Trainmen's Higher Wages a Burden to Farmers

1916

New Orleans, La., Saturday. — That the increase in pay of members of the four railroad brotherhoods, caused by the enactment of the eight hour day law by Congress, will rest ultimately upon the farmer was asserted by Henry N. Pope, newly elected president of the Association of State Presidents of the Farmers' Union, in a statement issued to-day.

Mr. Pope declared that the farmers of the country stand for a fair wage for both labor and capital and favor an eight hour working day, but that he personally doubted the wisdom of Congress fixing wages for labor employed by private enterprise. "I doubt," he said, "if it is in the interest of either labor, capital or the people to make the wage schedule of railroad employes a political issue."

The condition of the farmers of the country is worse than that of the most lowly railroad laborer, Mr. Pope stated, with an average farm income of only $1.47 a day, out of which must be paid the expenses of the family.

The condition of women laborers in the fields he described as worse than during the days of slavery.

"Not a word has been spoken by Congress in defence of the woman who rakes the hay and gathers the sheaves," said Mr. Pope. "Little has been done that has increased the income of the farmer or enabled him to pay a higher wage to his laborers.

"But to-day we find the highest paid laborers in the world, making three times more money than a farmer, demanding twenty-five per cent increase, and Congress hastening to their relief. This increase must, in the end, rest upon the back of the farmer and will reduce his income, increase his hours of labor and call for another levy of farm mothers from the home to the field.

"The farmers of this nation must fight to hold what they have and to get what is rightfully theirs from the government. We must do it through organization."

Mr. Pope stated that by the enactment of the eight hour law Congress had thrust upon the people of the country a new responsibility, and organized labor now stands committed to the principle of government regulation of wages. The government, he said, should fix wages for all classes of railroad employes and should have the power to decrease as well as to increase wages to remedy comparative inequalities.

"In my opinion," he continued, "the next session of Congress should readjust the wages of all railroad employes, from railroad president to section laborer, giving all a square deal and fixing a schedule of pay based upon business justice and human rights. I submit a schedule of wages taken from official government reports which presents conclusive evidence of the inequalities of the present daily wage scale of railroad employes:—

"General officers, $16.11; other officers, $6.49; general office clerks, $2.53; station agents, $2.37; other station men, $1.99; enginemen, $5.28; firemen, $3.23; conductors, $4.49; other trainmen, $3.11; all shopmen, $2.37, and trackmen, $1.50."

Mr. Pope declared that the foregoing schedule showed that the 350,000 section hands in the country were condemned to a life of poverty. He said he believed that Congress, having undertaken to regulate the wages of higher paid employes, should review their wages.

U.S. Rail Control Is Near

1916

Senator Says Further Railroad Legislation Is Coming.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Simmons, chairman of the finance committee, says that important railroad legislation supplementary to the eight-hour law will be enacted at the December session of Congress. "I have always thought," said the Senator, "that in the near future Government control must be largely extended to secure permanent peace and justice for all concerned. There will be a comprehensive plan of legislation submitted to the next session and it will deal justly with the railroad workers, the owners and the general public."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.

Your True Commuter Enjoys the Routine

1907

He Must Be by Nature a Man Who Takes to Routine

Your true commuter must be by nature a man who takes to routine. There are some who have commuted for a quarter century or more and yet have not acquired the trick and never will. They are the ones who write letters to the newspapers, airing their grievances against the heartless railroad corporations. They are not born commuters. They have had commutation thrust upon them.

But many really enjoy the life of the commuter. They like the clocklike regularity. They like the pleasant social aspect of the early morning trip to town, the neighborly interest in one another's affairs, the ample time for reading the newspapers, which numerous city residents miss by not being obliged to get an early start. They look forward to the pleasant relaxation of the whist game on the way home, with head on one side to keep the smoke out of their eyes. Some of them even say that they enjoy being awakened early in the morning.

In time all who work in New York will come to it. Meanwhile, for the man with a family it appears to be in many ways a happy solution of a difficult problem. Undoubtedly it is a more wholesome existence physically, but mentally and spiritually it has the defects of its virtues when pursued all the year round. The commuter devotes the best part of the day to one narrow corner of the city. The rest of his time not consumed on the train is in still more narrowing atmosphere of the suburbs. He neither gets all the way into the life of the city nor clean out into the country. So his view of things has neither the perspective of robust rurality nor the sophistication of a man in the city and of it. His return to nature is only halfway. His urbanity is suburbanity. Much of our literature, art and especially criticisms show the taint of the commuter's point of view. — Jesse Lynch Williams in Century.

Telegraphers Like New Nine Hour Workday

Council Bluffs, Iowa, 1908

Like New Nine Hour Law

Local Telegraphers Say it is "Fine Dope" to Get Off so Early

When asked how they like the new nine-hour law which recently went into effect, several Council Bluffs telegraphers expressed their sentiments in the two words "fine dope." They say it feels very strange to have to work only nine hours, but all agree that the sensation is delightful.

"It doesn't seem natural to work nine hours and then quit," said one man, "because we were so used to working until we could hardly stand up and keep our eyes open that it seems almost too good to be true."

"It makes a fellow feel like he is getting a square deal, and we certainly appreciate it," said another.

—The Daily Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, March 11, 1908, p. 1.