Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 78, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 April 1917 — WHAT AILS OUR RAILROADS? [ARTICLE]

WHAT AILS OUR RAILROADS?

Many of Most Desirable Employees Have Been Attracted to Other Pursuits by Higher Wages.

What is really the matter with the railroads? is a question that is puzzling a good many people nowadays. Is it shortage of rolling stock, or men, or both; or is It general inefficiency that is responsible for the deplorable conditions existing today? Of course the railroads could use a great many more cars if they had efficient men to handle them, but in the opinion of competent observers efficiency of many employees has deteriorated at least to the extent of the advance in wages and many of the most desirable employees have been attracted to other pursuits by higher wages than the railroads are paying, says Iron Trade Review. There seems also to be physical exhaustion and a breaking down of spirit due to the long and unprecedentedly severe strain to which railroad employees have been subjected. After all,, questions relating to men are fully as important as those relating to equipment in the railroad situation. ; What is the remedy? Cars and equipment will, of course, be available in xufficl en t n u mbers in the course of time, but the human factor is more uncertain. No one can tell what the supply of labor will be after the war has ended, but employees should remember one thing: A day of reckoning is coming. The laggards of today will be remembered in coming years, when the demand for men will not be such as it is today. So will the faithful workers be remembered. The man who gives to his job the very best that is in him will not fail to receive his reward when some day—no one can tell exactly when —a period of depression again prevails in this land, a time when there will be more men than jobs. J '■ -