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The Tobacco Worker.

REPORT OF U. S. COMMISSION

ON INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS.

Continued from February issue

6. Owing to the duplication of offices on the part of the two companies and the maintenance of branch offices which are idle for a large part of the time, this service is being performed inefficiently and at an unusually high cost in spite of the low wages paid the operators.

It is suggested that Commission recommend:

1. The property of the telegraph companies or such part of their equipment as may be necessary for the efficient operation of a National telegraph system, should be purchased by the Federal Government, after proper valuation, and placed upder the general jurisdiction of the Post Office Department for operation. In transferring the serIvice to the Federal Government all employes, including officials and other persons, necessary for successful operation, should be retained, and those whom the elimination of the duplicate service of the two companies renders unnecessary for the National system, should be absorbed into other branches of the Federal service as far as practicable.

2. At the time of the transfer to the Federal service a special commission should be appointed to revise the salary ratings and other working conditions and place them upon a proper basis.

TELEPHONE.

The investigations of the Commission are the basis for the following state

ments:

1. The condition of the telephone operators in both interstate and local service is subject to grave criticism. The wages paid even in the cities having the highest standards are insufficient to provide decently for women who have no other means of support. The requirements and nervous strain incident to the service are so very severe that experienced physicians have testified that operators should work not more than five hours per day, whereas the regular working hours are from seven to nine per day. The operators, who are principally girls and young women, are required to work at night, going to and returning from their work at hours when they are subject to grave menace. The policy of the companies in general provides for sanitary and reasonably comfortable working places, and for attention to the recreation and physical needs of the operators, but in a number of cities the conditions even in these respects are subject to severe criticism.

2. The telephone operators are unable to secure reasonable conditions for themselves, because of their youth and the fact that they ordinarily remain in the service only a short time.

3. The organization of the employes for their own protection is effectively resisted by the employing companies.

4. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company, with its subsidiary and affiliated corporations, controls more than 70 per cent. of the total telephone business of the country. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company has been enormously profitable and is well able to afford the necessary improveThe in working conditions. American Telephone and Telegraph Company has increased its capitalization

ments

enormously without the investment of new capital.

5.

The transaction by which the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, which had been a subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone Company, but resulted in the increase of the capitalization of the combination from $25,886,300 to $75,276,600 without the addition of any new capital.

6. The transmission of intelligence is a function which is specially reserved by the Constitution to the Federal Government, but which in the telephone field has been permitted to become the practical monopoly of a single corporation.

It is suggested that the Commission recommend:

1. The purchase by the Federal Government, after proper valuation, of the property of the interstate and local telephone companies, or such part of their equipment as may be necessary for the efficient operation of a National telephone system.

2. The transfer of all employes, including officials, necessary for the operation of the National telephone system, to the Federal service as far as possible, and the absorption, as far as practicable, of all employes who are not necessary for the telephone system into other branches of the Federal service.

3. When such employes are transferred to the Federal service, the creation of a special commission to establish salary ratings and other working conditions on a proper basis.

4. In the meantime provision should be made by Congress for the creation of a minimum wage board to fix minimum wage standards for women employes who are engaged in the transmission of messages in interstate commerce. The board should be authorized to differentiate between localities in fixing minima, if on due consideration such differential rates should be deemed advisable.

5. The creation of minimum wage boards in the several States to fix minimum wages for all women employes engaged in service within the State.

THE PULLMAN COMPANY.

The investigations and hearings of the Commission developed the following facts:

1. The conductors and porters employed in the car service of the Pullman Company are employed under conditions which seem to require radical readjustment. Both classes of employes are admitted by officials of the company to be underpaid.

The standard salary of the porters (27.50 per month) is such that the porters are obliged to secure tips from the public in order to live. The Pullman Company is admitted by the chairman of the Board of Directors to be the direct beneficiary of the tips from the public to the extent of the difference between fair wage and that which is now paid.

The hours of service are extremely long, the regulations of the Company allowing porters and conductors, when in service, only four hours' sleep per night and penalizing them severely if they sleep while on duty. Employes of the Pullman Company are subject to many other abuses, among which may be mentioned the arbitrary deduction from their salaries for such time as they may not be needed for the actual service of the company, although they are required to report at the office each morning and are sometimes compelled to wait the greater part of the day without compensation; the requirement that porters shall furnish blacking although they are not permitted to charge passengers for the service of shoe cleaning; the system of arbitrary penalties for the infraction of multitudinous rules; the requirement that all employes shall furnish their uniforms from one mercantile establishment, the owners of which are largely interested in the Pullman Company; and the lack of proper provision of sleeping quarters for employes when away from their home stations.

2. The Pullman Company has a bonus system, by which employes who have a "clean record" for the year receive an extra month's salary. This system serves to increase the earnings of those who receive the bonus, and is unquestionably appreciated by them. Nevertheless, it is inequitable in penalizing with extra severity any infractions of rules which occur during the latter half of the year, and puts into the hands of

officials and inspectors a means of discrimination which can be arbitrarily exercised.

3. The effect of the tipping system is not only to degrade those who are obliged by their economic conditions to accept tips, but to promote discrimination in the service of the public.

4. The employes of the Pullman Company are unable to improve their condition through organization, as employes known to be members of labor unions are discharged and through the means of an effective system of espionage employes are deterred from affiliating with labor unions.

5. The company is tremendously overcapitalized, having increased its capitalization from $36,000,000 in 1893 to $120,-000,000 in 1915, without the investment of a single dollar on the part of the stockholders. Upon the basis of actual cash paid in, the annual dividends of the company are not less than twenty-nine per cent. During the history of the Company the stockholders have received cash dividends amounting to at least $167,000,000 and special stock dividends of $64,000,000, making a total of $231,000,000 on an actual investment of $32,601,238.

6. The company enjoys a practical monopoly of the sleeping car service. It is suggested that the Commission recommend:

1. The enactment by Congress of a statute prohibiting the tipping of any employe of a public service corporation engaged in interstate commerce, and providing a proper fine for both the giver and the recipient of the tip.

1. The railroad construction camps are largely insanitary, overcrowded and improperly equipped for the health and comfort of the employes. In addition there are many abuses, such as overcharging at the commissary and grafting by foremen.

2. The so-called voluntary benefit associations of a number of the railroads constitute, under the present system of management, a great injustice to employes. These funds, which are contributed almost entirely by the employes, the management as a rule paying only the cost of administration, until recently were generally used to relieve the companies from liability for accident, employes being required to sign a release in favor of the company at the time that they became members of the benefit association. In some cases, even, the membership is compulsory. Nevertheless the employes have no voice in the management and receive no equity when they are discharged. Finally, such associations, under their present management, serve to exert an undue influence over employes, since the members, if they quit the service for any period or for any cause, sacrifice to the company all that has been paid in.

3. Under the authority granted by the several States the railroads maintain a force of police, and some, at least, have established large arsenals and arms and ammunition. This armed force, when augmented by recruits from detective agencies and employment agencies, as seems to be the general practice during industrial disputes, constitute a private army clothed with a degree of authority which should be exercised only by public officials; these armed bodies, usurping the supreme functions of the State and oftentimes encroaching on the rights of the citizens, are a distinct menace to public welfare.

It is suggested that the Commission recommend:

1. Thorough investigation by the Public Health Service of railroad construction camps as well as other labor camps, and the preparation of definite plans for such camps and a standard code of sanitary regulations.'

2. The enactment by Congress of a