The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-03-02
Wage Cut On Street Rail-
way Lines Done to Meet
Deficit Says Manager.
ONLY GOES HALFWAY
Manager Calender in State
ment' Says Decrease Only
Part Meets Deficit.

Declaring that the per cent cut in
salaries and wages of employees of the
Wisconsin Gas and Electric company
who are used to operate the street
railway lines in Kenosha was made to
meet deficit and could not therefore
be expected to bring about a decrease
in the fares charged by the company,
D. E. Calender, general manager of
the company, gave out signed state
ment explaining the action of the COM
pany. The statement declares that the
deficit last year was so large that they
were forced to cut down the cost of
operation by making a wage cut and
that even this cut would provide less
than half the deficit.
The company hopes to come out even
by reason of increased business but
the manager declares that even this
holds out little hope of overcoming
the deficit.
That Extra Nickel.
The statement was drawn out by a
short editorial carried in this paper.
The answer is entitled "That Extra
Nickel" and is addressed to the editor
of "Kenosha Evening News" 1t reads
as follows:
X 'Your editorial of February % in
quiring as to the affect of wage ad-
justment of sc per hour, effective Feb
ruary l on the financial showing of
Kenosha street railway utility merits
our prompt reply.
On January FL, the company publish
ed in your paper, among a series of ad-
vertisements, one entitled, evil His
tory Repeat ITSELF" in which it gave
the financial statements of the rail-
way utility for the years 1918 to 1921
inclusive, showing that for the year
1921, the company suffered net OPP
Grating deficit of $20,242.64 before pro-
viding depreciation. Adding deprecia-
ton computed at the meager rate, of
2.85 per cent per year on scaled down
valuation, amounting to $15,538.20, the
net loss for the year was $35, 780.84,
not counting failure to earn return or
rental on the property. During the
year, the company invested in new con-
struction $89,139.90. This scaled down
valuation in its railway property, plus
this new construction, establishes a
minimum basis upon which it suffered
the loss of any return whatever Of over
100000.
The company operates an average of
about $3.50 car hours per month. At
SC per hour, the saving becomes $437.5O
per month, or $5,250 per year. SINH
lar wage adjustment effective February
1 among other employees of the rail
way department will net saving of
about $50 per month in operating ex-
penses, making the total monthly saw
ing $49750, or total annual saving
of $500.
On the basis of the showing for 1921,
the operating losses before providing
for return on investment would,
through these wage adjustments, be
reduced from $35,780.S4 to $29,82O.84.
It is perfectly clear that the num-
Der of passengers. carried by the rail
way must substantially increase dur
even in the operation of the railway,
to say nothing of procuring minimum
fair rental on its investment. The net
effect of the very modest wage reduc-
tions made effective February 1 would
be to reduce operating losses by 1877
per cent. The company has asked its
employees to share to minimum ex-
tent the burdens of getting back to
normalcy. The outlook for 1922, based
on results for the first six weeks, is
more promising, but the increased
traffic shown to date is not sufficient
to wipe out the operating deficit ever
with all the savings in operation which
are in sight"