Trustees for the Public
As trustees for the public served by our lines and for the great mass of the less powerful employees (not less than 80 percent of the whole number) interested in the railroad wage fund—as trustees also for the millions of people that have invested their savings and capital in the bonds and stock of these properties, and who through the saving banks, trust companies and insurance companies, are vitally interested to the extent of millions of dollars, in the integrity and solvency of the railroads of the country, we cannot in conscience surrender with or without a hearing, the principle involved, nor undertake to transfer the enormous cost that will result to the transportation of the commerce of the country.
The eight-hour day without punitive overtime involves an annual increase, approximately, in the aggregate of Sixty Millions of Dollars, and an increase of more than 20 percent, in the pay of the men, already the most highly paid in the transportation service.
The ultimate cost to the railroads of an admission in this manner of the principle under contention cannot now be estimated; the effect upon the efficiency of the transportation of the country now already under severe test under the tide of business now moving, and at a time when more, instead of less, effort is required for the public welfare, would be harmful beyond calculation.
The widespread effect upon the industries of the country as a whole is beyond measure or appraisal at this time, and we agree with the insistent and widespread public concern over the gravity of the situation and the consequences of a surrender by the railroads in this emergency. 