======================+=========+=====+==============+======_The Railway Library, 1909 A Collection of Noteworthy Chapters, Addresses, and Papers Relating to Railways, Mostly Published During the Year

----------------------+---------+-----+--------------+-------+--------

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

and watchmen | 44,155 | 20 | 26,019,105 | 1.78 | 1.1

and dispatchers | 38,656 | 17 | 29,655,916 | 2.30 | 1.3

floating equipment | 8,632 | 4 | 6,537,196 | 2.32 | 0.3

and laborers | 206,607 | 93 | 121,735,178 | 1.98 | 5.2

+---------+-----+--------------+-------+------

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

and watchmen | 1.78 | 1.82 | 1.87| 1.80| 1.77| 1.76| 1.77

and dispatchers | 2.30 | 2.30 | 2.26| 2.13| 2.15| 2.08| 2.01

floating equipment | 2.32 | 2.37 | 2.27| 2.10| 2.17| 2.11| 2.00

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

and watchmen | 1.74| 1.80| 1.77| 1.74| 1.72| 1.75| 1.80| 1.78

and dispatchers | 1.98| 1.96| 1.93| 1.92| 1.90| 1.93| 1.97| 1.93

floating equipment | 1.97| 1.92| 1.89| 1.89| 1.86| 1.97| 1.96| 2.07

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:

NUMBER AND PAY OF GERMAN RAILWAY EMPLOYES BY PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS FOR

THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1908.

==========================+==========+==============+=========+========

Division | Employes | Compensation |Average |Increase

| Number | (Total) |per year|over 1907

--------------------------+----------+--------------+--------+---------

General administration | 31,996 | $25,167,240 | $787 | $34

Maintenance and guarding | | | |

road | 177,633 | 42,891,753 | 241 | 5

Station service and train | | | |

crews | 302,343 | 116,219,657 | 384 | 24

Switching crews and shops | 187,183 | 75,328,084 | 402 | 18

+----------+--------------+--------+---------

Total | 699,155 | $259,606,734 | $371 | $19

| | | |

Increase over 1907 | 3,598 | 14,216,875 | -- | --

--------------------------+----------+--------------+--------+---------

Combined with a falling off in revenues and an increase in the cost

of materials this increase in the compensation of employes had the

effect of raising the operating ratio of German railways from 69.01

in 1907 to 73.56 in 1908. It also increased the proportion of wages

to gross earnings from 37.25 to 40.1% and had the effect of reducing

the net revenues from 5.60% to 4.51% on the cost of construction.

How railway labor fares under government ownership in a republic as

compared with its pay in an empire may be judged from a comparison of

the following statement as to the number and pay of the railways of

Switzerland with the like classes in the preceding table for Germany.

NUMBER AND PAY OF SWISS RAILWAY EMPLOYES BY PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS IN

1907.

==================================+==========+==============+=========

Division | Employes | Compensation | Average

| Number | (Total) | per Year

----------------------------------+----------+--------------+---------

General administration | 1,631 | $ 780,715 | $478

Maintenance and inspection of way | 10,308 | 1,459,977 | 142

Transportation and train service | 17,815 | 6,829,426 | 383

Porters and laborers | 12,219 | 3,209,810 | 262

+----------+--------------+---------

Total | 41,973 | $12,279,928 | $292

----------------------------------+----------+--------------+---------

The wages paid the employes of Swiss railways in 1907 amounted to

only 31.9 per cent. of the gross earnings, and yet they added enough

to the cost of operation to help increase the telltale ratio of

expenses to revenues from 64.99 in 1906 to 67.29 in 1907. The result

was increased operating expenses per mile and a decrease in the

amount available for interest in dividends from 3.26% in 1906 to

3.23% in 1907.

As the Swiss republic has to pay 3½% on government loans its

investment in railways does not appear to be a very profitable one.

EMPLOYES OF FRENCH RAILWAYS.

The employes of the railways of France are divided into the following

classes:

==================================================

General administration | 3,119

Transportation and traffic | 128,823

Traction and material | 80,732

Way and structures | 81,897

Auxiliaries | 82,809

Female employes | 29,178

|---------

Total | 406,558

--------------------------------------------------

The official statistics only give the compensation of employes in the

division of traction and material, where the 80,732 men employed get

an average of $187 per year.

On the state railways of Belgium, firemen receive from $15.20 to

$22.80 per month, the higher wage only after 15 years' service;

enginemen begin at $22.50 per month and at the end of 24 years'

service work up to $38.00 per month; conductors earn from $15.97 per

month up to a maximum of $34.70; brakemen, beginning as shunters

(switchmen) at 45 cents a day, when promoted get a minimum of $17.10

per month, from which they are slowly advanced to a maximum of

$22.00. The average railway worker in Belgium gets 2.22 francs (43

cents) a day.

Whole classes of American railway employes get more in a month than

Belgian railway employes average in a year.

THE COST OF LIVING.

What and how great the virtue and the art,

To live on little with a cheerful heart.--Pope.

Not because it has any legitimate place in fixing the standard

of railway wages, which should be relative to the part capacity,

intelligence, industry, loyalty and experience play in railway

service, but because in recent years the steady increase in the cost

of living has been made the fulcrum on which every lever to advance

wages works, is it proper to refer to the subject in this report.

Now there is nothing in the whole wilderness of economics so utterly

illusive and misleading as this same cost of living. It is as

incapable of statistical expression as the airy imaginings of a dream

and yet it broods over the domestic happiness of nations with all

the disquieting effects of a nightmare--and like every nightmare it

comes from eating too much and wanting to eat more.

In economics, beyond the barest subsistence, the cost of living is

not ruled by necessity but by individual choice. Each person and

family settles it along the lines of abstinence or indulgence. It

ranges from the "dinner of herbs where love is" and the virtues of

self-denial are nourished, to the feasts of Lucullus and Pompeian

profligacy in whose indulgence whole peoples have perished.

In every discussion of the subject first consideration is given to

the price of food. This amounts to measuring the cost of living

with an elastic string. The proportion of the cost of food to the

cost of living varies in every land, in every occupation and in

every household. It amounts to less than 40% in an average American

family, but each family fixes it for itself. Following certain well

recognized economic laws the percentage for subsistence increases as

the income decreases. For instance, in France families with an income

of under $4.80 per week spend 63% of it for food alone, whereas those

with $9.60 a week spend 53%. In England, families averaging $5.12

a week spend 67% on food, while those of $9.60 spend 57% or less.

In Germany, a similar inquiry showed that families with an average

income of $4.23 per week spent 68.7% on food (excluding beer), or

69.5% (with beer); whereas families with an income of $9.60 per week

spent less than 57% on food "excluding beer."

The exhaustive investigation made by Commissioner Carroll D. Wright

when head of the Bureau of Labor in 1903 anticipated for the United

States these results of more recent European inquiries, as appears

from the following table showing the per cent of total expenditure

made for various purposes in normal families according to classified

incomes:

PER CENT OF EXPENDITURE FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES IN 11,156 NORMAL

FAMILIES, BY CLASSIFIED INCOMES, 1901.

========================+======+=====+========+======+========+========

------------------------+------+-----+--------+------+--------+--------

Under $200 |16.93 |6.69 | 1.27 | 50.85| 8.68 | 15.58

$200 or under $300 |18.02 |6.09 | 1.13 | 47.33| 8.66 | 18.77

$300 or under $400 |18.69 |5.97 | 1.14 | 48.09| 10.02 | 16.09

$400 or under $500 |18.57 |5.54 | 1.12 | 46.88| 11.39 | 16.50

$500 or under $600 |18.43 |5.09 | 1.12 | 46.16| 11.98 | 17.22

$600 or under $700 |18.48 |4.65 | 1.12 | 43.48| 12.88 | 19.39

$700 or under $800 |18.17 |4.14 | 1.12 | 41.44| 13.50 | 21.63

$800 or under $900 |17.07 |3.87 | 1.10 | 41.37| 13.57 | 23.02

$900 or under $1000 |17.58 |3.85 | 1.11 | 39.90| 14.35 | 23.21

$1000 or under $1100 |17.53 |3.77 | 1.16 | 38.79| 15.06 | 23.69

$1100 or under $1200 |16.59 |3.63 | 1.08 | 37.68| 14.89 | 26.13

$1200 or over |17.40 |3.85 | 1.18 | 36.45| 15.72 | 25.40

+------+-----+--------+------+--------+--------

All classes |18.12 |4.57 | 1.12 | 43.13| 12.95 | 20.11

------------------------+------+-----+--------+------+--------+--------

While it is scarcely believable that many American families with

incomes under $200 spent less than $100 a year on food--the European

percentage in such cases being more credible--there is no reason

to question the general economic law reflected in this table, that

"the proportion of income spent on food diminishes as the income

increases." But it is governed more by individual tendencies,

character and taste than by any rule or principle. Each family works

out the problem on its own account.

According to the evidence presented at recent arbitration hearings in

this city, American switchmen, as a body, belong in the classes whose

family expenditures are $1,000 or over. Irrespective of the incomes

of other members of their families, the arbitrators found "that the

actual monthly earnings of switchmen in the Chicago district, for

those who worked full time _runs from about $80 to $100 per month_."

This means over $1,000 yearly compensation. Therefore they are in the

class which spends less than 39% of its income on food.

The average income for all railway employes engaged in train

service, that is, enginemen, firemen, conductors and other trainmen,

is probably above the highest figure in the foregoing table and

therefore the proportion of their income spent for food would be

approximately 36%.

But accepting 40% as approximately the proportion of the pay of

all railway employes spent on food, it follows that it takes only

two-fifths of one per cent increase in wages to take care of an

increase of one per cent in the price of food.

The Railway Library, 1909 A Collection of Noteworthy Chapters, Addresses, and Papers Relating to Railways, Mostly Published During the Year · 第 31 / 39 段

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