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Show HOI I. It RAM WAV AGES m; Gl in t i;i) at I'HKKK.vr Thi- I'. S Railway Labor Board, low : liing in fhicai.o, is hearing ihe hpolu-hineu for the railroads and the various railway labor organizations organiza-tions to determine whether or not iwirhing rul.-a i.hotild lit; changed and the wage.i of those employes fur-iln fur-iln r reduced below tin; 12.2 per cent .ul which chopped over 378, 01)0,000, from the railway pay rolls last July. Tin- iiiieslion is one of vital Inter--si to Hi" loun'ry. Not only the paB-enger paB-enger and Ihe shipper, but every iti n who consumes food, wais clothing or gets a Idler through the malls has a personal concern In an llicieiit, dependable and economical ; ra n portation servlco. j The railways contend that they will gladly reduce rat. s If they can take i he difference out ol the wages of 'heir employe'-s. They do not prom-be prom-be that this will insure greater efficiency. effi-ciency. On the contraly. most of ilii in frankly admit that It will not. iine railroad wages ore already at a point w here nany of the best men are leaving th'r Hervlce. The lawyers for the railroads an' not stress'ng 'be deflation o' the section men and 'in killed iiiaitilefianee-of-way em-nloyei em-nloyei s, whose wages are only about 1 3 a day; but they assert that the higher paiil rr-llway employees, es-". es-". -dally the engineers and train service ser-vice men, should immediately suffer a substantial reduction in pay. In order to secure for our readers he unvarnished truth about the actual ac-tual wages received by the best paid railway employees, we have just ; made a survev of the compensate of loconiotiva engineers, who are sometimes referred to as "the aris-'ocrats aris-'ocrats of labor." since they are among am-ong the most highly skilled and best paid railroad workers. Obviously, if i cut should n; t be made in the wages wag-es of thes" men. then the wages of the most poorly paid employees can n. b further reduced. In order to determine whether ''he engineers are now receiving more then the'r share of income, we j have taken ihe authorative figures ! on wages recently compiled by the f. S Railroad Labor Board, the da-i da-i collected by the Interstate (' ! merce f onimiss nn. and the rule for j determining "Just the reasonable wage" laid down in the Transportation Transporta-tion Act passed by Congress in 1920 an. i sini in io- e. rvccoruing to me carefully compiled figures 6f the Railroad I.aboi Board, the average daily earuiny. of engineers are as follows: Passenger engineers $6.00 Yard engineers $6.51 Through freight engineers 7.00 Local freight engineers.. 7.44 The Labor I'oard stresses the fait that these are average daily earnings earn-ings and include overtime as well as regular pay. They represent the total to-tal daily compensation received by the average engineer since July 1. 1921. when Decision No. 147 of the Labor Hoard imposed a 9.4 per cent cul. totaling S33.SR2.li4" per annum ann-um on engine service employees. In the same report there is also given the average monthly wage received bv engineers, which indicates that many of them do not work full time. In fact, the highest average stated is '.ml $185.93 per month, which taper; tap-er; down to $1.19.56 for yard and local engineers. As a matter of fact many enginee.s are now receiving loss I h it ii this, because the prevalent industrial depression has deprived I hem of steady employment to the point w-'iere they receive but a few-day' few-day' work a week, often with an av-eia;;e av-eia;;e of under $100 per month. This s far less than the dollar an hour I standard compensation pnid skilled artisans in practically all of flip well organized trades. It is actually less tha'n the I". S bureau of labor statist sta-tist cs claims thai Ihe average American Am-erican family must have to maintain a decent standard of living. We believe that it is fair to ask Ihe nuost'on: What are locomotive engineers' service worth to society? The Transpnriation Act lays down sev 'u rules by which a "just and reasonable wt-" shall be determln- d by United Stctes Railroad Labor lionrd. In brief Ihev are: 1. Wages paid for similar work in other Industries. (continued on page five) Should R. R. Wages be Cut. 2. Relation between wages and cunt of living. 3. Hazards or employment. 4. Training and skill required. f. Degree of responsibility. G. Character and regularity of employment. em-ployment. 7. Inequalities of present wages or treatment, the result of previous adjustments. Obviously there is no similar work in other industries with which the labor of a locomotive engineer can be compared; nor should any skilled worker be held down to a mere subsistence sub-sistence based on the bare cost of living. What, then, are the hazards the skill, and the responsibility exacted ex-acted of engineers? We doubt If the public realizes the risks daily assumed as-sumed by every engineman in active service. According to the mortality tables based upon years of actuarial experience by the Brotherhood of Lo comotive Engineers Insurance Department, De-partment, the average duration of life of a railroad engineer is but 11 years and 7 days. No engineer knows when he steps Into the engine ' whether, throught no fault of his. his life will b- snuffed out before the end of the run. The safety appliances ap-pliances which railroad employeef have secured only after prolonged struggle can reduce, but they cannot eliminate, the risks incurred by en-g;ne en-g;ne service employees. The training, skill and physical perfection required of an engineer is such that the great majority of engine en-gine wipers, hostlers and firemen who spend years of labor preparing lor tne opportunity to grasp the throttle fall by the wayside in the thorough elimination of the less fit. Even after rejecting all who cannot measure up to the strictest tests for height, perfect vision, heart action, blood pressure, etc., seventeen per cent of the firemen who aspire to become be-come engineers are rejected at the end of three years because their eye-s'ght eye-s'ght becomes impaired by the fierce glare of a grate of coals throwing off 2800 degrees of heat. An additional 7 6 per cent do not exhibit the temperament tem-perament and natural ability required requir-ed of an engineer, so that only 17 of every 100 candidates ever win place on the right side of the cab. Even after af-ter this rigorous process of the selection se-lection of the most fit, only six out of every 100 ever get places in passenger pas-senger Eervice. In brief, the length of training and the skill required to become a successful engineer is no less than that demanded of a competent compe-tent dentist or an able lawyer. It is an axiom of social Justice that the payment received for any service should depend in part upon the responsibility involved. The skilled skil-led surgeon is certainly entitled to a greater compensation than the woman wo-man who mops up the hospital floors. In no other profession in the world, not even excepting the medical profession. pro-fession. Is a man entrusted with a greater responsibility for the lives of his fellowmen than is the engineer In the locomotive cab. How well he discharges this obligation is Indi cated by the report of the Interstate Commerce Commission for 1921, which showa that the fatalities on American railroads are less than for for the past 22 years. 16,239,774, passengers being oarried to one killed. kil-led. Whenever a wreck does occur, it is the men who run the train and not the passengers who usually pay the price. Indeed, the scrupulous carefulness of engine and train service ser-vice employees Is such that one important im-portant transportation line carrying 30,000,000 persons a year has not fatally injured one passenger in more than four years. There are 34 times as many people killed by automobiles automo-biles in the United States, according to the 1920 census, as there are passengers pas-sengers killed by the railroads. The law recognizes the great responsibility responsi-bility for human life entrusted to the engineer and holds him strictly accountable ac-countable for Its exercise There is a grin truth in the jest, that if doctor makes a mistake he buries it, buC If an engineer makes a mistake, mis-take, he goes to' Jail for it. Train service ser-vice employees are obliged to perform per-form their work with a diligence which precludes the possibility of carelessness or negligence. An engineer is not only responsible responsi-ble for the lives placed In his care, but also for the millions of dollars worth of railroad property which he Handles every month of his service. President M. C. Byers of the Western West-ern Maryland Railroad recently stated: stat-ed: An engineer running a train of 100 coal cars virtually has $500,-000 $500,-000 worth of property In his care, and for this reason, if no other, the members of the Brotherhoods should have comparatively high wages. If the American people permit the wages of railway employees to be beaten down In order to pay dividends divi-dends on railway stocks, which have been notoriously watered, the people themselves will be the losers. Railway Rail-way service demands an exceptional- ly high degree of skill, carefulness, and responsibility. Wages paid in j this service must be sufficient to secure se-cure the very best human material. Low wages will inevitably demoralize demoral-ize our transportation system. The actual figures presented by the Railroad Rail-road Labor Board prove that even the most skilled railway employees are not overpaid, and that many of the men receiving less than the clerks in a dry goods store. Finally, the railroads themselves would profit If they would devote less effort to beating down wages to the lowest possible level and a little more effort to cultivating the good will of their employees. Brotherhood of Locomotive Loco-motive Engineers. |