equip
ment, with a prospect of doubling
those numbers if the war had kept
up. So he earned his right to speak
on the war and it's effects, for few
men have had such opportunities
for observation.
General Atterbury deals not in
theories but in cold facts. Read
what he says about the reduced pro-
duction of labor on the Pennsylvania
system:
have figures as it affects
shops like Remove, on the Penn
sylvania lines. Prior to our en-
trance into the war you were on
piece work basis, as well as
working on ten-hour day. When
the government took over our
railroad piece work was stopped
The output per man per hour fell
from 100 per cent. to seventy-five
per cent. The shops were put on
an eight-hour basis. This cut the
output an additional fifteen per
cent. so the output per man per
day in our shops is but sixty per
cent. of what 1t was before we
entered the war. In other words,
1t takes ten men to-day to do
what six men did before the war.
Now, the Pennsylvania Railroad
to-day has in it's employ 16S,S92
persons, as against 147,71S before
We went into the war, or an in
crease of over fourteen per cent.
At the same time the traffic
units fell from 16,S00,0O0,O00 to
15,00c, 900. 000-or q. reduction OF
eleven per cent. in the business;
fourteen per cent. more men did
eleven per cent. less work. Or,
expressing 1t in a little way. IL
took My men in 1919 to do the
work of 100 men in 1917.
What we manufacture is tom
anu lOIIldBt per HldI til-
ployed has fallen off, notwith-
standing the continued introduc-
tion OF heavy locomotives and
other instruments of increased
efficiency.
In the periods. corresponding
to the number of employees l have
just given you. the average num-
her of traffic units per employe
has fallen from 1882 TO S9.30S.
In the early part of 1917 we
were on ten-hour basis. During
1919 we have been on an eight
hour basis. A twenty per cent
reduction in time alone. had we
worked with exactly the same
effort that we did in 1917. would
have moved in an eight-hour day
91,145 units. AS matter of fact,
as have already shown you, there
was moved only S9.3OS units. The
advocates of the eight-hour day
claimed an increase in efficiency.
In reality the results proved just
the opposite-that there has been
a reduction in efficiency.
At the same time. the condition
of the power is getting worse and
worse. bad order cars are tncreas-
ing and the roadbed all over the
system is suffering from lack of
the ordinary maintenance and the
introduction of sufficient new rails
and ties. ..-. y-.-- - -
So far as transportation affects
the high cost of living. therefore,
we have this situation: An In
creased number of employees. who
produce not only less transporta-
tion per man. but also per man
hour. of n relatively low charac-
ter, reacting on the general situa-
ton. These additional men ne
cessarily have reduced the number
of men who otherwise would be
available for the production OF
essentials other than transporta-
tion-consuming more and pro-
6ucinR less.
This would be alarming enough II
it applied to railroads alone, but de-
creased production has entered into
every branch of industry. No rea-
man expects workmen to go
back to a pre-war wage basis. and
it would make no difference IL he
did. Wages are high and will re-
main high, but production is far be-
low the normal output and it must
be increased If prices are to come
down. 1t is impossible to manu-
facture goods cheaply or to operate
a train economically If workmen do
not do a full days work for a full
days pay. This is only one phase
of the high cost of living problem,
but it is of vital importance.