Shopmen Want More

Seventy cents an hour was the minimum wage fixed by the U. S. Railroad Labor Board for shopmen: machinists, boilermakers, blacksmiths, electricians, sheet metal workers, carmen.

Ninety cents an hour is the minimum demanded by the shopmen of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie, with a minimum of 67 cents an hour for helpers. Similar demands are said to have been served on the New York Central System and the Baltimore and Ohio. The shopmen number 400,000. It is estimated that the contemplated increase will cost the roads $50,000,000 annually.

Already certain of the western roads have granted increased wages in order to hold their men during the summer. Within the past few weeks increases totaling $30,000,000 have been given by the Santa Fe, the Pennsylvania, the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis, the Chicago & Alton.