The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1938-10-13
Rdilrodders Score
In Pay Cut Fight
Have The Better
Arguments Before Erner-
gencY Board

Washington, d. c. ULNS).-So far
in the hearings on the proposed rail-
road wage cut before the Presidents
emergency fact finding board, the
workers fighting that cut have had all
the human interest, all the history,
and at least 80 per cent of the arith-
metic.
The management side says in SUBJ
stance that the railroads are losing
money, and therefore must cut wages.
They lay their loss of money to three
things: bad times, competition of the
auto, and the policy of the govern
ment which by building power plants
leaves the railroads less coal to haul.
The tactics of the workers are best
shown from their opening statements
of their two attorneys, Charles NJ.
Hay and Tom Davis.
Much Part Time Work
Hay gave some figures on railroad
wages and work that are nothing less
than astounding. He showed from
the records of the Railroad Retire
ment Board that of the 1,74O,799 work.
ers and officials employed on Class I
roads last year, only $4,000 or 52.73
per cent were employed in all of the
II months of the year, while S22,S99
or 47.27 per cent were employed dur
ing II months or less. The average
wage of the part time 1893 workers
was 1867 a year, or $1,000 month.
Until Hay spoke, probably not
thousand persons in the United States
outside of railroad forces knew how
irregular is railroad employment, and
how petty the part time pay. "
More Work Less Pay
Hay went on with his deadly fig
ures. Railroad workers are doing
more work and getting less pay. Rail-
roads now get almost 92 per cent more
work per dollar of pay than they did
in 1920. Railroad wages per hour
have increased | cent-1.4 per cent,
while wages per hour in manufacture
ing industry had increased 1S per cent.
UnSkilled labor in the auto industry
get more pay per hour than the aver
age railroad pay, skilled and un-
skilled together.
And then came Davis to rub it in.
Early in his opening statement, Mr..
Davis quoted the words of Judge
Caldwell of the Federal District of
Nebraska, in answering the plea of the
receiver of the Union Pacific that
wages be cut so that interest and div
idends could be paid. Judge Caldwell
said, in part:
"The employees, with families to
support, are seldom more than few
days wages in advance of want.
THEY MUST BE PAID FAIR
WAGES, THOUGH NO DIVIDENDS
ARE PAID ON THE STOCK AND
NO INTEREST PAID ON THE
BONDS"
To Show Banker Control
Those words were uttered by Judge
Caldwell in 1895, as years ago, but it
is doubtful any words which fit the
case better have been uttered since.
Davis promised that:
"We will show you the devious
trial of banker control of the rail-
roads, and will show you the looting
of American railroad systems by the
illdHcldl houses Ol morgan & OO.,
Kuhn, Loeb & Co.. and other invest
ment bankers"
Wages Cut, Salaries Boosted
Contrasting wage cuts with salary
boosts, Mr.. Davis said:
''The record of the PENNSYLVANIA
shows that II officials of this power
full railroad have received increased
salaries. All but one of them received
increases of Is per cent or more; many
of the increases being 27 to Al per cent
and one of them &C 2/3 per cent.
"This was the president of the rail-
road, who was receiving 100000 a
year, and whose salary was increased
q 1 q