WAGES AND SALARIES 481 



daily compensation of all other employees ranges from $1.95 to $2.55. 

 The Iowa Bridge Companies- report an average daily compensation 

 for general officers of $4.33, and for all other employees $2.01. These 

 companies are small, and the variation between the returns to the 

 officers and wage-earners is probably typical of that existing in many 

 small businesses. 



The railroads report a divergence between the compensation of gen- 

 eral officers and of other employees which is considerable. For all 

 operating railroads in the United States, the average daily compensa- 

 tion of general officers was $12.99^ For Class I. roads (annual earn- 

 ings over $1,000,000) the average is, in the Eastern District, $19.52; 

 in the Southern District, $14.63; and in the Western, $16.63. In 

 Class II. and Class III. roads the average is much lower. " The other 

 officers" (there were in 1911 5,628 "general officers" and 10,196 

 " other officers " on all operating roads) received an average daily com- 

 pensation of $6.27. For Class I. roads the average, as before, was 

 somewhat higher than for Class II. and III. roads. Although the 

 compensation rates for " other officers " do not greatly exceed the rates 

 for the best-paid wage-earners, the rates of pay among general officers 

 is much higher than for the wage-earners. With the exception of 

 enginemen, conductors and machinists, no group of railroad employees 

 receives an average daily compensation of more than $3.00 a day. For 

 conductors and enginemen it is $4.16 and $4.79, respectively, and for 

 machinists, $3.14. For most of the employees the average daily com- 

 pensation ranges around $2.00. The same relation exists between the 

 average wage of the great bulk of railroad employees and that of 

 "other officers" as that shown for the Iowa Terminal and Bridge Com- 

 panies. The compensation of the "general officers " on the railroads is 

 very much higher. 



Although the facts are most readily usable in the railroad in- 

 dustry, an examination of the figures from street and electric railways, 

 mines and quarries, telegraph and telephone companies, and manufac- 

 turing industries tends to confirm the general impression made by the 

 railroad statistics. For small concerns, and for second-grade officers, 

 the rate of return is not greatly in excess of the rate for the better-paid 

 wage-earners. The general, or first-class, officers who are responsible 

 for large enterprises do receive, as a group, a rate of return which is 

 ordinarily from five to ten times greater than the rate paid to wage- 

 earners. 



There is another point of great significance which must be borne in 

 mind in this connection. The salaries of general officers are high in 

 individual instances, nevertheless the aggregate of salaries paid is 



2 Hid., p. 516. 



3 Statistics of the Railways of the United States, 1911, Interstate Gom- 

 meree Commission, Washington, Government Priating Office, 1913, p. 28. 



VOL. LXXXVI. — 33. 



