Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1896 — SILVER’S EFFECT ON RAILROAD MEN [ARTICLE]

SILVER’S EFFECT ON RAILROAD MEN

flow it Would Reduce the Wages ot a Million Employes. New York Herald:’ “I can't argtto the case like you." said the hired man. "but I know that if Bryan is elected you will hftve to pay rite sl6 for mowing this lawn instead of the $1 you now pay me." Eor many years we Americans have l>ee;i pluming ptn-selves on the fa*t that "the schoolmaster is abroad." ,If this hired man were the representative of any considerable class of laborers we might well wish that the Schoolmaster wonhi eouie home ami attend to business in the agricultural districts during this presidential campaign. It Would, however, be tin inrult to the intelligemv of tin? working masses t<> assume that their type is' to be found in this thick-skulled mower of lawns. About 42 per cent- of all the productive laborers_(rf„iliis countr.v are' directly depemlent upon the cnlti(’iition of the soil, lind these people, if they are made to fairly understand the issue, titay be trusted to vote for what is honest and right. Numbers of Railroad Men, ‘ Next to tillers of tie soil the hugest group of is made up of those in the transportation industry—the railway employes. In thy state of New Y’ork alone ;I te about 60.000 of these, and. taking in the whole country, they number about 1.900.000. or not far from 10 per cent, of the entire voting population. The various grades of railway workers have their s'everai organizations, and these are stuilying the effects of free silver, as is evident from the numerous letters that reach the Hefald asking for information: ami we will state here a few suggestive facts by way of general reply. The vast army of railway toilers would suffer more hardship than perhaps any otljhr class by unlimited coinage of 53-’?-cnt dollars. All wage-earners. of Course, would be ilistressed because all ■the necessities of lifeayould imniidliately double in price, while wages would be slow to rise, and would riiake up for the increased cost of living. But the railway worker would find it pai'tienl.arly iKtrd to secure an advance of wages, because his employer, the railway corporation. would its.elf bo so hurt by the change in .the currency that it might be unable-, to cpmpiy. with the reasonable demand of its employes.

Why It Could Not. "Hu’ why?" msks the l>rakeman; ‘ v.'hy would tile railway company not bo ia as good a position to advance wages as any other employer?" Eor a very simple reason. Tlie merchant and the mauufaettirer can jnstantly mark up the price of their 1 goods to offset the lowered value of the dollar, but you. as a brakeman, have no gqods to sell. NVjiat you sell is your service, your labor, ami you know front experience that this cannot be mprked tip as a mei'chant c.in reticket a plebe of (loth. Now. your employer, the railway Company, is like yourself, a person—nn artificial person, created by law—ami. like yourself, it lias notiiin'g to sell but its services in transporting passengers and goods. More than this, it is under control of tlie state that created it. ami cannot. like yourself, quit .work if it doesn't like ,the pay: it is eoinpelled to keep on .vorking or forfeit its very existence. With a 53eent legal tender dollar in virenkitioh the railway would naturally have to accept its pay in those dollars, and its in -nine would thereby be cut down nearly onehalf. But when it attempted to double its ( linrges in order to "even up" the dullar. yoti khirtv ivlliit. it triupest r>f oppo.m tion would arise, particularly in tgrietilfuraLcomniunlties. and the legisl.t tores would make the company paitifnlly aware that it is under control of , the states if traverses. The railway, like, yourself, would find the cost of -ill its supplies nearly doubled, but it would have to fight for every fraction of a ( ent in advance in its rates for transportation. Wheii.y(,>u lind your fellow workers find living has doubled you will'nfilurally demand double MTrgesiDut how will you get thign,?,. You can't get bloqfl out of a turnip. A vote for Bryan would he a vote to ent your own wages in half, and is you are not a fool we are sure that you ami all the rest of .the million railwiy employes will vote for an honest dollar.