In tlie Country s Greatest Busi ness, Handling Five Times tlie Worlds Gold Output, the SkVorker Reaps tlie Sliare CHICAGO. —The bißgest busi ness In the country is rail-, roading. If ail the railroads in the country (there are 2,500 of them) could hoard from day *o day the money they gather in for moving passengers and freight, at the «nd of a year there wouldn't be a dol lar left anywhere else in the country, livery piece of metal and paper cur rency in the country would be in the railroad treasuries. The railroads earn in a year Ave times the whole world's output of sold, thirty times this country's gold •output; they take in four times as much money as the Steel corporation, five times as much money as the gov ernment itself —more money than is represented in all our trade overseas. It's a big business that takes in ■52,600,000,000 in a year; this is $7,000,- 000 a day—seven million dollars a tlay! And $3,500,000 of this money, every •day of the year, goes into the pay en velopes of the workers. For half the money gathered in by the railroads — half of this $2,000,000,000 a year—is the workers' share of this biggest of American businesses. So in two years the railroad workers receive in their pay envelopes as much money as there is in circulation in the whole country. Big figures these! There is the humble trackman, usually an alien from the slums of Europe, who dog gedly obeys the orders of the track foreman. Out of every SIOO gathered in by the railroads, six dollars goes to him —five times as much as goes to the railroad officials. The figures are big, you see, whether you start from the bottom or the top. Let us see what becomes of every SIOO received by the railroads in their two and-a-half-billion-dollar business. Workers on railroads 112 1.700.000 men). S4O Dealers in railroad materials (chiefly the r.teel and coal trades) 25 The slate (taxes) 3 Creditors (hundreds of thousands of bondholders) 13 The owners (500,000 Investors) 12 For the surplus (improving the prop erty) 7 Total SIOO Workers actually get SSO out of every SIOO, for from the $25 paid for materials (rails, cars, engines, build ings, etr.) $lO goes to workers in these industries. Every time you spend e dollar at. a railroad ticket of fice or freight office, you are paying 50 cents for wages. A Billion-Dollar Pay Roll. Now let's see just how the S4O out of every SIOO of railroad revenue is distributed among the railroad work ers: Total wages. Shopmen $ 8 $ 210,000,000 Trackmen 6 150.000,000 Trainmen II 92,000,000 Enginemen 11 85,000,000 Conductors 11 55,000,000 Firemen 11 52,000.000 Station men 4 100.000,000 Miscellaneous 5 120,000,000 Clerks 1.60 45.000.000 Watchmen, etc 1.20 30,000.000 Officers 1.20 32,000,000 Telegraphers 1 28,000,000 Total wages $1,000,000,000 When you look over this billion-dol lar pay roll you get an idea of the big ness of railroading. Take the small est item on the list—s2B,ooo,ooo paid in wages to telegraphers and dispatch ers, an army of 40,000 men "at the key." This is more money than all the telegraph companies in the coun try spend in wages. And then the item at the top of the list—s2lo,ooo,ooo in wages to shop men. You know, perhaps, that rail roads have shops, where they mend broken wheels and put new paint on cars. But did you ever know that the railroad shops of the country employ an army of 350,000 men earning $200,- 000,000 a year in wages? This repair end of tiie railroad business is bigger than the business of the Steel corpora tion itself —more men and more wages. The army of shopmen has a big job. In the shops of the big railroads loco motives and cars are built as well as repa'ired. The smaller roads buy their equipment from the independent build ers, but there is no road so small but that it has its shops for repairing equipment. The railroads own 2,200,- 000 cars—of which 50,000 are pas senger cars. Made up into one train these cars would stretch around the earth, and to every fortieth car there would be a locomotive, for the rail roads have 55,000 in service. You could carry every man, woman and child in America in this train, allow ing only 40 passengers to a car. It's the business of the third of a million shopmen to keep these two and a quarter million cars and locomotives in running order. A bigger army still is that on the track —430,000 men, made up of 45,000 section foremen —the bosses—and 385,- 000 humble workers, the lowest paid men in the service, averaging eight dollars a week. But they take six dol lars out of every SIOO of railroad rev enue, or $150,000,000 a year, and no small part of this money finds its way back to"the old country." Many a good American citizen of to-day earned his first money in this country as a member of a track gang. Third Largest Railroad Army. The train crews, with,320,000 en ginemen, firemen, conductors and trainmen, make up the third largest railroad army, but they head the wage list with $285,000,000 a year. They get more than a dollar out of every ten received by the railroads. Here is shown the make-up of the railroad army: Trackmen 430,000 Shopmen 350,000 Trainmen 135,000 Firemen 70,000 Enginemen 65,000 Conductors 50.000 Total of crews (320,000) Station men 192.000 Miscellaneous 240 000 Clerks >. i;o,000 Watchmen, etc 55,000 Telegraphers 40,000 Officers 13,000 Total 1,700,000 Or they may be divided into three great armies in this way: Officers and staffs 65,000 Army of the trains 725^000 Army of the tracks 550,00:) Army of the shops 3«M)00 Total forces 1,700,000 The wages of these workers vary from a dollar a day paid southern trackmen to the five-figure yearly aal- CAMERON COUNTY PRESS. THURSDAY DECEMBER 24, 1908. «rr|TW DEALERS\ OW , H f 2 R5 ' 'CHIEFLY STEEL THADfc 1 S / (I mBBJI / V/onKER» Vy Aries paid the heads of transconti nental roads. The average daily earn ings of the officers and men of the railroad forces is here shown: General officers 111.SO Other officers 6.80 Clerks 2.2"> Station agents 1.95 Other station men 1.70 Englnemen 4.10 Firemen 2.40 Conductors 3.50 Trainmen 2.35 Machinists 2.70 Carpenters 2.25 Other shopmen 1.90 Section foremen 1.80 Other trackmen 1.35 Watchmen, etc 1.80 Telegraphers 2.15 Miscellaneous 1.80 The average yearly earnings of rail road workers is a little more than S6OO. A ten per cent, wage advance means only S6O for each man, but it adds $100,000,000 to the billion-dollar pay roll—a sum equal to a third of all the profits distributed to the half mil lion owners of the railroads in the most prosperous year in their history. Similarly, a ten per cent, advance in freight rates, such as is now proposed, would add $180,000,000 to the revenue of the roads, or more than two per cent, on all the outstanding $8,000,000,- 000 railroad stock. The business is so big that fractional changes in receipts or expenditures, if spread over the country, produce results of astounding proportions. Dividends to Shareholders. Having taken a look at the railroad business from the viewpoint of the 1,700,000 workers, let us see how it looks to the 50,000 owners. The rail roads earned last year, gross, $2,600,- 000,000. The small end of the railroad business is the passenger traffic. The receipts from 900,000,000 passengers were $570,000,000. The average rate paid was a trifle over two cents a mile. The figures show that the aver age American made ten railroad trips in ihe year of an average length of 32 miles, paying $6.50 for the service—so, 320 miles appears to be tha average yearly travel of the American on the railroads. The railroads also received more than $100,000,000 carrying mail and express matter, mostly on pas senger trains. Hut Ihe 2,000,000 freight cars are the big earners. They brought in $1,800,- 000,000 last year, 30, times as much money as all the gold mines of the country produced, 4V6 times as much money as all the gold mines of the world produced. Great is the Ameri can freight car, even if it does go banging along on a flat wheel! It earned this huge amount of money by sheer work, for it charged only three quarters of a cent for carrying a ton of freight a mile. Rut even three-quar ters of a cent a ton runs into money pretty fast in the big way we run our railroads. A 50-ton car, at this average rate, earns 37'/2 cents a mile; this is $18.75 a mile for a 50-car train —and in the 3,000-mile journey across the country this runs up to $56,000. Big cars and long hauls make possible the low American freight rates. Where Freight Comes From. A word as to where all the freight comes from. More than half of all the tonnage carried on the railroads is the product of the mines—a third is coal and coke. The soft coal tonnage is enormous —a quarter of all the traf fic —because this is the great fuel in industrial plants from coast to coast. Hard coal—the householders' fuel —is a big item in freight, but not nearly so big as soft coal. Manufactures stand next to mine products in im portance, with about a seventh of the total tonnage, and in this class the steel industry takes the lead. Lumber and other products of the forest rank third; agricultural products fourth, with merchandise and miscellaneous freight last. A 1,000-ton train, loaded with freight in the proportions in which the country's freight tonnage is divided, would carry: Tons. Mine products 531 Manufactures 14S Forest products 112 Farm and ranch products 100 Merchandise 40 Miscellaneous freight 00 Total 1.000 So much for how the railroads earn $2,600,000,000. Now let's see what is done with all the money. Two-thirds of all the money received by the rail roads has to be spent to run them. The railroads spent on operation last year: Running trains $ 970,000,000 Maintaining equipment 370,000,000 Maintaining roadbed, etc 350,000,000 General expenses ti0,000,000 Total operating expenses $i,.50,000,000 Included in this pillion and three quarters is the billion-dollar pay roll. The other three-quarters is spent on various materials, coal and steel being the principal Items. The coal bill for the locomotives is the biggest single item —$185,000,000. Besides the coal bill, there is spent for locomotives $10,000,000 on water, $6,000,000 on oil, tallow and waste, and $4,000,000 on other supplies—more than $200,000,000 in all. The tie bill is big—s4o,ooo,ooo, bigger than the rail bill —$25,000,000. Stationery and printing costs $14,000,- 000, advertising $7,000,000, wrecks and other damage $22,000,000, clearing away wrecks $5,000,000, killing and in juring people $18,000,000, insurance $7,500,000 —and so on through a score of items all in the millions. Share of the Owners. A glance at the table at the begin ning of this article shows that after the railroads pay out of their revenues 40 per cent, for wages, 25 per cent, for materials, etc., and three per cent, for taxes, there is still left 32 per cent, of the revenues. The creditors; —that is, the bondholders, spread all over the face of the earth—owning $9,000,000,- 000 of American railroad obligations, get 13 per cent, of the revenues. This nets them 3.7 per cent, on the par value of their bonds. There is still 19 per cent. left. Of this 12 per c«nt. goes to the shareholders—the half mil lion owners. They receive $300,000,000 a year out of the $2,600,000,000 earn ings, which nets them only 3.6 per cent, on their $8,000,000,000 of stock. The other seven per cent, of the earn ings goes into surplus. Such, in brief, is the story of the country's biggest business, the opera tion of 230,000 miles of railroads. MISSIONARY'S LITTLE JOKE. He Lengthened the Day by Several Hours for a Korean Village. The Koreans in the vicinity of Seoul, the capital city, and around the treaty ports are fast losing their early guile lessness in trying to follow the march of western civilization. ID the moun tains of the interior, however, condi tions are much the same as in the days when Korea could justly be termed the "Hermit nation" and the inhabitants knew little and cared leas about Occidental progress. Among the American missionaries who were in the habit of making pro tracted trips in the interior of the country there was one who, in addition to being a zealous worker, was also a good deal of a wag. On the occasion of one of his inland journeys he found himself at nightfall in a small village, where he was to spend the night in the straw thatched dwelling of one of the native converts. The sleeping chamber was the usual tiny room, heated by a system of flues beneath the mud floor and rendered nearly airtight by closely fitting oil paper windows and doors. It was fearfully hot, and about mid night the American could stand it no longer; so he strolled out in the open for a breath of air. The village was wrapped in slumber, so just for a joke and with no ulterior motive the mis sionary let out a lusty imitation of a rooster's crow. This was immediately taken up by a wakeful bird in a court yard near by, and in a few minutes every fowl was adding his morning sa lute to the general chorus. Now, watches and alarm clocks were an unknown luxury in the vil lage, and the people were accustomed to time their rising hour by the roos ters. In a few moments, therefore, the sleepy Koreans came straggling out of their little huts, and after starting the fires on which to boil the morning rice lighted their long bamboo pipes and squatted round in little groups to wait for sunrise. Their amazement can be imagined when the hours went by and still there were no signs of light in the east. "Irun chanie," said one to another, as with open mouth he pondered over the phenomenon. Years have passed since then, but in at least one village in Korea all events still date back to"the night when the morning didn't come." —Youth's Com panion. Price of Food Increased. Increase in the price of grain and foodstuffs throughout India has be come a serious matter on account of 1 the poverty of the masses and the low J wages paid for labor, according to a j report made by Consul-General Wil i liam B. Michael to the bureau of I manufactures. He says that food stuffs have advanced 40 per cent, dur ing the last two years ip India; 'ent* from 50 to 60 per cent N; toe metropolis Chriatmrs treads upon the heels of Thanksgiv *r( / to exploit its wares. l The windows of the great stores, that have been fringed with 112 1 Autumn leaves, now present the entire gamut of holiday goods. Images of Santa Claus appear in bas reliefs, backed with reindeer and sledges, capacious chimneys and sntjgf "fire-places. Toys and sweetmeats run riot upon the counters, and the long aisles of the great There are yet many days for making Christmas choices has about her none of that mad, scrambling air so noticeable during the last few days of the runaway seasonJ In the streets Santa )vorks ai every asking alms for Jnc needy, and the sick, that their Chrislifpis, too, may ; be brightened and of good cheer. the of the crowd take on a happier smile; the heart is answering to the message ofO>"good will on earth." Inch by inch we are dray/n into the / the Rustle and the spirit of the time. In ou/ minds turning overhand the problem of what for this dtJr one ape/what flwthat —and/ r list we include those who are less a ptto~be ycfn this day than we arp—and now comes the real joy of Christmas: the doing ]of good makes our hearts sing with happiness! There is the little girl we met av/£(y up in the pine woods last summer who will be delighted with a pretty book, the lame boy who sells papers at the corner of Hit and Miss- streets, the widow,«who takes in washing out in the suburb where we the jolly boy/friend of a business associ ate who has so many things one cannotl just \decide* on* his present, the elevator man who has m6t uS morning and night with a cheery good morning and a respectful gdod night—and then there are the closer ones: the mother, father,/ Wife and babies! / What a galaxy needy folk—for all are\ needy "on "Christmas day! Those who do not need food, or clothing, or money, need something that will prove our love.jprove that we, have-not forgotten them and that on this, the day commemorating the coming of the King .'of Bethlehem, our heart is attuned to theirs in gladness and rejoicing. | And now the holly and the mistletoe appear upon" the street' corners and rushing business men stop on their hurried homeward to buy wreaths of the green and the red to hang in the windows of their homes and from the chandeliers i jtf tfieir')living rooms. J On and on surges the Spirit""Christmasj^^^/ Like a mighty enveloping if breaks'through "the clouds of every-day mediocrity and racing across the world sends its glow ing glory into every home! Garlands hang everywhere, bells chime and merry laughter echoes through the halls of time. And with the ringing of the crystal spheres,' peace spreads her mande like a cloak and plenty sits enthroned among the merrymaking and the praise! "Peace on earth, good-will to men." E hcar of Christmas early in tftt countfy! /No gooner Ilave the will be here >s father qucs-> how time flics!" he commonest £<? he turns,his paper v aftfcr aftfcr night she sews and crochets and no sooner aro tHe ohilclren out of the house and £&J hmisework finished, than she goes 3ome deep corner and uncompleted presents for them, Willie, laces for for Dad.'l Guardedly she works, to the lea^intrviwSy'&■ slightest danger of a surprise. .And 'Vhen thft children hatfe after school, she hurries the work into deft hands to the regular routinel_ of ; tree and of"the pr.-esotj^'fo r^fe^ryj^el' Th^^tin^la y School added numbeYs and the vsxing men y^ngJ»%s_to,string popconr§nd fashion, decorations. DelightiuToccupation! the days now gone, all men have strung their hearts upon the threads and passed them awkwardly to rosy-cheeked maids with hair braided down their backs, with ruby lips and eyes _ that sparkled with the first love glances! And the Christmas parties, the sleighrides, the renewing of friendships with those who have beer, away at school and have returned for the season of gayety and good cheer! And the stockings that are hung on Christmas eve in the country! In every home they reap their harvest year by year on Christmas morning. Reap their harvest as the "Merry Christmas!" salutation rings throughout the house. And it is mother, usually, that steals in upon the sleeping ones, and wishes them a glad and happy Christmas! And always on Christmas morning she will do this! Though she be in the land of bliss beyond, or in the flesh of the present, she will speak to us of the Christmas morning, speak to us from her loving heart and wish us happiness. Nor time, nor death, nor changes, nor wars, nor misfortunes ever can take from a man this Christmas wish of mother's: "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!" From the endless aeons of the turquoise sky she speaks to me on Christmas morning—and she speaks to you, too —but, mayhap, nearer by. for Christmas in the country is indissolubly associated with her. And for that reason, Christmas in the count-y is doubly dear to me —and doubly sacred. "With trembling fingers did we weave The holly round the Christmas hearth; A rainy cloud possess'd the earth, And sadly fell our Christmas-eve." yfi^ 9
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers