THE WAGE PROBLEM.
This problem of wages, clashing as it must often do with the claims of those who have put capital into the industry, is, indeed, a thorny one, and I am far from suggesting that wages of railroad workers are too high, though unquestionably, as measured by the pre-War standards of living and the pre-War wage, there has been a substantial advance in real wages as expressed in purchasing power. Nor has the travelling publio been behindhand in endeavouring to meet the situation by paying higher fares on the railways, while traders using the
' (Continued on page vi)
Finance—Public and Private
(Continued from page 100.) railways for the carriage of goods have made their contribu- tion. There are two points, however, which seem to emerge from this latest development in the railway situation. The first is that whether railwaymen are over or under paid the question is not being decided, as it has to he in so many industries, by the actual power of the undertaking to bear the strain of the wage charges. In other words, the industry is a " sheltered " one. The other point which emerges is that not only is the Railway stockholder affected by the maintenance of an uneconomic wage to railroad workers, but he is also hit by the subsidized character of road competition which has not to meet the same burden of taxation as that borne by the railroads. It is not surprising, therefore, that there should now he an outcry concerning the delay in accepting the recommen- dations of the Salter Committee, for these recommendations were made unanimously by the Committee and would do much to relieve the railroads of their present burdens. Moreover, the Salter Report, so far as could be judged, was generally approved by the public and not least by owners of motor-cars and by the pedestrians.
* * * *
Previous page
