The Washington times., 1928-01-24


One thing the letters reveal 1s
that certain railway presidents
are distinctly keener than others
to do away with geven-day work
partly on Humanitarian grounoss
partly because time-and-
rates have to be paid Tor certain
kinds Of Sunday work.
New Ravens Figures
Al high place among the list
Of roads striving onscienti0ueIy
to abolish the seven-day week,
wherever possible. must be &C.
corded the New York, New kla-
ven and Hartford. President y.
=. Pearson supplies figures show
ing that his employees work, on
the average, somewhat less tnau
2e days In SO-day month. surely
q very crenitable record. Reply.
ing to this columns request Tor
information. President Pearson
writes:
Dear Mr.. FORBES:
"our forces are 50 arranged
wherever practicable land Il has
generally been found to be prac-
tieable-to avoid working the same
men seven days each week. The.
general exceptions are our cross
ing f1agmSn and gatemen and the
yard train and enginemen, al
though with the yardnen where
the full complement OF week days
Il not required on Sundays, the
men are aiternated from week to
week % as not to work the same
men all Of the time.
'sAs an example a. to what we
require, insofar a. our schedule
regulations are concerned. quote
from several Of our agreements:
CLERKS: 80 Tar AZ practicable,
consistent with requirements Of
the service, employees shall b. al.
lowed one day Of rest mot neces.
sarily Sundays), In seven.
saTeiegraphers: Employees will
be excused from Sunday and holi-
day duties as much % the condi.
tions 81 business win permit.
"SignaImen: 'I11l1plOyes neces-
gary to the continuous operation
of the carrier will be assigned one
regular day off duty in seven,
Sunday IL possible.
eat ot1r r0undhouses. where the
forces are materially reduced on
Sunday. the work Ii 80 arranged
that the same individual will not
work more than one Sunday out
Of three or four.
examining our reports to the
Interstate Commerce Commission
for November, 1897, the average
number ok days per month worked
by the various groups follows:
Clerical, 26.2; maintenance Of
way, 25.2; maintenance of equip
ment. 25.9; transportation, which
Comprises total Cf Also an.
pIOyes, including about ], 100 cross.
ing men, 2B.6. al employees, excl1-
sive Of train ana engine men, 25.S;
train and engine men. 24.0.
Yours very truly,
''E. j. PEARSON.
Few Work = Days
H. X. Byram. chairman Of the
Chicago. Milwaukee, ST. Paul and
Pacific Railroad, writes:
Dear Mr.. Forbes:
IT think you are mistaken
about the wide prevalence OF.
seven -day-week employment on the
railroads. There il, Of course,
a small percentage of our work
which requires continuop SER,
vice. but most of our Aployen
do not work more 4 An five
and one.hah days a eek, and
all of them are on AN eight
O "Ths s employees VI work on
Sundays are tho engaged In
the operation Of Sunday trains.
But they constitute a very small
proportion Of our forces, and
even in the jobs requiring con-
tinuous service, an opportunity IL
afforded the employees to lay
off as frequently al they desire.
Therefore / think it Is safe to
say that none of our employees
are required to work every day
unless they want to.
When was young worked
II hours a day, Sunday included,
for several years, which did not
feel was any particular hardship.
Therefore / can arouse little sym
pathy for the men who now work
eight hours q day, even though
they do work saven days a week.
But, az stated above, none Of
them are obliged to work seven
days a week unless they want to-.
Yours very truly,
III. e. BYRAM."
That ssven-day jobs are pre-.
ferred to six-day jobs is brought
out by presidents whose letters
will appear later.
Copyright. 1898, by d. c. Forbes)