The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-03-30


The Truth about the Railroads
Why Pieceworl Was Abolished On
Railroads During Federal Control
Railroad eng Senate Committee on In
erstate Commerce
ing Federal control of railroads
largely increased thereby.
Testifying before the committee February
Hpps McAdoo former
istration, "
sIvE INVESTIGATION COVERING A PERIOD MONTHS, IN
WHICH A COMPARISON OF THE RESULTS OBTAINED IN A
REGION WORKING DAY-woRK WITH A REGION WORKING
PECE-WoRK HAD SHOWN
DISADVANTAGES PIECE-wORK
~G2 THERE RE WAS NO ADVANTAGE FROM AN EFFICIENCY
"(21 THAT LOCOMOTIVE MAINTENANCE COSTS PER 1000
POUNDS OF TRACTIvE POWER MILE WE'RE GREATER
REGION WORKING PIECFWo THAN THEY WE'RE
REGION WORKING nAY-woRK
"(3) THAT 1T WAS NOT POSSIBLE UNDER PIECE
WORK SYSTEM TO AVOID LARGE PAYMENTS TO WORKNIEN
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD IS WAS FOUND THAT THF oFF
GALS HAD VOLUNTARILY OvERPAID PIECE WORKERS TO
THE EXTENT OF MORE THAN s25ooOoO.
"GD NO SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCE IN THE GENERAL
CONDITION OF EQUIPMENT WAS FOUND IN THE PIEoEwoRK
REGION AS COMPARED WITH THE DAY-woRK REGION ON
ROADS WHERE WORK WAS PROPERLY SUPERVISED A
HIGH STANDARD OF MAINTENANCE REQUIRED
Mr. McAdoo employees
the maintenance
png Federal control working the pecewok
thorizng to be discontinued he declared seriously
affected maintenance either during
For TIE information of Congress Mr. MAdoo submitted
of the upon
thorized abolition of pece-work.
RAILROADS PADDED PAYROLLs
Under date of December 1 1915 Frank McNIanamy
of the
ported that the Pennsylvania Railroad deliberately
their peceworkers the of millions
impossible persuade the the
this !ne practice ice
evidently not satisfied with granted their mechanics
therefore without authorization they increased than 100
report further declares hat we have within the mast few
days obtained information which
have payment Balt
Philadelphia
Reading during the first weeks August their
In dated December McManamy reported
result of investigation undertaken the
Wages and Working Conditions the and results
THE HIGH PIECE-woRK
region mechanics paid 10 cents
per prevailed
materially lower than the Allegheny region
was in effect
FROM THIS" REPORT ADDS, "TT WOULD APPEAR
THAT so FAR AS COST OF MAINTENANCE is CONCERNED
THE ADVANTAGE is WITH THE DAY-woRK PLAN"
In pece-work overpayments
Manamy said:
CONDUCTED AN INVESTIGATION OR MADE A CHECK
HAVE FOUND THAT PAYMENT is REGULARLY MADE FOR
LARGE QUANTITIES OF WORK WHICH NOT PER
FORMED, ALSO THAT MUCH OF THE WORK is NOT WELL
PERFORMED
ION THE BOSTON AND ALBANY WE FOUND THAT SOME
WORK WAS PAID FOR AS HIGH AS FOUR TIMES. PARTICU-
LAR REFERENCE is MADE CASE WHERE THE WORK
PUT IN TIME SLIPS AND RECEIVED PAY FOR
AND APPLYING 900 FLUEs IN A BOILER WHICH ONLY CON-
TANNED 2O2 SUCH PRACTICES AS THIS COULD NOT
OVERLOOKED BY OFFICIALS WHEN THEY ARE so GIAR-
INGLY WRONG AND APPARENTLY VERY LITTLE EFFORT
WAS MADE BY THE MEN TO CONCEAL THEIR DUPLICATION
CHARGES, BECAUSE NUMEROUS CASES CHARGES SIM
LIAR TO THE ABOVE WE'RE MADE FOR REMOVING AND RE-
PLACING PARTS WHICH NOT EXIST"
THE EVIDENCE OFFERED BY MIR. MADoO AND HIS
ASSISTANT, MIR. MMANANfY, SUPPORTS CHARGES THAT
RAILROADS WERE BEING OPERATED BY THE
GOVERNMENT AND AND THE OWNERS WERE RECEIVING ALARGE
RENTAL THE MANAGERS WERE MPLOYING THE PIECE
SYSTEM, AMONG OTHER DEVICES, TO PILE UP COSTS
AGAINST THE RAILROAD ADMINISTRATIONS
this point Mr. McManamy