The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 23, 1920, Page 9

The Effect»vof New Rall Wages Analyzed 2 An Actual Increase of 20 Cents Per $100 Shipped Would Have Provided Increase to Em- : Washmgton Bureau, 5 Nonpartisan Leader, N ITS award of July 20, upon the acceptance of “which' the railread em- ployes are-now taking a referendum “vote, ' the United' States rallroad labor board’ says: “The board has endeavored to fix ‘such wage scales as will provide a _de- cent living and secure for the children of the wage-earners opportunity for ‘education, and yet remember that no class of Americans should receive pre- . ferred treatmnt. - * * * Tt has been found'by this board generally that the' scaleiof wages paid railroad employes is substantlally below that paid for “similar work in outside industry; that the increase in living cost since May,. 1918; has thrown wages below the pre- . war standard of living' of these em- ployes, and ‘that justice as well as the maintenance of an essential industry in an efficient condition require a sub- stantial mcrease to praetlcally all classes.” ! “The ‘American people desire, and must have, transportation adequate to W. Jett Latck, economic expert and .statistician’ of railroad brotherhoods, ‘who shows Just ‘what mcreases mean. their needs. They also wish to do ~justice to men.employed in the public service whether on public utilities or otherwise.. Wage scales which are in- sufficient to attract or support,men of the characteér necessary for railroad ~work constitute waste and extrava- gance and not economy.” More than 300,000 of these raxlroad employes were getting less than $3.a day when the aw_ard was made. - The increase in pay for all classes of railroad. employes averaged about 22 per cent; based on the increase in ‘cost of living up to: January, 1919, What this wage increase actually * adds to the cost of goods shipped by ‘xail-is indicated by certain' evidence .placed’ before: 'the beard :during its . hearings by W. 8, Carter, president:of i the ‘Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire- men and - Engmemen, who was one of ‘the chief officials in the head office of -therailroad administration during gov= ernment control.: This evidence was pre- pared by Doctor - W. Jett Lauck, Amer- i ica’s foremost consultmg economist. - . “A reasonable increase in-the rates of pay 0 ployes, Data Discloses statement “would inyolve no material addition to the cost of living:. “As frexght rates in general repre- sented less than 4 per cent of the value of each ton of freight originated ~.in 1914, and 1abor costs only 33 per - cent of freight rafx—.\s, it is apparent that these wage increases did not add materially to the increase in pnces from 1914 te 1919.” That is to say, higher wages for railroad labor added about 1% per cent to the value of each ton of freight.: “The “average commodlty ‘value of each ton of freight originated during ‘the period under consideration advanc- ed from $56 per ton in 1944 to $119 in 1919, an increase of $65, or 114 per cent. During the same period the av- erage freight charges per ton originat- ed advanced from $2 to $2.80 per ton, an increase of only 80 cents. Of the total freight charges for 1919 the ut- most that can be attributed to labor is 87.4 per eent.. Out of every $100 in commodity values transported in 1919, railroad labor, in other words, recexved only 88 cents; or less than 1 per cent. “The rates of pay of all railroad employes could be increased 50 per cent without materially = affecting _prices except where such increases were used ‘as a pretext to extort exor- bitant and unjust profits from the pub- Llie. Doubling the wages of all-railroad employes would add only 88 cents to each $100 of freight transported.” As the increase granted was less ‘than one-fourth this amount;¥or only 22 per cent, the added cost of t'lfat $100 of goods would be about 20" cents—an increase gf one-fifth of 1 per cent! 4 ADVERTISEMENTS KILL QUACK WITH THE l(ovar Quac Grass Killer and \ Alfalfa Cultivator Thoroughly tested on my own and other farms. ) Endorsed by agricultural experts and thousands of satisfled’ users. 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