The county record. [volume], May 18, 1916, Image 8

About The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975

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HtSI PAIU NltN
ARE NOW ASKING
FOR HIGHER PAY
Government Officials Fail To Find
Justice In Demands Of Train Ser- j
vice Employees.
By Judson C. Welliver in The Washington
Times.
Administrative and legislative authorities
in Washington are taking a
distinctly different views of the present
effort of railway trainmen to
an advancement in their
wages, from any that has been taken
on former occasions.
It is very apparent that the case
for the employes seeking higher
wages is viewed with less amiability
than ordinarily. In legislative cir
eles there has recently been serious
talk of legislation to prohibit strikes
by employes of interstate carriers,;
and to provide a procedure for compulsory
arbitration.
The impression has gained a good
deal of ground, that certain favored
classes of employes have for a long
time been systematically aggregating
to themselves most of the increases
In wages.
Highest Paid Class Of Men
On behalf of the enginemen and
trainmen who are making the demand
for a large wage increase, it is
urged that the higher cost of living
Justifies their demand. Yet these
men, the engineers, firemen, conductors
and brakemen, are the highest
paid classes of railroad labor. The
question being asked why an engineer
getting an average wage in 1913 of
$5.20, should require an increase,
while trackmen, who were getting
$1.58 per day, should be left out?
Again, the average wage of conductors
in 1913 is shown by the statistics
of the Interstate Commerce Commission
to have been $4.39 per day. At
the same time, telegraph operators
and dispatchers were getting an average
wage of $2.52sper day.
If the Increased cost of living for
the $4.39 conductor necessitates a
large increase in his compensation,
where does the $2.52 dispatcher come
in?
No demand is being urged on behalf
of the operators and dispatchers,
and some of the railroads have lately
been intimating vigorously that if a
big additional burden must be laid
on their labor funds they would like
to give the benefit to the poorer paid
classes of employes.
The truth of the whole business is
that, as a whole, the railroad employes
of the count ry are not very
highly paid as compared to other people.
A few classes of railroad men
are paid very high wages. The most
fortunate of all these classes are the
engineers, firemen, conductors and
brakeraen.
Rate Rising Rapidly
Not only are these four classes paid
much more liberally than other employes.
but the figures show that
their rate of wages has been rising
more rapidly than that of any other
classes.
In 1914 the Interstate Commerce
Commission's report showed the number
of railroad employes for the entire
country to be 1,710,296. Out of
this number there were 62,021 engineers,
64.959 firemen, 48,201 conductors,
and 136,809 other trainmen;
a total of 311,990, or just about onesixth
of the entire number.
At that same date, the number of
trackmen, exclusive of foremen, was
337,451. That is, the number of common
laborers on the section was
greater than the entire roll of engineers,
firemen, conductors, and
brakemen. Yet this huge army of
trackmen was working for an average
wage of $1.58 per day, while engineers
were getting $5.20, firemen
were getting $2.13, conductors were
getting $4.39, and other trainmen
were getting $3.04. These figures are
the commission's averages for the entire
country.
Condition Bettered
Largely because they are the best
organized classes or railway workers
and have l}een unremitting in their
demands for better wages, these four
classes have succeeded in bettering
their condition rapidly and regularly,
at the expense of the other classes,
which are not so highly organized.
The trainmen, whenever they insist
on a wage increase, have, on their
side, the tremendously potent argument
that if they don't get what they
ask, they can walk out and tie up the
whole railroad system. No other
class of employes could do this, because
no other is so instantly indispensable.
How effectively the four favored
classes have us?d their power is
shown bv the cold figures. In the
ten years from 1903 toJ912, inclusive,
the salaries of geeoral officers increased
an average of 17 per cent.
In that same ten-year period the,
salaries of fcgineers increased 24 !
per cent
Daring those same ten years the
wages of general office clerks increased
13 per cent, while the wages of
firemen increased 32 per cent.
During those same ten years the
wages of telegraph operators and dis-!
patchers increased 14 per cent, while
those of trainmen other than conductors
?nr:eased 3G per cent.*
Impressive Statement
Here, is an impressive statement of
not to escape attention. There were
a total of 37,873 employes classified
as switch tenders, crossing tenders,
and watchmen. These were receiving
in 1912 an average of $1.70 per
day, which was actually 6 cents a
day less than they had been receiv.
ing ten years earlier.
At that time there were 48,201 conductors
with whom the statistics
dealt The conductors, therefore,
were only a slightly more numerous
class than the tenders and watchmen;
yet, while the conductors had
had their wages raised from $3.38 to
$4.29 per day, the less fortunate
class of tenders and watchmen had
to stand a reduction from $1.76 to
$1.70 per day.
If the cost of living has been stead
lly advancing for conductors, so as to
justify an increase of 27 per cent in
their wages, it seems difficult to ex*
plain why that same cost of living
should have fallen sufficiently to warrant
a decrease of 3 per cent In the
wages of switch tenders, crossing
tenders, and watchmen.
Take the single classification of
general office clerks. There were
S7.10G of these according to the official
report A much larger number
than of either engineers, firemen, or
conductors.
These general office clerks were
paid an average of $2.21 per day in
1903, and of $2.50 in 1912; an increase
of only 13 per cent in the tenyear
period.
General office clerks, without exception,
are compelled to live in
cities, where the cost of living is
high.
Engineers Better Off
Engineers, on the other hand, are
distributed between large towns and
small towns; on the average, their
living circumstances ought to make
their expenses average considerably
less than those of office clerks, yet
the statistics show that engineers
hovo roroivort In tho ton.vpor nprirwl
an increase of 24 per cent in their
wages, making them average exactly
$5 per day, while general office
clerks have received an increase of
only 13 per cent, making them average
$2.50 per day.
One of the worst underpaid classifications
of railway employes is that
of the station agents. There are just
about 40,000 of these in the country,
or nearly as many as the number of
conductors.
In 1903 station agents averaged
$1.S0 a day, and in 1912 they had
been raised to only $2.20 a day, while
in that same time conductors had
advanced from $3.3S to $4.20.
That is, the station agent in 1912
was getting just about half the wages
of the conductor, and in ten years he
had had an average increjMW^of 17
per cent, while the conductor's inicrease
had been 27 per cent.
Here are two of the most numerous
classes of railway employes:
Trainmen, other than engineers,
firemen, and conductors, numbered
136,809, while trackmen numbered
337,451. The statistics show that the
trackmen were getting in 1903 an
average of $1.31 per day, and in 1912
an average of $1.50 per day, an increase
of 14 per cent.
What Others Qot
On the other hand, the classification
of other trainmen was getting in
1903 $2.17 per day, and in 1912, $2.96
per day, an increase of 36 per cent
In percentage, this is the largest advance
received by any single class of
railway employes daring this decade.
A general survey of wage conditions
in the railway service and in
other industries. It is believed, would
show that in the last fifteen years
the highly organized and favored
classes of railway wage earners have
had their Incomes increased more
than almost any other class of workers
in the country, while the muoh
more numerous, but less effectively
organized classes of railway workers
have probably received rather less
increases than other industrial workers
in general.
In view of the strong feeling that
these most fortunate classes of the
railway employes are now making
excessive and unreasonable demands,
attention is now being called as
never before to these general discrepancies.
There is a strong disposition
to inaugurate a general and
sweeping Investigation of the whole
question of railway wages with a
WIAW A nctoVlic-Kinfy OAmA oAr4 Af nu K
iicn IU vPioovuic ovti ui j/uir
11c regulation not unlike that already
applied to railroad rates, In the interest
of employes and public alike.
Meanwhile, there is a marked indisposition
to extend further favors to
those classes already most highly
favored, at the expense of other
classes of employes who appear to be
getting very low wages.
Effect* Of a Tie-Up
It is calculated that if a general tieup
and paralysis of all freight traffic
should result from the demand of the
freight trainmen for an increase of 25
per cent in their wages, a large number
of the poorer people of New York
City would face starvation within
three days; in other words, these
people have available supplies of food
for not more than two days abead.
Other large cities would face like conditions.
Milk supplies would be cut
off, and babies dependent on the daily
milk jar for sustenance would be left
to perish. The distress would reach
all classes everywhere, and more
especially the working people because
factories uecessarily would be shut
down or, account of inability to secure
raw material or to ship finished
products.
TO THE FARMERS
ON WAGE RAISE
If Demands Are Granted Farmers
Will Have To Pay Big Part
Of lncre?6e
Washington, D. C.?Though farm
ers usually feel little Interest in
railway labor disputes and are disposed
to think that such troubles are
remote from them and cannot touch
them directly. In the pending question
between the Brotherhoods of
freight trainmen and the railways of
the country the railways evidently
are making special effort to inform
the farmers on the points involved
; and to enlist their attention.
It is argued by the railroad managers
that the final disposition of the
dispute will be made by public sentiment.
They reason that the farmer,
when it ccmes to a final "showdown,"
really controls not only the
political power but the sentiment of
| nearly all the states. Therefore, they
! are trying to appeal to his horse
1 sense. They are sending out a good
deal of literature directed especially
to the farmers?probably the first
time such a course has been taken
in any great labor struggle. They
j say they are convinced of the general
public's confidence in the horse
sense, the insight and the fairness of
the American farmer, and that, therefore,
hi6 influence must be powerful.
High Wages Now Paid
| They are dwelling especially on the
| argument that the freight trainmen
already are the highest paid laborers
, in the world. They submit figures to
I show that in many instances freight
train employees earn from $75.00 a
month for the trainmen, or "brake'
man" as they used to be called, to
$250.00 a month for engineers, workj
inig from 22 to 25 days a month.
They are asking farmers to inquire
into the facts and convince themselves
that most of the talk of excessive
hours of labor on railways is
empty and contradicted by the facts.
More than sixteen hours of continuous
work in railway service is forbidden
by law. The instances of
! mon iront nr rtntv en Inns- as sixeen
hours are a very small fractional per|
centage of the total employment;
i they become less every year, and almost
invariably are due to accident
*or some unusual weather conditions.
The managers of the railway companies
point out that the
farmer, himself accustomed to
from twelve to fourteen hours
a day of steady work and
: rarely earns in a year as much cash
money as a trainman on duty from
: ten to twelve hours, and never coni
tinuously at work, can earn, resting
from labor from one-fourth to onethird
of his time. In the south it is
a familiar maxim that "it takes thirteen
months to make a cotton crop."
The man who raises ten bales of cotton
gets for It in money from 1450.00
to $500.00, and from this must pay
his living expenses, fertilizer bills
and labor. The trainmen are said
to average $800.00 a year, this being
the estimate of the Brotherhood leaders
themselves, and the engineers
draw from $1,500.00 t<f $2,500.00 a
year, the conductors and firemen
earning wages between thoee of the
trainmen and engineers.
Farmer Vitally Interested
Aside from the question of justice,
it is pointed out that the farmer's
direct interest in tne matter is tnat
his welfare demands freight traffic
adequate to the needs of the country,
and that whatever Injures the railroads
or hampers their operation or
prevents their development is a direct
Injury to him. If the trouble should
develop a general strike of the freight
i train employees, resulting in a tie|
up of traffic, the farmer would be unable
to ship out what he raises or
to get in what he wants. He will be
asked to consider whether the rail
roads should be crippled by being
compelled to pay 25 per cent increase
In wages to men already receiving
far more than the average prosperous
farmer, with resulting injury to
the farmer himself?and if the railroads
are compelled to grant the in|
crease and have to raise their freight
j rates, the farmer will have to pay a
big part of the increase.
Rank Nonsense.
It is the rankest nonsense for The
Trainman to pretend that the public
has nothing to do with this business.
The public has everything to do with
I it, as the brotherhoods will find, if
1 they refuse arbitration and cast conI
servatism to the winds. The most
' cowardly government could not, in
that rase, shrink from its supreme
duty of keeping the rational highways
open to commerce.? Ne\i Orleans
Times-Picayune.
Freight Accidents Decrease.
j The use of the huge new locomotives
and the long and heavy trains,
against which the Brotherhoods of
freight trainmen, who are asking an
enormous increase in wages, protest
so vigorously, seems to have resulted
in a rapid decrease in accidents to
railroad employees, and a decided increase
!n their safety. The number
of railway employees killed in service
diT.irished from 020 in 1911 to
t"?? in 19; 4. and the number of injured
from 0001 to 4S22.
I
IWL IWWII
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UKK) will not fill to remember
JffT the two popular brands,
Deerfoot Rye JJ
JTy Old Kentucky Springs
WHISKIES
DEERFOOT RYE is a rich, full
! flavored Whiskey; OLD KENTUCKY
SPRINGS is rare, old and mellow.
Both are absolutely pure, and both
the same price, delivered by express
charges paid:
1 Gal. Glass Jug 4 Full Quarts
$3.50 $3.70
8 Pints 16-& Pints
$4.00 $4.00
Money must be sent with order. Give full
name, street, post and express offices. Send
for complete price-list of Wines and Liquors.
You can count on getting a square deal from us.
JAMES OLWELL & CO.
Mall Order Department
EatMbllibed 1828 181 Wast St, New Tod
"Almost a Century In Business"
Send for Price List of Other Goods
I All Car
Owners
Know This Garage
We do all kinds of repair
[work.
Ve overhaul your car when
it gets cranky.
We save you money on
ires, and other supplies by
>aying the transportation
harges ourselves.
Kingstree Garage,
L T Thompson, M'g'r.
4
DR. R. CLAUDE McCABE,
Dental Surgeon,
Office in Hirsch building, over Kings
tree Drug Co's. 8-28-tf
DR. ROBERT J. McCABE,
DENTIST,
KINGSTREE, / S. (
Office in McCabe Building, next t
Court House.
M.D. NESMITH
DENTIST,
Lake City, S. C
W. L. TAYLOR
DENTIST,
Ofdc* in Nexian Building
KINGSTREE, - S. C
5-21-tf.
1866 lOXi
A. M. SNIDER
SURGEON DENTIST.
Office at Residence, Railroad Avenue.
J. DeS. Gillanc
Attorney-at-Law
Second Floor Hasooic Temple
Florence, S. C.
General Draciicioner in all State an
Federal Courts.
Benj. M-'NNES, M. R.C. V. S.
B. Kater MclNNES, M. D., V. M. D
VETERINARIANS.
One of us will be at Kingstree thi
first Monday in each month, at Hel
ler's Stables. 9-28-tf
KINGSTREI
Lodge, No. 4f
/?MF\ A. F.M
r - Vf
meets Thursday before full moon eacl
month. Visiting brethren are cordiall;
nyited. R K Wallace, W M
J M Ross. Sec. 2-27-ly
1NUL11 MIITIMSI
x 1
llally Uivlted' to con
aP an<1 8<t 0D a StUC1
P H Stoll,
J M Brown. Clerk. Con Con?
I POPLAR LOGS.
Will pay market price for
croud Pine, Poplar and Ash
I Logs, delivered at our mill.
Penn-Sumter Lumber Co
SUMTER, - - S. C.
8-9-Sm
| Health and F
s; n ' >
Protect
? Your health is prot<
|| groceries.
! |; Your pocketbook is
l|; charge.
I YOUR SA1
8 is our aim, and we spar<
||> this end. We want you
S1 V?nlH if anrl wp will mnl
| opportunity.
ISPRINC
;-j?l Kingstree,
(THE WJ
1 B
I J. L ST
1 MAS
I Horses a
| For Sale 01
1J. U. SI
gj Livery, Feed
H Lake City,
v^5v^v>l5vWv*Jv>*iv^5v^Jv0v"0?0v>0v"J
}Will
Have a
Upon Your Pei
C. We clean, press and
\ wear. We do it pr
cheaolv.
X %/
C. When it leaves our
and "front" to it. It v
crowd?and so will you,
C. We have installed in
ing Department a Haff*
, chine that is of latest d<
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Yours for
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Dealers in C
d
Kingstree,
6
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Here s My Big Free Offei
Send $3 for 4 lsrre bottles of Hose's Me
- will send 70a fret one extra larpe bottle. 1
Malt in all. exprew prepaid, provided jo>
R. M. Rose
Company /V
The Old Refiahle DistiDas
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5 Expreaa Office
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protected by the prices we |
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^ (ft r. F r l
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lents' Furnishing
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