Washington telegraph., 1921-05-27
Inc. for 1920 over 1919. 81 ,4s& "a

Inc. for 1920 over 1919 81, ,4sA s4,21o
Mr.. Kruttschnitt, in showiE4 how
little control the railroads hle over
necessary expenditures, said:
"Sixty-four cents out of every dol
lar Of operating expenses wSre, in
1920, paid out to labor, and thAwages
Of labor are fixed by the government.
Fifteen cents out of every dollar
Of operating expenses was paid for
materials and supplies at prices fixed
by the government
"Three and one-half cents out of
every dollar was paid for other ex-
penses incurred by the government I'm
the first two months of 1920.
"A total, therefore, of s21s cents out
of every dollar Of operating expenses
for 1920 was paid out at prices direct
ly fixed by the government.
"The remainder, up to 97N cents,
was for materials and supplies, pur-
chased at prices fixed by general mar
ket conditions and beyond the power
VI Tic IdllTOdIo " SOlbIOls
To illustrate how labor costs were
inflated by the "National Agreements"
entered into during federal control,
fixing rules and working conditions,
the following examples Were cited:
l. The Pere Marquette Railway was
compelled to pay 1884 ink back pay
to four employees because fheir titles
under these agreements werA changed
by decision Of the Direction = Essz-al.
while the nature Of their /ee and
the volume of their work nained
the same
2. A car repairer on thl hginian
Railway was paid 81, 900 n 0ork he
never did. He was laid Oh ,h other
employees because there vi #Ino work
for him TO do. When he Ezne en-
titled under his seniority hts" to
and overtime.
3. The Shop Crafts Agreement pro-
vides that when employees are re-
quired to check In and out on their
own time they will be paid for one
hour extra at the close OF each week,
no matter how few hours they may
have worked. This rule in the nrst
six months Of 1920 cost the railways
ss.5OO,OoO. or at rate OF $4,000, 900 a
year.
4. On the Chesapeake & Ohio Rail-
road piecework car repairers decreas-
ed Al per cent and airbrake repair
ers 33.4 per cent in efficiency under a
guarantee of a fixed minimum rate
per hour.
S. on the abolition Of piece work
on the Union Pacific Railroad in the
wheel shop at Omaha, Nebr., the time
required for the same work was in
creased 8l.9 per cent and the output
was cut down "a per cent; and in a
oach-cleaning yard at Denver the
time required was increa sed 8ss per
cent and the output decreased 2s per
cent.
s. Southern Pacific employees,
whose sole duty was TO keen watch
on stationary engines and to stop the
engine in case anything went wrong,
were reclasslfed by Director General
as electrical workers" one man on
the salt Lake division being given
another S2,0O9, another 81, 0O3, and six
others amounts varying from $1,000
to $1,000.
:. Under the present classification
rules Of the shop crafts in order 10
change a nozzle tip in the front end
of locomotive It is necessary TO call
boiler maker and his helper TO omen
the door, because that is boiler mak-
helper 20 remove the blower nine,
because that Is pipemen's work And
call machinist and his helper H.
move the tip, because that is J.
chinists' work. also for the same e
10 be employed for putting in IN W
tip. ~
Questioned by Senator Poir. xssr.
Mr.. Kruttschnltt stated that NJ I'M
stances might be increased indZ.e-
ly and were characteristic on RAJ Iuds
of the country, as result Lne
Agreements" left over from -,l
control.
(snuTOpTinuucr