Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1919 — PAY INCREASES OF RAILWAY EMPLOYES SHOWN [ARTICLE]

PAY INCREASES OF RAILWAY EMPLOYES SHOWN

Increases in pay rolls of various classes of railway employes during, government control was shown in detail by a railtoad administration report, giving numbers employed in each' class, days and hours worked pay in the aggregate, day and hour, and the rate of advance, as of December, 1917, the last months of private operation, and January, 1919. It was the first report of the kind ever prepared by the railroad ad.ministration. In the thirteen months between the two dates the number of employes rose from 1,708,000 to 1,848,000, or 8.5 per cent. This was said to be only a normal rate of increase to take care of traffic handled. In most classes of employment the numbers increased except in the cases of freight and passenger enginemen, firemen, conductors, trainmen ■ and flagmen. The demand for these classes of men on military railways in France caused a decrease in the number employed in the United State. The aggregate pay rolls for all classes rose from $153,039,000 in December, 1917 to $230,800,000 last January, with the average rate of pay increase 48 per cent. There was a reduction in pay of only one class, general offices, among whom many high-salaried railroad presidents were removed from the operating pay rolls.