Part 35

The second annual report of the government Block Signal and Train Control Board shows that little advance has been made in the search after the perfect system of automatic mechanical operation. Since the organization of the board in 1907 no less than 835 plans and descriptions of inventions designed to enhance the safety of railway operation have been submitted for its consideration. Of these 184 were examined and reported upon in 1908 and 12 were found worthy of further investigation. During the past year 327 others have been reviewed with a net result that again 12 have been found to possess enough merit to warrant the Board in conducting further tests. It finds that the vast majority of the proposed devices are unsound either in principle or design.

With regard to some form of automatic stop, the Board says that it is not yet prepared to make a definite and positive recommendation, but it thinks it reasonable to expect that several forms of automatic train controlling devices will be found available for use. In this connection it very sensibly concludes:

"It is not to be expected that trials or tests conducted by the government will, independently of extended use by railways, result in the production of devices or systems fully developed to meet all the exacting conditions of railway operation."

III

EMPLOYES AND THEIR COMPENSATION

NUMBER 1,524,400

COMPENSATION $1,008,270,000

The 368 railway companies reporting to this Bureau had 1,463,429 persons in their employ June 30, 1909, and their pay roll for the twelve months to that date amounted to $973,172,497. Experience has shown that these roads employ over 96% of the labor and pay 97% of the compensation earned by railway employes. From which it appears that the employes of all the railways in 1909 numbered 1,524,400, whose compensation for that year was approximately $1,003,270,000. This would show an increase of 66,756 men employed and a decrease of $48,362,225 in compensation--a discrepancy accounted for by the fact that the pay roll in June, 1908, was numerically at low tide while the aggregate compensation was swelled by the large pay rolls of the first six months of the fiscal year. The conditions were nearly reversed in 1909, for the pay roll was at the ebb during the first half of the year whereas the number on it did not begin to show the demands of increasing traffic until the very close of the fiscal year.

These statistics would be more enlightening if the number of employes was determined by the average from the monthly pay rolls throughout the year and not as at present "from the pay rolls on June 30." The discrepancies noted are liable to increase if the Commission succeeds in getting the permission of Congress to substitute December 31st for June 30th as the end of its statistical year. Under the present practice, the summary which follows reflects the improvement of business in the increase of employes, while their aggregate compensation continues to show the effect of the depression that prevailed throughout the greater part of the year. When, however, that compensation comes to be divided by the "Aggregate number of days worked by all employes" during the year, the daily average which results is found to be within a fraction of a cent the same as for the preceding year.

The aggregate number of days worked by the employes of the roads reporting to this Bureau was 434,328,026 days in 1909 against 453,002,228 for the preceding year.

The first summary under this title gives the number, compensation and average pay of the several classes of employes of the roads reporting for the year 1909, together with the aggregates as reported to the Interstate Commerce Commission for the preceding years:

SUMMARY OF RAILWAY EMPLOYES, COMPENSATION AND RATES OF PAY BY CLASSES IN 1909 AND AGGREGATES FROM 1889 TO 1909.

======================+=========+=====+==============+=======+======== Class 1909 | |Per 100| |Average|Per Cent (221,132 Miles | Number | Miles | Compensation| Pay |of Gross Represented) | |of Line| |per Day|Receipts ----------------------+---------+-----+--------------+-------+-------- General officers | 3,312 | 1.6 | $15,484,008 | 14.82 | 0.6 Other officers | 7,415 | 3.3 | 16,847,754 | 6.53 | 0.7 General office clerks | 67,222 | 30 | 51,945,231 | 2.31 | 2.2 Station agents | 34,765 | 15 | 24,944,100 | 2.10 | 1.0 Other station men | 135,056 | 61 | 78,289,039 | 1.81 | 3.3 Enginemen | 55,747 | 25 | 77,762,158 | 4.46 | 3.3 Firemen | 58,927 | 27 | 47,591,953 | 2.67 | 2.0 Conductors | 42,325 | 19 | 50,269,581 | 3.76 | 2.1 Other trainmen | 112,398 | 51 | 88,751,753 | 2.60 | 3.7 Machinists | 47,629 | 22 | 41,381,054 | 2.98 | 1.7 Carpenters | 59,477 | 27 | 42,954,993 | 2.43 | 1.8 Other shopmen | 192,784 | 87 | 118,891,679 | 2.13 | 5.0 Section foremen | 39,953 | 18 | 26,377,380 | 1.96 | 1.2 Other trackmen | 308,369 | 140 | 107,734,419 | 1.38 | 4.5 Switch tenders, | | | | | crossing tenders | | | | | and watchmen | 44,155 | 20 | 26,019,105 | 1.78 | 1.1 Telegraph operators | | | | | and dispatchers | 38,656 | 17 | 29,655,916 | 2.30 | 1.3 Employes, account | | | | | floating equipment | 8,632 | 4 | 6,537,196 | 2.32 | 0.3 All other employes | | | | | and laborers | 206,607 | 93 | 121,735,178 | 1.98 | 5.2 +---------+-----+--------------+-------+------ Total (94.4% mileage| | | | | represented) |1,463,429| 661 | $973,172,497| 2.24 | 41.00 | | | | | 1908 Official figures |1,458,244| 632 |$1,051,632,225|(b)2.25| 43.38 1907 |1,672,074| 735 | 1,072,386,427| 2.20 | 41.42 1906 |1,521,355| 684 |(a)930,801,653| 2.09 | 40.02 1905 |1,382,196| 637 | 839,944,680| 2.07 | 40.34 1904 |1,296,121| 611 | 817,598,810|No data| 41.36 1903 |1,312,537| 639 | 775,321,415|No data| 40.78 1902 |1,189,315| 594 | 676,028,592|No data| 39.28 1901 |1,071,169| 548 | 610,713,701|No data| 38.39 1900 |1,017,653| 529 | 577,264,841|No data| 38.82 1899 | 928,924| 495 | 522,967,896|No data| 39.81 1898 | 874,558| 474 | 495,055,618|No data| 39.70 1897 | 823,476| 449 | 465,601,581|No data| 41.50 1896 | 826,620| 454 | 468,824,531|No data| 40.77 1895 | 785,034| 441 | 445,508,261|No data| 41.44 1894 | 779,608| 444 | No data |No data| -- 1893 | 873,602| 515 | No data |No data| -- 1892 | 821,415| 506 | No data |No data| -- 1891 | 784,285| 486 | No data |No data| -- 1890 | 749,301| 479 | No data |No data| -- 1889 | 704,743| 459 | No data |No data| -- ----------------------+---------+-----+--------------+-------+------

(a) Includes $30,000,000 estimate pay-roll of Southern Pacific, whose records were destroyed in the San Francisco disaster.

(b) Bureau computations.

This table brings out clearly the effect of the depression of 1908 on railway labor. While there was a decrease in numbers employed in 1908 of 213,830 or nearly 13%, coincident with a proportionate decrease in gross revenues, the reduction in compensation amounted to less than 2%. This anomaly was due to the fact that the increased scale of pay adopted in the winter of 1906-07 was only effective during six months of the fiscal year 1907, whereas it was in full operation throughout 1908, as it still is, with demands, negotiations and arbitrations regarding wages all tending upward.

UNREMUNERATIVE EXPENDITURES.

Last year attention was called to the unremunerative burdens imposed on the railways by the multiplying demands of legislatures and commissions for reports on every conceivable feature of their multifarious affairs. This year with the compensation of every other class showing the effects of the enforced retrenchments of the period, that of the several classes especially affected by these requirements and the enactments relating to the hours and conditions of employment continue to be the only ones marked by advances over the record figures of 1907, as appears from the following comparison:

COMPENSATION OF CLASSES ESPECIALLY AFFECTED BY MULTIPLYING DEMANDS OF COMMISSIONS AND LEGISLATURES IN 1907 AND 1909.

=====================================+==============+============== | 1907 | 1909 Class | 227,455 Miles| 221,132 Miles | Represented | Represented -------------------------------------+--------------+-------------- Other officers | $15,012,226 | $16,847,754 General office clerks | 48,340,123 | 51,945,231 Station agents | 24,831,066 | 24,944,100 Telegraph operators and dispatchers | 29,058,251 | 29,655,916 Employes, account floating equipment | 6,035,415 | 6,537,196 +--------------+-------------- Total | $123,277,081 | $129,930,197 -------------------------------------+--------------+-------------- Add 4% for unreported mileage, 1909 | 5,197,207 Total | $135,127,404 Increase over 1907 | 11,850,323 ----------------------------------------------------+--------------

Moreover, had the aggregate compensation of these five classes followed the general trend of all other railway compensation, the expenditure on this account would have been at least $22,000,000 less than it was. This sum represents only a part of what the railways have to pay for a system of accounting and reporting out of all proportion to its published results. The public has no idea of the onerous and unprofitable burdens imposed on the railways by the impractical theory of administering railways through the medium of arbitrary and theoretical accounts.

AVERAGE DAILY COMPENSATION 1909-1892.

Where the data in regard to total compensation of railway employes has been kept since 1895, that of their daily average pay runs back to 1892, thus covering the period of the last preceding severe panic. Under instructions of the Official Statistician, these averages are computed by dividing the compensation paid by the actual days worked throughout the year in the several classes as nearly as it has been practicable to do so. Although the formula is more or less arbitrary, the system has been continuous and so the results are reliable for comparative purposes.

In the statement following, figures for 1895, 1896 and 1905 have been omitted to economize space, and because they present no significant variations from the years preceding them.

COMPARATIVE SUMMARY OF AVERAGE DAILY COMPENSATION OF RAILWAY EMPLOYES FOR THE YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1908 TO 1892.

======================+=======+========+=====+=====+=====+=====+===== Class |1909(a)| 1908(a)| 1907| 1906| 1904| 1903| 1902 ----------------------+-------+--------+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- General officers | 14.82 | 15.18 |11.93|11.81|11.61|11.27|11.17 Other officers | 6.53 | 6.42 | 5.99| 5.82| 6.07| 5.76| 5.60 General office clerks | 2.31 | 2.35 | 2.30| 2.24| 2.22| 2.21| 2.18 Station agents | 2.10 | 2.10 | 2.05| 1.94| 1.93| 1.87| 1.80 Other station men | 1.81 | 1.82 | 1.78| 1.69| 1.69| 1.64| 1.61 Enginemen | 4.46 | 4.46 | 4.30| 4.12| 4.10| 4.01| 3.84 Firemen | 2.67 | 2.65 | 2.54| 2.42| 2.35| 2.28| 2.20 Conductors | 3.76 | 3.83 | 3.69| 3.51| 3.50| 3.38| 3.21 Other trainmen | 2.60 | 2.64 | 2.54| 2.35| 2.27| 2.17| 2.04 Machinists | 2.98 | 2.95 | 2.87| 2.69| 2.61| 2.50| 2.36 Carpenters | 2.43 | 2.40 | 2.40| 2.28| 2.26| 2.19| 2.08 Other shopmen | 2.13 | 2.13 | 2.06| 1.92| 1.91| 1.86| 1.78 Section foremen | 1.96 | 1.96 | 1.90| 1.80| 1.78| 1.78| 1.72 Other trackmen | 1.38 | 1.45 | 1.46| 1.36| 1.33| 1.31| 1.25 Switchmen, flagmen | | | | | | | and watchmen | 1.78 | 1.82 | 1.87| 1.80| 1.77| 1.76| 1.77 Telegraph operators | | | | | | | and dispatchers | 2.30 | 2.30 | 2.26| 2.13| 2.15| 2.08| 2.01 Employes account | | | | | | | floating equipment | 2.32 | 2.37 | 2.27| 2.10| 2.17| 2.11| 2.00 All other employes and| | | | | | | laborers | 1.98 | 1.98 | 1.92| 1.83| 1.82| 1.77| 1.71 ----------------------+-------+--------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

{table continued} ======================+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+===== Class | 1901| 1900| 1899| 1898| 1897| 1894| 1893| 1892 ----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- General officers |10.97|10.45|10.03| 9.73| 9.54| 9.71| 7.84| 7.62 Other officers | 5.56| 5.22| 5.18| 5.21| 5.12| 5.75| -- | -- General office clerks | 2.19| 2.19| 2.20| 2.25| 2.18| 2.34| 2.23| 2.20 Station agents | 1.77| 1.75| 1.74| 1.73| 1.73| 1.75| 1.83| 1.81 Other station men | 1.59| 1.60| 1.60| 1.61| 1.62| 1.63| 1.65| 1.68 Enginemen | 3.78| 3.75| 3.72| 3.72| 3.65| 3.61| 3.66| 3.68 Firemen | 2.16| 2.14| 2.10| 2.09| 2.05| 2.03| 2.04| 2.07 Conductors | 3.17| 3.17| 3.13| 3.13| 3.07| 3.04| 3.08| 3.07 Other trainmen | 2.00| 1.96| 1.94| 1.95| 1.90| 1.89| 1.91| 1.89 Machinists | 2.32| 2.30| 2.29| 2.28| 2.23| 2.21| 2.33| 2.29 Carpenters | 2.06| 2.04| 2.03| 2.02| 2.01| 2.02| 2.11| 2.08 Other shopmen | 1.75| 1.73| 1.72| 1.70| 1.71| 1.69| 1.75| 1.71 Section foremen | 1.71| 1.68| 1.68| 1.69| 1.70| 1.71| 1.75| 1.76 Other trackmen | 1.23| 1.22| 1.18| 1.16| 1.16| 1.18| 1.22| 1.22 Switchmen, flagmen | | | | | | | | and watchmen | 1.74| 1.80| 1.77| 1.74| 1.72| 1.75| 1.80| 1.78 Telegraph operators | | | | | | | | and dispatchers | 1.98| 1.96| 1.93| 1.92| 1.90| 1.93| 1.97| 1.93 Employes account | | | | | | | | floating equipment | 1.97| 1.92| 1.89| 1.89| 1.86| 1.97| 1.96| 2.07 All other employes and| | | | | | | | laborers | 1.69| 1.71| 1.68| 1.67| 1.64| 1.65| 1.70| 1.67 ----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

(a) Averages for 1909 and 1908 are calculated from the returns to the Bureau of days worked and compensation of the several classes of roads representing 97% of the traffic.

The average pay of general officers for 1909 and 1908 in this summary is out of proportion, for the reason that the returns to the Bureau cover only 60% of the class numerically and include all the larger systems. Before 1894, this class included "Other officers," so the returns for 1893 and 1892 are not comparable with those for this class in subsequent years.

Comparing the average daily compensation of the four great classes most intimately associated in the public mind with railway operations in 1899 and 1909, it appears that during the decade the average wages of enginemen increased approximately 20%; of firemen 27%; of conductors 20%; and of other trainmen, including switchmen, brakemen and baggagemen--the most numerous body--34%.

An estimate based on the number employed and their aggregate compensation in 1899, allowing 310 working days to the year, would place the increase for all employes during the decade at 23%.

The relation of the compensation of railway employes to the gross earnings of the railways, which furnish the fund from which they are paid, and also to the sum of the expenses incurred in producing those earnings for the past ten years, is shown in the next summary, in conjunction with the operating ratio:

SUMMARY SHOWING PROPORTION OF COMPENSATION OF EMPLOYES TO GROSS EARNINGS AND OPERATING EXPENSES, AND OF OPERATING RATIO TEN YEARS, 1899 TO 1909.

===============+==============+==================+================== | Ratio | Ratio | Ratio of | Compensation | Compensation |Operating Expenses | of Labor to | of Labor to | to |Gross Earnings|Operating Expenses| Gross Earnings ---------------+--------------+------------------+------------------ 1909 | 41.00% | 62.06% | 66.12% 1908 | 43.38% | 62.33% | 69.67% 1907 | 41.42% | 61.41% | 67.53% 1906 | 40.02% | 60.79% | 66.08% 1905 | 40.34% | 60.40% | 66.78% 1904 | 41.36% | 61.07% | 67.79% 1903 | 40.78% | 61.65% | 66.16% 1902 | 39.28% | 60.58% | 64.66% 1901 | 38.39% | 59.27% | 64.86% 1900 | 38.82% | 60.04% | 64.65% 1899 | 39.81% | 61.04% | 65.24% | | | Increase 1899 | | | to 1909 | 3.00% | 1.65% | 1.35% ---------------+--------------+------------------+------------------

The significance of this statement is that in spite of all the labor saving devices and economies of operation--reduced grades, modified curves and more efficient equipment--adopted by the railways during the past decade, the proportionate cost of labor to earnings and to expenses has increased. It reached an abnormally high ratio in 1908 because of the unprecedented recession in revenues during the second half of the year. The fact that it has been above 40% persistently since 1902 proves that labor continues to receive its full proportion of the receipts of American railways.

PAY OF EMPLOYES ON BRITISH RAILWAYS.

Although the statistics of British railways are singularly barren of details respecting the compensation of British railway "servants," as they are termed, the reports of Boards of Conciliation afford data as to the rates of pay of several classes as follows:

SCALE OF WAGES OF DRIVERS AND FIREMEN ON NORTH BRITISH RAILWAY, 1909.

======================================================+=============== |Rate per Day of | 12 Hours +-------+------- |Drivers|Firemen ------------------------------------------------------+-------+------- Passenger engines, main line, long road | $1.56 | $0.88 Passenger engines running into chief terminal station | 1.44 | .84 Passenger engines, branch lines | 1.32 | .80 Goods engines, main line, long road, trip men | 1.44 | .88 Goods engines, main line, other than long road | 1.32 | .84 Goods and mineral engines running into depots and | | terminal stations | 1.20 | .80 Goods and mineral engines working branch lines and | | collieries | 1.14 | .76 Mineral pilot, pilot and shunting engines | 1.04 | .72 ------------------------------------------------------+-------+-------

In his award in the case of the North Eastern Railway, Sir James Woodhouse fixed the following scales:

Firemen.--First year, 84 cents per day; 2d year, 90 cents; 3d year, 96 cents; 4th and 5th years, $1.02; 6th year, $1.08; 7th year, $1.14; 8th year, and subsequent years, $1.20. Firemen to pass for drivers during the 8th year.

Cleaners.--Age 16 to 17 years, $2.40 per week; 17 to 18 years, $2.64; 18 to 19 years, $3.12; 19 to 20 years, $3.60; 20 to 21 years, $4.08; and an advance of 24 cents per week for each subsequent year up to a maximum of $4.80 per week.

"That the wages of all goods and mineral guards be increased as follows:

"(a) The wages of those who have been in receipt of $7.20 (the maximum of the existing scale) for not less than two years shall be increased to $7.44 per week.

"(b) The wages of those who have been in receipt of the said maximum for not less than five years shall be increased to $7.68 per week.

"The bonus for working with large engines on freight trains discontinued when any guard becomes entitled to the maximum wages of $7.68 per week."

Men working in the London district get from 6 to 12 cents more per day than those in outside districts.

The award in the case of the Great Northern made an addition of 24 cents to the weekly scale of the following grades: Signalmen $4.32, $4.56, $4.80 and $5.04; passenger guards and brakemen $5.28 up to $6.00; goods guards and brakemen $5.04 up to $6.24; ticket collectors $5.04 up to $5.52; horse shunters $4.56 up to $5.04; parcels porters $4.32 to $5.04; carriage cleaners $4.08 to $4.32; plate layers, second men and under men $4.32 and less up to $5.04; ballast train guards, flagmen and greasers rates less than $5.04 per week.

An additional allowance of 24 cents per week is made to men stationed in the London district.

From these figures a fair idea is gained of the average pay of British railway labor. They support the statement that there are over 100,000 railway men in the United Kingdom working for less than one pound ($4.87) a week. The total compensation paid British railway employes in 1908 was $150,248,000 against $162,440,000 for the preceding year. But whether the decrease was due to a reduction in pay or in numbers employed cannot be told, as there has been no census of railway "servants" since 1907. The average pay may be safely approximated at $260 per year per man, boy and porter, who two years ago numbered 621,341.

In 1907, Special Agent Ames, of the Interstate Commerce Commission, reported wages on the railways of the United Kingdom as follows:

=================+================= Enginemen | $9.32 per week Firemen | 5.76 " " Conductors | 6.26 " " Brakemen | 6.44 " " Shunters | 5.80 " " Examiners | 5.80 " " Signalmen | 5.66 " " Trackmen | 5.58 " " -----------------+-----------------

PAY OF RAILWAY EMPLOYES IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

The contrast between the wages of American and European railway employes is emphasized by those paid on the continent. The official statistics of the empire show an increase of 5% in the average yearly compensation of German railway employes in 1908. Their number and pay for that year to December 31st in the four main classes into which they are divided were as follows: