Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1922-06-07
) Il go. I7Zs s g
THE TRUTH ] ABOUT z
THE RAILROADS
v. Published By fhe.
brotherhood Of Loco; Engineers
Railroad Rates and Wages---What IL
Their Relation; IfiAny?

tneN netdpoHs Vt Any
Railroad executives testifying be-
fore the Senate Committee on Inter
state Commerce, the Interstate Com
MERGE Commission and the United
States Railroad Labor Board, and in
propaganda, disseminated from in
Vulnerable sources. have argued that
wages paid railroad workers areS en-.
tirely responsible: for existing trans
portation charges. At every possible
opportunity they reiterate that freight
and passenger rates cannot come down
unless wages are s!ashed.
To what extent are these claims sus-
tanned by the facts?
20 Within the last few weeks the, sub
ject has been discussed in great de-
tail before the Interstate Commerce
Committee of the United States Sen
ate and the Interstate Commerce Coma
mission, by DR.. Frank J. Warne, Of
Washington, D. c., an economist of es.,
tablished reputation, who has devoted
his life to study Of the railroad ques-
ton.
Dr.. Warne testified that the increase
In freight rates from 1914 to 1921 av-
eraged; for the country as whole, 113
per cent.
From 1914 to 1916 wages Of railroad
employees remained almost stationary,
and from 1916 to 1921, according to the
highest estimate made by the railroad
executives, they advanced e4.6 per
cent.
These statements of Dr. Warne will
come as something of a shock to those
who have gained their knowledge of
the railroad problem from the state
ments issued by the railroad execu-
tives.
Wage increases Exaggerated
The railroad propagandists have re-
peatedly made the claim that the in
crease in railroad wages ranged from
100 to $50 per cent, and they have al
ways insisted that the increase in
freight rates. was considerably less
than 100 per cent.
They have endeavored to convince
+: the public that the only increase in
rates were the flat~increases ordered
: by the Railroad Administration and
the Interstate Commerce Commission.
They have concealed the fact that the
roads, since the return to private man
agement, have made thousands OF
changes in commodity rates, and that
IS per cent Of the traffic of the coun,
try is moved'under these rates.
DR.. Warne challenged the accuracy
of the estimate that the workers
wages had increased 84.6 per cent. 1t
was presented, he said, to the Senate
Committee on Interstate Commerce by
John r. Walber, secretary Of the Bur
eau Of Information of the eastern rail
roads, and DR.. Warne accepted it be-
cause he said it was the highest esti-
mate that had been made by any au.
thOrized representative of the rail
roads when testifying before an off
cial body, where his testimony became
matter of record.
a"Freight rates ;atone," said Or. War
ne, ."have Increased in amounts, Of
dollars since 1914 from two to three
times as much as the increase in thu
wages of employees.
Notwithstanding the long deferred
increases in wages granted to railroad
employees during and following Fed
eral control" said DR.. Warne, "ths
great majority of workers on the rail
roads today are not. receiving a wage
sufficient to support. themselves ant
their families in decency and comfor
to the extent demanded of them by. GU
democratic form Of society with it
republican institutions.
'Not only is this the solemn truth