St. Paul recorder., 1961-04-28


than any other employe.
According to union officials,
most, perhaps two-thirds, Of all
Negroes employed by the railroads
at their peak were engaged in
auxiliary capacities designed to
provide special services for pass
engers.
Worked For Pullman Company
In fact, the Pullman porter, who
was the symbol of the Negro rail
road worker, was not even an en-
ploye of the railroads but worked,
instead, for a separate corporation
The Pullman Company.
Besides being Pullman porters,
most Negroes were train and
station porters (Red Caps, wait
ers cooks, car cleaners, club
car attendants, and laundry work
ers.
1t is these who have suffered
most by the sharp decline in pas
senger traffic and others employed
in the manufacture and mainten-
ance of equipment.
Perhaps the most dramatic illus
tration of how railroads have lost
what was once almost a monopoly
is the gradual disappearance of
the solid Pullman luxury train.
Where once there were rs or 30
of the hotels on wheels, today
there are only three-the Panama
Limited, the Broadway Limited,
and the Super Chief.
Pennsy Employees Drops From
S,IOO To $50
Richard w. Smith, international
vice president Of the Hotel and
Restaurant Employees and Bartend-
ers' International Union, said that
the Pennsylvania Railroad which
once had 800 Negroes employed
in the commissary department now
has only $50.
Walter Davis, executive vice
president Of the United Transport
Service Employees Union, said that
only 225 Red Caps remain Of the
1880 who used to lug baggage at
Grand Central and Pennsylvania
stations in New York City. Many
stations now have no Red Caps at
all.
The 1880 Pullman Porters who
used to provide a high-class serv-
ice for elite" passengers have
been reduced to less than 1000.
Smith, whose special domain is
a group of locals known as the
Joint Council Of Dining Car En-
ployes made up mostly of Negroes
in traditional jobs, said his men,
bership rolls have dropped from
1900 to $500.
He estimated that Of the $4,000
who once worked in the so-called
traditional Negro jobs, only about
14,5OO are still on the job. Negro
stewards who once numbered 30
are as rare today as wooden
coaches. Only four or five are
presently working and they are
not on regular schedules.
"BrotherhOOd's" Reported Loss:
5000
A Philip Randolph's Information
al Brotherhood Of Sleeping Car
Porters, which pioneered the un-
ioniZation of Pullman porters, is
reported to have lost 5000 of its
10000 members.
1t is a certainty that the rail-
roads will never recover the pas
senger traffice they once had.
Even the freight revenues which
were and still are the main source
of revenue for the railroads have
been seriously reduced by the en-
croachments of trucks and to a
lesser extent cargo planes.
In spite Of this dismal picture
the railroads, themselves, say the
situation is not hopeless. A few
shots of federally- administered ad-
renalin, they feel, will help revive
the failing industry.
Specifically they claim that If
the government will grant them
some relief from overburdening
taxes and allow them to adjust
their rates, they will be in better
position to compete with the Jr.
rivals on the highways and in the
skies.
Send Petition To Congress
In an appeal which the railroads
call the Magma Carta for Trans
portation", they are petitioning
Congress for freedom from dis
criminatory regulation; freedom
from discriminatory taxati on,
freedom from subsidized compet-
ton" and freedom to privide a
diversified transportation service. ."
They assert, for example, there
is a gross inequity in the fact that
they must pay taxes on and must
spend huge sums to maintain their
rights of way while planes fly
through free air and buses and
trucks roll over highways built
and maintained by public funds.
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