The Lamar register., 1921-07-27
ATTORNEYS HALLS
STRIKING REVELATIONS
(Houston Post).

way IdDor DOaru luesuly, showing
how railway compensation on his line
was out of all proportion to compen-
sat,on of men in other vocations.
Mr.. Halls manner of driving home
his point was very effective, much
more so than the testimony on the
question of wages heretofore submit
ted. His predecessors have mentioned
scales, percentages, overtime, penal
ties, etc, but Mr.. Hall took up specific
cases, showing what each man draws
in year, and comparing his compen
sation with the pay of others.
Here was an engineer of a small
branch line who draws s4,371.92 a
year, and Mr.. Hall added: "S371.92
more than the Governor of Tennessee
receives" That must have impressed
former Governor Hooper public mem
ber of the board, who had served four
years in the Tennessee governship.
High school teachers at points on
the line were paid from SIPS to sl4s
month, said Mr.. Hall, whereas
blacksmiths and switehmen received
sls5.5l and slss.56 respectively
Vanderbilt professors get 1851.
University of Tennessee s2.6S4,
Georgia Tech $500, as against these,
the conductor on the Rome branch OF
Is miles length gets s5,735.ss year,
and the haggagemen more than the
assistant professors.
The engineer on the Rome branch
gets S5 ,997 .04, nearly $500 more than
the. superior court judges, while the
negro flagman and porter on the Col
umbia- -Decherd branch gets s3,l46.4O.
or s1464O more than the district at
tornews general of Tennessee.
Compared with the compensation
that is drawn by men engaged in oc-
cupations requiring longer hours, a
much greater educational equipment.
and as much or more expenditure of
physical strength, the compensation
cited by Mr.. Hall appears out of all
reason, and is.
And the fact that such compensa-
ton is paid is a result of added bur
dens upon the public makes the case
one Of public Importance.
No doubt the organizations which
wrested these concessions under the
unusual conditions of the war period
thought they were drawing from the
treasures Of the stockholders, but they
are drawing from the pockets of the
people, now all too heavily burdened
by the swelling charges which the war
has laid upon them.
| Even other union laborers. receiv-
ing but small proportion of such com
pensation, must pay additionally out
CT their diminishing resources to keep
these swollen wages effective.
Just to what extent the figures sub
mttted by Mr.. Hall are Indicative of
the general condition, The Post can
not say, but it is not unreasonable to
suppose that they are not different
from the wage scales prevalent upon
other systems.
Considering the ability. education,
physical expenditure, experience or
other incidents of eligibility for such
service as Mr.. Hall cited, the COM
pensatoin paid-in view of business
condition., living standards, purchas-
ing power of money and the general
run of wage levels in other oecupa-
tions-is unquestionably exorbitant.
and just as unquestionably an unwar-
ranted burden inflicted upon the coun-
try, its business and its individual citi-
zens.
The only way such standards of pay
could be maintained in the transporta-
tion industry without wrecking the
roads would be by levying such
charges as would still further depress
the earning power of all other work
ers, and materially lowering their
standards of living.
1t seems to The Post that all the
railroad systems should adopt the me-
thod of Mr.. Hall, at least to the ex-
tent of stating in specific terms what
engineers, firemen, brakemen, switch
men, porters, conductors and others
actually draw, so that the people can
1 u IL