The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-09
MORE men NEEDED
Repairs on Railroad Equipment
Require Additional Labor.
Members of More Crafts Used
Now on Same Work.

| When a railway engine goes to the
/ shop for repairs these days men of
three, four, even of five crafts have to
be used to do what the men of two
crafts and even of one craft did four
years ago.
When locomotive headlight gen.
orator has to be removed nowadays
| six men have to be employed to do
| what after all is a simple job-an cleo
trician with his helper, a sheet metal
worker and his helper. and a ma
chinist with his helper. Four years
i ago two men, a machinist and his as
| sistant, did the whole job.
When railway engine boiler
| springs a leak three craftsmen, each
| with a helper-under the rules that
now regulate railway labor-have to
be employed TO make the necessary
repairs. The process is as follows:
Waste of Labor.
A sheet metal worker. with helper
standing by to hand him his tools.
! will loosen the jacket; a locomotive
carpenter. with another assistant
standing at his elbow to handle his
tools and pass them to the skilled
! workman, will remove the tagging;
! then a boiiermaker, with third help
er at hand to wait upon him, will
| caulk the leak; the carpenter and his
! helper will replace the tagging, and
the sheetmetal worker and his assist
ant will then tighten the jacket Six
men, three skilled and three semi
| skilled. have waited their turns and
stood around in each others way,
| whereas a good boilermaker and his
| helper could have done the job as
/ well, and quicker.
If a boiler check has to be changed
| two men have to do now what one
! man used to do.
Four years ago an ordinary handy
| shopman could change a nozzle tip in
! the front end of a locomotive; he
! could do it today if the rules would
permit it. But the rules require that
I six men shall be employed to do that
small task-a boilermaker and his as
| sistant, pipeman and his assistant,
and a machinist and his assistant.
These are all railroad shopcraft
| jobs. All the workmen are highly
paid. All belong to the skilled labor
| classifications. For each illustration
| here given a hundred more might be
cited, all calculated to show just what
| the railroads of the United States are
up against.
A Last Hour Law.
| It all comes about under the law
Thus:
! At the last hour, on the day before
the railways came back under private
| control, congress passed the law mn
Iposing the terms under which their
| owners are required to operate them.
The transportation act gives the inter-
| state commerce commission the power
/
what the revenues of the roads shall
| be. The act gives the railway labor
board the power to regulate wages
| that is. to decide in large degree what
| the expenses of the roads shall be.
1 Then the law tries to yoke the WASH
| ington commission and the Chicago
| board together by declaring that the
roads are entitled to such a margin of
revenue over outgo as shall yield their
| owners an income of "a per cent on
their property values.
These owners are practically the
people of the United States. The
| Pennsylvania has 100000 stockholders
| and the Pennsylvania is one of the
| twenty-eight roads that are earning
| expenses but not taxes and fixed
Echarges. The Boston & Maine is
another. The New Haven is one of the
36 roads that does not even earn its
operating expenses. The Maine Cen
trail is another. Are the owners get
] ting the returns contemplated by the
! transportation act? They are not.
Tens of thousands of stockholders are
getting no dividends at ALL
/ What are the roads to do? If they
want to charge more for the service
| they sell. they must go to Washington
and ask permission. If they want to
pay less for the labor they buy, they
must go to Chicago and ask permits
| sion. And Washington has been
known to say:e What you need is not
an increase in rates, but a decrease in
wages, Go to Chicago and get it,
And Chicago has been known to say:
You do not need a decrease in wages,
/ but an increase in rates. Go to Wash
fington and get it, And between the
two stand the management of the
roads, with the owners asking for their
dividends and the business and indus
| try of the land absolutely unanimous
| that they cannot stand higher rates.
An ordinary factory would shut down
until times improve-the railroads
must keep on selling transportation for
passengers and commodities.
Roads Need Deflation Too.
The illustrations here cited indi-
cate why the railroads are trying to do
the one thing the logic of the situation
implies. They argue that the process
of deflation now going on in other in
dustries must be applied to the coun-
not be permitted to become a privi-
legged labor class. The railways must
not be compelled to pay more for la
Dor than labor can command in the
open markets. The eight-hour day, |
the retroactive feature of the wage
rules, the national agreements pre-
scribing infinitely just who shall do
every small task and precisely how it |
shall be done have boosted the labor
costs of the railroads. SO that today |
SAACS AthSl nave 44U.OOU ShlliSQ men TO
do what 303 900 did in 1917, to say
nothing of unframed laborers; so that |
those skilled workmen cost the people |
$50 millions year now, against SIS |
millions in 1917; and so that the |
whole payroll of the american rail- |
roads today Is $500 millions, and |
three years ago it was less than half |
that sum.
Labor cost is two-thirds of the gross |
expenses of running the railways to- |
Nora TORS r.k Nj
trying to lessen that burden. Every- |
body wants labor to be paid we'll for !
every real job it does. But nobody
believes the roads ought to have toll
bay six men and eight men now fer |
doing what two men and one man |
used to do as well.
New Job for ''Shack."