CHAPTER VII

THE WORLD OF THE TRANSPORTATION MEN

“Here, boss, jes’ take fo’ dollars’ worth of ride out of this here bill.” This was the response of an old Negro riding on a Southern train when asked for his ticket by the conductor. Without a word the conductor gave him the change from a ten dollar bill and a ticket to tuck into his hat and which allowed him to ride to a town approximately two hundred miles distant. When the train reached its destination the old Negro began to fumble in his pockets and then he picked up his bundles and slowly got off. Three hours later, as a train coming in the opposite direction stopped at the station, the same Negro got aboard, paid his fare back to the starting-point and arrived early in the morning. Going up the street he met the judge of the district, who said to him, “Hello, John, what are you doing out so early? Where have you been?” “I ain’t been nowhere, Judge; I jes’ been doing a little traveling.” This is not an isolated case by any means. I told this story as I had heard it to a conductor on another road and he said it was a very common thing to have fifteen or twenty white people as well as Negroes “ride out” the mileage covered by a five dollar bill.

The American is the most restless person in the world. We are always on the move and a large amount of our traveling is purposeless. We simply travel because we like to be going somewhere. This trait in us is a survival from a long past age in man’s development. This primitive love of change is strengthened by the economic pressure under which most of us live. Early man wandered from place to place in search of his food. Modern man does the same, the only difference being that he does not now look for his food ready to his hand, but looks for a place to work, so that he can earn money with which to buy his food. “We have been married twelve years,” said a vivacious little lady, “and I have lived in six states. It seems that my husband is always getting a chance to better our condition, and we both have come to look forward to a move about every two years. If we just live long enough, we will have lived in every state in the Union.”

But transportation as we understand it to-day refers to the moving of freight, express, and mail, as well as to the moving of men and women. Man himself was the original burden-bearer and became the first transportation system, carrying combined freight and express. He simply took his bundle on his shoulders and used his legs as the means of moving from one place to another. Then he used other men to help carry his loads. There has been much speculation as to how the stones used in the building of the Great Pyramids were brought to the desert and put into place. Many theories have been advanced. One of the latest is that the Pyramids are made of concrete and that they were poured rather than quarried. However the material was secured, or in whatever way the work was accomplished, we can be sure of one thing and that is that all of the material was carried by men. They were the slaves of Pharaoh and this was the usual form of the transportation system of Egypt. There were auxiliary lines which employed camels, asses, and some horses; but the slave was the principal carrier just as he is in Africa to-day. The rivers and the oceans were used as highways of travel, but the boats were very crude affairs and the slaves chained to the seats and pulling on heavy oars formed the motive power. The oars were made in graduated lengths, one bank above another. The three-tiered Roman boat was known as the trireme and it was the great-grandfather of the ocean liners with their triple screws. It is a long development from the primitive methods of travel and burden-bearing in the early days of Egypt to the great transcontinental railway lines and the ocean steamships of our day!

=Progress and Transportation.= The word progress carries within it the implication that there is a road over which the race of men is passing. The roadmaker has always been the pioneer of civilization. The advent of steam and the perfecting of railroads marks a period of development throughout civilization itself. Some one has said that it would be far more interesting and informing concerning the facts that will transpire in the next one hundred years, if we could see the railroad map showing all the transportation lines in the different continents to be published in the year 2018, than if we could have a map that would simply show the national boundaries. A nation may be compared to a human body. The railroad lines are the arteries along which flows the life-blood of the nation. Industry is the center of a nation’s life, and it pumps commerce over the rails and thus keeps the body growing and in a healthful state.

=Age of the Engineer.= The great world war has been characterized in many ways, but perhaps the best characterization of all is that it is an engineers’ war. Eliminate the work of the engineers, civil and mechanical, from this war and it could not have been fought. For that matter the last seventy-five years of the world’s history has belonged to the engineers. Ninety per cent. of all our comforts, conveniences, and practical achievements is due to their work, and what wonders have been wrought in this time! The engineer has accomplished more in the field of transportation than in any other realm. Transportation, represented by the railroads, the steamships, the automobiles, and the better roads that have been built to accommodate them, makes up the chief differences between our age and all those ages preceding.

=The Railway Systems.= There is being operated in the United States at the present time 230,000 miles of railroads. The mileage which they cover if stretched about the earth would belt the globe nine times. The total mileage for the whole world is about 700,000; all of Europe has 215,140 miles. The United States and Canada together have almost half the total mileage of the world and as much as all of Europe and Asia combined. In 1915 the railroads of the United States carried 976,303,602 passengers and moved 1,802,018,177 tons of freight. The railway companies employed 1,654,075 men and women. The average hourly pay for these workers, figured on the basis of the eight-hour day, is twenty-six cents. Railroading is a most difficult and dangerous occupation, and yet there is something in the work itself that appeals to the worker. “Once a railroad man, always a railroad man,” as one brakeman put it.

There was a railroad wreck on the Southern Pacific line just south of Livermore, California, some years ago. The engine fell over into a creek and the engineer was caught underneath, and pressed down into the soft sand. It was eighteen hours before he was rescued; his chest was crushed and he was horribly burned but by some miracle he lived. The railway company gave him a pension in recognition of his faithful services of about twelve years, and he was able to live on the income without working. This invalided engineer was idle for almost ten months; he then went back to the company and asked to be put on an engine again. He was not considered strong enough to run a passenger engine, but was supremely happy when put in charge of a switch engine in the train-yards of Sacramento. He said, “It was the happiest day of my life when I pulled the throttle, and again felt the engine begin to move out under my touch and control.”

=Casualty Lists.= In the year 1916, the steam railways of the United States injured 196,722 people and killed 10,001. The electric railways for the same period injured 4,606 and killed 518. Of these persons, 4,928 were killed while riding as passengers, or while at work in the performance of their tasks. The remainder were killed while walking upon the railway tracks or in other ways trespassing.

One bitter cold day a Lackawanna train from New York going to Buffalo was nearing a little village near Binghamton when the brakeman, muffling up his ears, stepped out on the rear platform to be ready to signal as the train stopped at the near-by crossing. The train stopped and then gave four blasts on the whistle calling in the brakeman. There was a delay and the conductor went back to find out why the brakeman did not come, but could not see him anywhere down the line. The train was late and running badly, so instead of backing up to look for the brakeman, the conductor gave orders for the train to go ahead and reported the fact at the next station. Two stations beyond word reached him that the body of the brakeman had been found beside the track. He had stepped out on the rear platform just as the train rounded a curve and the platform being slippery he lost his footing and was thrown off and killed instantly. The brakeman’s family was protected because he was engaged in interstate commerce, but one more human being was lost in the performance of his daily task. The inventions such as patent coupling devices, block signals, and the vestibule cars, have done away with a great many accidents, but in the very nature of the case, there will always be danger in the work done by the men who operate our trains.

=The Human Factor.= The railroads of the country are made as safe as possible by installing wonderful devices which work automatically. The tracks are inspected, old ties replaced by new ones; bolts are tested, yet in spite of all the excellent devices to secure safety, accidents occur in sickening succession. An entire circus company was recently wiped out by an accident on the Michigan Central Railroad. The members of the circus were nearly all asleep when a train from the rear plunged through their cars killing nearly one hundred and injuring over one hundred others. The wreckage caught fire and many of the bodies were cremated. Reports would indicate that this accident was one of those unavoidable things that happen so often in railroading.

Experiences in speaking before groups of railroad men prove that the question of danger is always before the minds of the workers. These men literally carry their lives in their hands. For after all, no matter how perfectly the track may be laid, and in spite of the fact that the signals are all set, there is always the human factor to be taken into consideration. The flagman may not go back far enough from the train that is stopped so that the one following can be brought to a halt before crashing into the train ahead. Another thing that enters into the situation is the fact that men who are working surrounded by constant perils are likely to become careless. “I carry with me a sense of responsibility for the life of every man, woman, and child who rides on my train.” This was the statement of a conscientious railroad engineer. “But,” he continued, “I am in constant fear that my train will be wrecked through the carelessness of somebody else.” This man recognized a need that is essential in securing safety in traveling on our railroads, that is, a sense of corporate responsibility; by this we mean, that the entire group of men, all the workers and all of those who are responsible for the operation of the roads should feel the same sense of responsibility that the individual engineer feels. To secure this condition the railroad companies must realize that they are dealing with human beings; and that the men who furnish the human element in the railroad equation are entitled to a voice and a share in the management of the line.

=Wages and Hours of Work.= When the railroad employees threatened to strike in 1917 and asked for an eight-hour day and an increase of wages, there was a great deal of discussion as to whether the companies or the men were in the right. Most people sided with the companies against the men, because there is an idea among the people that the railroad men are the best paid employees in any of our industries. Contrary to the general understanding, the railroad employees for the most part are not well paid. The government has recognized the need for increased wages and has made advances to nearly all classes of railway employees since federal control went into effect. The average rate for a normal day’s work for engineers in the freight service throughout the eastern territory is $4.85, conductors $4, brakemen $2.67, and firemen $3.25. These are the best paid of all the railroad employees. Tower men, who have in their care the lives of millions of passengers as they protect crossings, receive from $40 to $50 a month. Telegraphers, train dispatchers, track inspectors, and other employees, outside of the four great brotherhoods, made up of the engineers, conductors, brakemen, and firemen, are very poorly paid. And even the wages for the best paid and most skilful operators, the brakeman and the fireman, for instance, are so low that it means that in order to earn a living wage they must make a great deal through overtime.

The effect of this low wage is shown in the number of employees who are changed every year. In the first nine months of 1917 in the eastern territory three men were employed for every one job filled. This is known as the turn-over in employment and it is unusually high because the wages are below standard, the hours long, and the work hard and dangerous. There is a continual change in the operating forces and a consequent lack of efficiency. Another consideration to be taken into account in studying the wages and lives of railway workers is that of the effect of the work upon the workers. An engineer must put in years as a fireman before he can secure the right to run an engine, and then a dozen or fifteen years is about the length of time that he can depend on keeping his job. He is fortunate indeed if he earns a good wage for this length of time. The wear and tear on muscles, nerves, eyes, ears, kidneys, and heart is almost certain to break down the strongest body in a few years. Some few men stand the strain and hold on for twenty years but these are the rare exceptions.

=Fictitious Values and the Railways.= The railroad business deals in a commodity that may be termed public service. Almost more than any other business it is dependent for success upon the good-will of the public. The earnings of the railroads have been enormous and even if their operating expenses are high, there have been big profits made, and these profits have been taken up to a large extent in paying dividends upon fictitious values. This is the most serious situation that threatens the railroad system of the United States. For instance, a road is built and a certain amount of money put into the equipment and rolling stock, such as engines, coaches, and freight-cars. The employees are hired and the road begins to do business as a regular passenger and freight carrier. Out of its total receipts it must pay a fixed amount for up-keep, for new equipment, and for wages, besides the interest on the money it has borrowed. The balance that is left from the amount of money received by the road and the amount it must pay out marks its own profits. This is given to the owners of the road.

For many years the railroads felt that they needed special legislation; and money was spent in buying up legislators, in corrupting city councils, and in gaining the influence of noted men who would agree to return certain favors to the road for certain concessions given. A common practise in connection with this was the giving of free passes to all statesmen and newspaper men. In addition to this the railroad property became valuable as a factor in the stock market, and new stock was continually being issued. This stock would be sold and in many cases no new equipment put into the road, so that at the present time some of the railroads of the United States have three or four times as much stock as they have actual physical value for their stock.

A good illustration of this business situation would be that you as owner of a house worth $4,000 should make or form a cooperative housekeeping company and sell shares in this new company, basing the value of the total amount of shares upon the $4,000 that the house is worth. You could sell forty shares each for $100. This would be perfectly legitimate and a good business transaction, because at any time every share would have back of it one-fortieth of the total value of the house. But suppose instead of selling forty shares, you should capitalize your house at $40,000 and sell 400 shares at $100 a piece, instead of the forty shares. The extra valuation would be known as watered stock, because there would be no real value attached to it. You would be selling something that neither you nor anybody else possessed.

It is said that the term watered stock came from the practise of one of the early financiers who brought cattle from the West to sell in the New York market when New York was a very small city. He drove the cattle a long distance on the last day, and then gave them salt the night before arrival, so that they were inordinately thirsty. Just before they were sold and weighed he would let them drink all the water they wanted, so that the man who bought them was paying for a great deal of water in addition to the actual amount of beef he received. The result of this financial device known as watered stock has been disastrous for many of our railway companies, and the plight of the United States railroads has been a scandal for years.

=Regulating the Railroads.= The legislature of nearly every state has tried to remedy the railway situation. The commissions in the various states have frequently found themselves in each other’s way. The Interstate Commerce Commission appointed by the United States government for the purpose of regulating railroads is one of the most efficient bodies in the entire government and has rendered remarkable services. The citizens of the United States are individualists and believe strongly in letting each business adjust its own difficulties as best it can. With the growth of the world commerce without, and the development of the country’s trade within, however, many men are coming to believe that the only way out of difficulties is through a larger degree of government control, tending finally to government ownership of all the means of transportation. The strongest argument in favor of government ownership is the success of the Interstate Commerce Commission. During the last ten years there has come about a very radical change in the relations existing between the various railways and the general public. During the period between 1850 and 1900 the railways were masters of the situation; and the financiers who built and operated them were despots, more or less benevolent or the opposite according to their personal temperaments. The railway presidents during that period really regarded their roads as private property to be managed as they saw fit. This theory built up a great railroad system in the country, but the theory is not big enough to meet the new national demands that are put upon the common carriers of the day. The railroads are now pleading with the public to recognize them as public institutions primarily interested in serving the people.

=Railroads and Churches.= The railroad situation is too complicated for us to attempt a solution of it in a church study class. It will demand years of experimentation and a degree of personal service on the part of the best and ablest men of our nation. What the church can and must do is to try to estimate the value of the principles that are involved in the railroad development and management. This can be done by following the story of the railroad as told by the writers in the public magazines of the last ten years. The history of our railroad legislation is also available for us in the records of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Each study group should write to Washington and get the literature issued by this commission. Much of it will be found to be dry reading, being largely a compilation of statistics; and these statistics dealing in figures so large that they mean very little to us. The recommendations, however, and the conclusions are of practical value and will be found to be extremely helpful in the wise and just conclusion regarding our attitude toward the railroad as a national institution.

=Other Means of Transportation.= The work of the men engaged in transportation is not by any means confined to the workers on the railroads. In our cities there are thousands of men employed on the street-cars, elevated railroads, and subway railways. The interurban traction lines employ hundreds of thousands of men. A careful study has been made of the situation affecting these workers by the Department of Labor of the United States, and its report is based upon facts ascertained from actual conditions found in all the principal cities of the country. Without exception the street-car men, including conductors, motormen, linesmen, and ticket-sellers, are poorly paid. Many of the cities are paying the men much less than a living wage. What do you know about the conditions in the street-cars in your own city? Where do the men who operate these cars live? What about their families? A motorman on one of the elevated railway lines of Chicago shot himself a few years ago. The note he left said: “I have four children and it is impossible with the rising cost of living for me to maintain my home on $2.12 a day. I have a Life Insurance policy for $2,000 and this is worth more to my wife and children than I earn at present.” The street-car lines in most of our cities are owned and controlled by capitalists living in some other city, and they are operated, not for the benefit of the city, but simply for profits. The frequent strikes on the street-car lines are the direct result of this foolish policy of our cities of allowing themselves to be exploited by groups of business men who have no interest in the city, but hold toward it, its citizens, and its own workers, the attitude of a set of political and social freebooters. A few places only have attempted municipal ownership, and in these cases it has met with a large measure of success. The lines owned and operated by the San Francisco municipality have proved so successful that the business men are all enthusiastic over the policy.

Another group that aids in providing transportation is made up of the men on boats on the lakes, rivers, and canals; those who come to our shores from other nations traveling by sea in foreign boats; the sailors on our merchant marine; and the thousands of workers on the docks and lighters in our harbors. In connection with this great work, Andrew Furuseth, president of the International Seamen’s Union, stands out as a remarkable figure. He is a Scandinavian by birth, and worked his way up from the simple life of a sailor before the mast until he is now the best known sailor in all the world. Mr. Furuseth has a great heart, and has fought long and hard for his fellow workers; he might be rich to-day, but as head of the union he accepts only the pay of a first-class seaman and is literally giving his life for others. At a meeting of the City Club in Rochester which he addressed some years ago, one of the gentlemen present turned to his companion and said: “Just look at Furuseth. In every line of his face there is written a chapter of the tragedy and pathos of the men who go down to the sea in ships.”

The sailor has been practically a prisoner always. When he signed his work papers he put himself under the control of an absolute autocrat. Until recently the master of a ship at sea recognized no authority greater than himself, and when the boat landed at any port, no matter what the treatment might have been, the seaman could not desert, otherwise he would be arrested and imprisoned. Furuseth protested against this inhuman treatment, and through a long period of years kept demanding that seamen, “the last slaves” as he called them, be made free. Finally his efforts were successful and on March, 1915, there was approved by the Congress of the United States an Act which promotes the welfare of the American seaman in the merchant marine. It abolishes arrest and imprisonment for desertion, and it secured the abrogation of treaty provisions between the different nations which guaranteed that American sailors would be treated as felons if they deserted in a foreign port. It also provided additional safety at sea for all persons upon a boat; one of its provisions being that there shall be carried on every passenger-carrying steamer or sailing vessel enough life-boats so that each passenger and each man of the crew will have a seat and a chance for escape in case of an accident. It is interesting to note that this Act was passed as a direct result of the sinking of the _Titanic_.

=The World of the Transportation Men.= The transportation men live in a world apart. How many sailors do you know? How many street-car men? How many railroaders? Have you ever wondered where the conductor on the street-car upon which you ride so often lives? “Yes, we have a little church, but it is over across the tracks where the railroad men live, and I always attend the Presbyterian Church here.” This was the excuse given by a gentleman for not attending the church of the denomination to which he had belonged before he moved into a new community near Chicago. We do not want a church to be known as the Railroad Men’s Church or the Sailors’ Church or the Street-Car Workers’ Church. This is not the way to be the best kind of a neighbor. What we do want is for the church everywhere to take an interest in these men who are providing for our transportation and also carrying the necessities of life for all the world. We come into personal relationships with many of them in a business way, and they all do much to add to our wealth, our happiness, and our comfort. We in turn as individuals and as members of the church should acquaint ourselves with the conditions surrounding them.

For instance, in the waters of the New York harbor, living upon the canal-boats which move in and out carrying coal, hay, and other rough freight, are the families of the workers, and in these families there are approximately 5,000 children. They are at one place to-day and another place to-morrow. These people have no citizenship in the best sense of the word. Many of the men do not vote because they live in no locality long enough to register. The questions of schooling, of church privileges, and of all social contact are serious ones. Yet how many people in New York City, or for that matter in any of the smaller towns and villages where these boats land, have ever once thought of the status and social conditions of these men, and women, and their children? Things we know. The things which the boats and the railroads carry and that other thing that looms so large, the profits that are made from transportation, are regarded as very important; but we have paid scant attention to the men who produce things and carry them from place to place.