The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1921-05-26

lar OF operating expenses were, U
1870, paid out to labor, and the wages
OF labor are fixed by the government.
"Fifteen cents out Of every dollar
OF operating expenses was paid for
materials and supplies at prices fi1e1
oy the government
Three and One-half cents out Of
every dollar was paid for other ex.
penses incurred by the government u
the first two months OF 1920.
"A total. therefore, OF s2h cents out
OF every dollar Of operating expenses
for 1920 was paid out at prices dirsoa.
y hsed by the government.
"Ths remainder, up to 97H cent?,
was for materials and supplies, pur-
chased at prices fixed BY general mar
',et conditions and beyond the power
Of the railroads to control"
To illustrate how labor costs were
inflated BY the National Agreeme nts"
entered into during federal control,
the following examples were cited:
/. The Pere Marquette Railway wa,
compelled to pay 81. 1854 in back DAY
to four employees because their titles
under these agreements were changed
by decision Of the Director General.
while the nature Of their duties and
the volume of their work remained
the same.
9 A car reparer on the Virginian
Railway was paid 81 600 for work he
never did He was laid OF with other
employees because there was no work
for him to do. When he became en-
titled under his seniority rights to
be re-employed, he received back pay
and overtime.
g. The shop Crafts Agreement pro
vdes that when employees are re-
qured to check in and out the!I
own time they will he paid for one
hour extra at the close Of each week
no matter how few hours they may
have worked This rule in the hrS
SIX months of 1920 cost the railways
Sc 500, 900. or at rate of $4,000 600 e
year.
l. on the Chesapeake & Ohio Ran
road piecework car repairers decreas-
ed Ala per cent and Airbrake repair
ers 33,4 per cent in efficiency under b
guarantee Of a fixed minimum rate
per hour.
on the Unicn Pacific Railroad in the
wheel shop at Omaha. Nebr the time
required for the same work was in
creased 3l.9 per cent and the output
was cut down "a per cent; and in
coach cleaning yard at Denver the
time required was increased 1888 per
cent and the output decreased 2s per
cent.
&. Southern Pacific employees
whose sole duty was to keep watch
on stationary engines and to stop the
engine in case anything went wrong,
were rec!assified by Director General
as electrical workers." man on
the Salt Lake division being given
back pay Of $2,3 another So 094
another s.. .009 another s., ,003, and six
others amounts varying from $500
to $500.
7. Under the present classification
rules OF the shop crafts, In order to
change nozzle tip in the front end
of locomotive it is necessary to call
a boiler maker and his helper to open
the door, because that is boiler max
ers' work to call pipeman and his
helper to remove the blower pipe,
because that is pipemens work; and
call machinist and his helper to re-
move the tip, because that is ma
chnists' work; also for the same force
to be employed for putting in the new
tip.
Questioned by Senator Poindexter,
Mr. Kruttschnitt stated that these In
stances might be increased Indefinite
ly and were characteristic on railroads
of the country, as result of the
Agreements" left over from federaa
control.