The Republican journal., 1922-02-16
The Railroad Situation

Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company
was the principal speaker at a luncheon
given a few days ago by the Bangor
Chamber of Commerce. We have read
so much semi-political stuff about railroad
management and Encouragement that
his business-like presentation OF the stu
alton and the clarity of his remarks are
as welcome as "cold waters to thirsty
SOUL" He said:
There are three methods of furnishing
the public with transportation. One Is by
private ownership and operation. That is
what we had before the war, and all in-
stances of it's failure can be blamed on rail-
road managers like myself. They did all
right until some of them got mixed up In
politics.
"The second way is by private owner
ship and government operation. You had
that during the war. l hate to contradict
Mr. McAdoo on his statement that the
railroads W ere handed back to their owners
in better condition than they were when
the government took them over will
simply say that is not true. am still try
ing to repair the damage that was done to
the Bangor & Aroostook railroad during
the war under government management.
1.-The third method of furnishing the
people with transportation facilities is by
government ownership and operation.
That has not been tried, but it is fair IN
| ference that the government would give
the same kind of service under that ar
rangement that they gave during the war
when they were only running them Tor
| the private owners.
| "Now | want to speak about railroad
rates. For years before the government
| took over the roads, the Interstate Com
MERGE Commission was timid about rals-
ing the rates, although the railroad compa-
MES petitioned for permission to raise
them several times. The railroads were
partially starved prior to the war.
''From the beginning of government
operation of the railroads, the labor unions
practically dictated TO McAdoo. Stand
| ardization of labor was the result and we
were compelled to pay the same wages IN
4 Bangor for a certain class of work as
were paid in San Diego, Calf, for the
same job.
AT that time, our shopmen at Derby,
and by shopmen, | mean mechanics,
painters, boIlermakers, blacksmlths and
the like, we've receiving 35 cents an hour
for a nine hour day They had petitloned
US for 81 cents an hour, as was paid on the
Maine Central.
"McAdoo at once raised them all to Ga
cents an hour, gong up later to " cents
and finally to IS cents. Now wages have
dropped back to rs cents an hour
"All of this doubling of wages hit the
New England railroads hard. Railroads
in the west were not as hard hit, as they
had been paying more wages than we did
before the war. Living conditions were
different there. assnfs.
Nov the railroads must have govern
ment regulation. l not only favor 1t;
urge it. Railroad men are no better than
other executives and they should have
some federal direction. But IT'S horrible
to work under board of regulation that
has only one yardstick for the entire
United States.
"Phe railroad man is business man
just as you gentlemen are His product
is transportation. Now don't you think
it's little difficult for us TO DO business
when we have absolutely no voice in fix
ing the price at which we must sell our
product ana have absolutely no authority
to fix wages?
''because Of the standardiz alton of
wages, we railroad men are forcing you
business men to pay more wages TO get
good clerks and messenger boys. Don't
blame US because we pay more wages for
messenger boys than you can afford to
pay. That is all fixed by the railroad
labor board in Chicago.
fla these days there are few matters
ON which a railroad MANAGER may exercise
his discretion. About the only thing we
can look after here is the removal of snow,
and if we spend too much money for that
purpose we are called TO account for it.
Says Rates are to High.
Freight and passenger rates are toe
high. But they can't come down until
costs come down. Railroad men should
be well paid. But want to tell you gen.
tlemen that there is railroad labor and
railroad labor Our locomotive engineers
firemen, trainmen and the like have to
know their business. Most of them have
been in the railroad business all their lives
and know nothing but railroading. They
should be well paid for their services
'But about 80 per cent of the labor we
, use in the railroad business is common to
all business men. Painters, boilermakers,
clerks, messenger boys and the like can
be recruited from any other organization
as well as from some other railroad CON-
pany. But we have to pay them more
wages than they get anywhere else, just
because the government railroad labor
board has ruled in favor of standardiza-
ton of wages.
another condition that affects the
railroads in this state is the damaging tax
rate for railroads. 1t is higher in Maine
than it is in any other state in the United
States. California comes pretty close to
it but it isn't as high. In 1917 our state
tax was $120, 900. In 1921 it was $500, 00C
and in 1922 it will be $402. 600. In addition
to that we have to pay federal tax and
municipal tax. The federal tax has been
reduced in recent years but the municipal
tax has been advanced from $24, 600 to
S42, 900 in the past five years. Taxes fol
been reduced.