Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-11-27
MINERS EFFICIENCY
FALLS AS PAY GOES Up
Increase in Wages Tends to Low
er Production, Says c. A.
Prouty, Director of Valuation
of Railroads for Interstate
Commerce Commission

Z Tho Hon G. A. Prouty Of Newport,
/ who as director Of valuation for the IN
! terstatc Commerce Commission, has the
| task of Keeping track of the values ~
| the railroads of the United States
amounting to about twenty billions Of
money or nearly the amount of the war
debt, was at the Hotel Vermont Tues
day and was interviewed by Free Press
reporter regarding the statements that
/ the coal miners were able to work only
: n small part Of the time because Of the
scarcity of coal cars and the equipment
| fer hauling them.
Mr. IT. DUTY stated i'm answer that dur
ing the month preceding the coal strike.
more coal was mined than in anv nre
Nious month ia history and tho railroad
had the mincs practically cleaned ont Of
4 mined coal when tho strike went on or
/ coursc III order TO have plenty Of coal
cars during the three most severe months
Of the wear the railroads would he corr
! pellcd to make biz Investment in stock
which could be used only short time
and would lie idle for ninc months Peo-
, pie to largo extent huv coal onI,- a
| they need # and do not buy ahead IN
sufficient quantities 10 keep the cars
! busy.
Mr.. Prouty stated further that the coal
y
percentage of them work only when they
have to and when the wages are higher
! the amount Of work put ian by them is
| likely to show n decided decrease In
other words, the miner goes back to work
when the money runs low. therefore his
efficiency varies almost inverselv witt
! the amount Of money paid for his labor
! Mr.. Proutys force is now enga ged I'm
computing figures by which the efficiency
! can lie ascertaincd in the employees of
| the railroads. and the same peculartv
! seems to exist there. The greatest in
creases have been made to the shopmeu
and in that quarter the greatest inefi-
| cheney has developed.
| The force employed IN the valuation Of
| the property in charge of Dlrector-Gen-
eraI Hines and assisting Mr. Proutv
! in his work is about ZOO The
valuation was taken as it was IN
1914. Stock purchased since that time is
added and that discarded is Subtra cted.
| the number of new locomotives pur-
chased by the railroads of the country
would be approximately 5000 per year
| In the last two years about that number
has been bought but almost none has
been relegated to the scrap heap. The
| reason for this is that the buying Of cheap
| locomotives has been discontinued and
tHe heavier ~ pes S(dnQ up a long time.
! The same thing is true in a sense of the
| freight cars. The number purchased IN
| normal times is about 10000 per year and
! the number being bought now is much
| less but the life of freight car can be
| prolonged indefinitely by repairing first
one part and then another. and the num-
Der put in scrap now is small
! In speaking of the present situation,
| Mr. Prouty said that one and the main
trouble was that the country had too much
money. Things will not get back to nor
| NAL until foreign competition comes in
| and equalizeS business. He is heartily in
favor of paying off d part Of the war
| debt by assessing those who made great
fortunes out of the war. This could
easily be done, in his opinion. by Con-
| eress The statement has been made that
| the war made 1000 millionaries This
| is probably about true These with the
hundreds of thousands who made for
| tunes which did not reach a million, could
| do much TO pay off the debt, and pulling
| down some of this wealth which was made
overnight would be a good thing for the
| country.
| In addition to being director of valua-
| ton for the Interstate Commerce Com
| mission, Mr.. Prouty is at present one of
! the staff of eight directors Of accounting,
| associated with Director General Hines
This latter position, however, carries with
! II nothing in the way of compensation.