Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1920-05-17
OF Workers Families A
Per Cent Are Underfed,
90 Per Cent Are Under
Clothed They Claim.
More Than 100000 Rail
Employees Do Not Earn
$1,O75 in Normal Year
Statement Declares.

Chicago, May 16.-The heads
bf the seventeen railroad broth
erhoods issued a statement Sum-
day night expressing apprehen-
sion as to the effect of further
delay in meeting the workers
request for increased wages.
The brotherhood officers ar
rived in Chicago for the re-
sumption of hearings before the
railway labor board on the
question of a general wage ad-
vance for railway employees. The
statement follows:
The country is face to face with the
menace Of a breakdown in transporta
ton service Already the efficiency and
safety Of the service have been ser
iously impaired by the action of thou
sands of employees who voluntarily have
quit to find higher wages elsewhere. The
car shortage now threatening to stop
the wheels of all industry in the country
il one of the first effects traceable to
the failure to provide the railway work
ers with living wage Moreover, rail
reason Of the reduction to almost one
third in the number of track walkers
whose duty it is to guard the roads
against causes of wrecks and other acci-
dents.
Confidence In Board.
"As the chosen representatives of the
two million railroad workers, we have
every confidence that the decision of the
railroad labor board in the wage ques-
n1 q .c oaI Will
be equitable and just and arrived at
with all possible speed. But, acutely
conscious of the gravity of the situation
in the transportation industry. we feel
j our duty to acquaint the country with
the essential facts.
I'VE have presented our case for
living wage for the workers. Expert
opinion, predicted on incontrovertible
facts, indicates that the lowest figure
at which family of five can be main
tanned in health and reasonable comfort
is $1,000 year.
I'VE also have submitted evidence
that only two and onehalf per cent of
the whole army of railroad workers are
receiving a living wage today. This
wholly of division officials. general
mechanical foremen and other supervi-
sorry groups.
Below Subsistence Level.
"Of the whole army of wage workers
in the transportation industry in the
United States today. Al per cent of their
familits are underfed 80 per cent are
urderclothed and 81 per cent of them
are overcrowded or inadequately housed
On the basis of what is accepted as the
most accurate estimate of a bare sub
sistence level of earnings. which is 81, 700
year, IS per cent of the country's rail-
way workers are attempting to maintain
their families below bare subsistence
level More than 100000 railway en-
plOyes do not earn in normal working
year $l,O15 below which figure nearly
three quarters of het families are un-
dcrnourished, and seven eighths are un.
derclad
Here is the entire transportation
system of the country. not with it's un-
skilled labor alone below the level Of
subsistence. but with seven eighths of
the entire working force below this level.
and q large proportion actually below
the starvation wage. The largest class
es ID the railway service must face the
prospect of seing their families without
the barest necessities of physical well
being. while only a small proportion can
look forward after nearly a lifetime of
service to attaining an approximation to
normal comforts.
Average Wage $3.50.
"The average yearly wage paid to the
entire number of railroad workers in
the United States today is 81 $50 for
normal working year of BOG eight hour
days, allowing nothing for sickness,
emergency, or irregularity of employ
ment. Compared with S1.700, the low
est subsistence wage budget worthy of
consideration, and S2,533, the bureau of
labor statistics minimum budget for
Washington, ID. c., this average alone
should be sufficient to compel immediate
relief for the railroad workers of the
country.
Under such conditions as we have
here outlined, it should not be surprising
that officials of the various organiza-
tions of railway employees should find it
difficult to maintain 100 per cent dis
clipine within their ranks Neither
should it be strange that men are leav-
ing the railway service and that other
men cast respect for wage agreements |
to the winds in an effort to Keep their !
families above the level of pauperism. |
Unrest in the ranks is naturally in |
creasing, and increasing at an alarming |
rate.
80 great is the isoue that ther can |
be no question as to the practicability |
Of paying rates which will make possible |
for 2,O00,0OO families standard of |
health and reasonable comfort. A living
wage is the only practicable answer to |