The Washington times., 1919-09-20
.EIPL L0fES'G S'G0NTR5L
OF FRR' 'SSlIGGESIEl

Employer ownership a. wril4asse1l-
ployes' management 81 the srsIIFoaf1
e. 8 possible substitute Tor lhe EIune
plan q guggested BY tae Ranwag A11
IN en- editorial o.. lts current i7Eue.
1T may Be thoaght," SAYS the RalI-
way Age. athat employees oWneFshIr
would be difficult to bring abenl
But it would Be very easy 60 bfiug
about When IL can Be shown thrt
the ranroad employees could easry
and On q short time become the mat-
ayers % the railroads by the simblo
procesa oc becoming their owners. the
question naturally afises ag - WY
they should BE carrying on an enorm-
Gus propaganda to get the other peo-
pie of the country 60 buy tka raiI-
roads Tor them-n
The employees, it g pointed out,
could quickly become the owners ~
the railroads by safing q compare.
lively small part 81 their aanull
wages and investinE Sc Oh Failfcad o.
curitieg. "Of course. 10 the em-
ployos owned even q majority of TIE
stock they could elect an the direc-
tors and through them manage the
railroads. "A plan for omplcyp9
purchase and ownership Of the raiI-
road is outlined as follows:
The employees are now tsiug paid
approximately e3.0o0.o .oC0. 600 year
On wages TIE cost of lgine Or The
United states, accordiug % the most
Feliable estimates. has .fncrcaaad only
about IS per cent within the laae lVa
years. while the average railway wage
has increased about 90 per cent
Therefore, the employees could, on
the average now save approximately
one-nftn Of theiF annual wages anl
at the same time 1--we ahout a. web
as they could have lived about Ave
years ago if they had spent Ell 81
their wages. If they anould save
One-hfth Of their wages their total
annual saving would Be eoo0Co0.o8e.
WouId Give EmUIoves CouHeL
The amount of railroad stock cute
standing IA the hands of the pdbiie
on June 50, 1915. vas s68i5.O0o ooD.
and il is not much more now TIE
average dividend paid was So per-
cent Presumably if the raiLWar1
are returned % private operation tfeV
viii be 50 regulated as 90 enable
them 20 continue % par an averaEe
dividend Of So per cent If the al-
ployes should save $500 900. 900 year
from their wages, invest it each year
IN railroad stocks, and also inreEt
ia railroad stocks the dividends thrv
received from their stocks, they would
ia nve years own e536d0o0.01o 81
stock, or a majority of an the stock
This would give Enem
control Or the oWuerBhlD aud Ehere-
fore the managemenL of -the Faii-
roads OF the United states. III fhsT
should continue 90 save ln the same
way. az the end of nine years lheg
would have saved ID wages and dlrF
dends f6.6Il,ooo.oog With thls thcT
could purchase all the stock nov
outstanding and also q few hundredg
o1 millions worth of BONDS.
-Thcse calculations are baaed Urea
the assumption that on the averave
they would. have to pay par Tor The
stock, Bat there are more Failrofd
stocks selling below par than aboFa.
Therefore, the emBloycs, ff they
bought stock at anything like the
present market prices. could acquire
complete ownership Of the railroads
for much less than we have estiUla-
ted. we have not extended our cal-
eulations 20 railroad bonds but %
would be an easy matter for the pres
by the practice Of merely reas6uabIo.
thrift to acquire all the railroad
stocks and bonds in existence and
leave them as a heritage 60 their
children.
Better Than Flhujb Plan.
This plan would have great &C.
vautages over the Plumb plan sroul
the standpoint Of both the public And
the employees. Under this plan hf~
employees ownership the employees
would be much more competent 20
select the best men for railroad man
ayers than they wound under the
Plumb plan.
while we do not believe that the
plan for employees ownership Of the
roadFoads we have outlined has mueh
that if the solution Of the railroad
more voice In the manage
ment, the increase OF the influence
In the management must be accom-
panied by an increase OF the invest
ment Of their own money in the rail-
roads. The main trouble with g large
part Of the plans for future owner
roads which have been. put forward
is mat they contemplate giving the
employees more power in the manage
ment without giving them any respou-
sibnity fer the results Of the exer-
never obtained BY giving anybody
increased power unaccpmpanied BY
responsibility"