The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-11-01
ALL RAILROADS
WOULD Be
BANKRUPTED

lie. Demands For IN
| creased w a g e s
Should Be Granted
Railroads w .ould
Have Deficit Of ST.
241, ,639, ,548
Chicago. Oct 20 (By the Asso-
iciated Press).-Attacising the the
Org of "tlle living wage" as a basis
for determining wages of railroad
workers. the public and railroad
groups of the railroad labor board
in an opinion made public tonight
declared such course, "if car
ried to its legitimate conclusion
would wreck every railroad in the
United States. and if extended to
other industries would carry them
into eommunistic ruin"
The opinion in the form of re-
joinder ITO dissenting opinion filed
by A. O.. Wharton. labor member
in the recent decision increasing
1.-THE pay of maintenance of way
employees two cents an hour. de-
clared if employees were granted q
~ to rs cents minimum wage for
common labor with corresponding
diferential for other classes, an in
crease sof 1851 per cent. in the ma
tion's railroad wage, bill would be
necessary. This the opinion said,
would add s3.122.952,3S7 to the
annual payroll. bringing it to So
589.455 ,993, which would mean
lit added, an annual deficit to the
carriers OF s2,24T,639,518.
| Even if the 4S cents minimum
wage requested by maintenance OF
waySmen were granted and CORE
spending differentiafs were. made
for ether classes Of employees, the
ppinion said, an increase of 50.45.
iper cent in wages would be neces-
isary. adding s1,249.930.994 to the
annual wage bill of the roads,
i bringing 1T up to 3,725sSs4.54e.
! thus forcing the railroads to race
an additional deficit of s378,078, l25.
4 The phrase Swing wage was
termed in the opinion as tSbit OF
ime1ifuous phraseology. well cal
iculated to deceive the unthinking. 8.
.1f the contentious were that
the board should establish a .hv-
ling wage the majority would read
IN accede to the proposition, the
/ opinion said, and as matter OF
fact the board in this instance; as
In all Others, has granted "a ehv-
ling wage. But the abstract; eiu-
1 siye thing called the living wage,
confessedIy based upon make
shift and a guess, can mot receive
4 the sanction of this board, because
1T would be utterly impractical ana
would not be just and reasonapi
las the law demands.
Mr.. Nhartonss dissenting sopln-
lion and the supporting opinion IN
lreply are attached to the formal
decision Increasing the pay OF
maintenance of way employees two
cents an hour, establishing a MIN
iTmum ranging from 25 to 81 cents.
! The United Brotherhood of Main
/ tenance OF Way Employees. Rail-
way Shop laborers, held strike or
taer affecting 40o, 900 men III abey-
ance last July aftersthe board had
reduced wages pending a request
! for an increase based on the con-
.tention that the costs of living had
advanced and wages in otner M
idustries had been raised
When the case came up main
ttenance of way officials asked the
hoard to subscribe to the princlpie
| of the living wage based .on a
/ budget of what was required TOT ,
Ian average family Of five persons
IN i've IN health and reasonable
comfort. A majority of the ooaro
refused to subsribe to this pran-
cip1e, asserting that the transpor-
ttation act called for ESTABLISHING q
! ;ust and reasonable wage and that
lust and reasonable wage was IN
effect living wage.
/ The maintenance OF way organ
izat;on asked the board to estaoiisn
m;n,mun rates of pay Of 4S; cents
an hour to replace rates then IN
/ effect ranging from % to S5 cents.
! After a. deadlock of several days
the. board made public its decision
formally handed down today IN
creasing rates of pay two cents an
hour and adding about s2o,eeo'-
}00e to the railroad payroll.
The decision asserted that the
increase raise was due mostly to
the fact that higher rates OF wages
we're being paid for the same class
les Of work in other industries ana
that there had been no apprecla-
bic increase in the cost OF living.
Mr.. Wharton in his dissenting
opinion maintained that the fun-
damental error of the decision
rested on failure to. inquire into
"the adequacy of rates of pay es-
tablished for section men and un-
skilled laborers." He asserted that
}rates of pay in other industrise OF
tsimi1ar character should be made
secondary consideration and
tb.t tho nrime factor. to be con-