Ke Aloha Aina, Volume XXXIV, Number 32, 29 August 1919 — High Life in the R. T. [ARTICLE]

High Life in the R. T.

Mr. S*tuart JohMson, manager of the Hapid Transit is _ . evideutly one of those individuals (we quite a number of them in this Territory) who have īn their veins the b!obtf ot the s3ave ōwiiors of pre-civil wāir days. According to yar!6uß statements attributed to John&>n, that individual apparently thmfcs that all h'-- has to do is to crack his whip, and his human ch'āttejls •wikl alink away mto some corner and hide themselves. And Mr. JohjQson may be tempted to craek his whip any time he gets, . *«ai angry. J . 33iere are calmer moments, however, m Mr. Jo|»nson's life . he may in an exeess of genero.sity |>ermit thej*apid Tran-| ,si| to craw| 011 their beflieg t bf|ore hp, flu4Jick,the, solee of his shoes, preUminary to presenting thejr grlevance3 (if, tlKey have) for hU gra?iqus'and" T Oe'nevofent 1 'llie past week has witnesssed a'turSule«Lt c£hibitipn..of] irritabitity, as we'ōlie a 1 demohātratlon of lhis benevo-| Mwjsr4nd geneyosity'(?). In Johnson*B aeheine ot things all men j all Rapid Transit men—are born to, bow the knee to and no departure from sut;h huinility will be tolqraied.J . 4®w«iin«ly, two employes of the K. T, accUseti of & among the Tr&nsit .were promptly fired ikA* teiTible crime, Tlje ; { disptisfeio]9i'.Utt--this partieular c^ t wa§ quite in view of the %ct that. the are/ in comparison wit3ī the cost of livjng a few v years _ how just_'aJ)Ourjlalf fhe Vages then pīdd. ' After for a.*night two over the and[ also *)6'abubt after receivlng a ?ew'jōgs from the directojs, Johnsbn <lfedded to receive a dēputation of the eannen, who eame to him request the reinstatement of &e discharge<i employees ; and acceded to this request, on the principle, we suppose, «liscretion is th» better part of valor. As to the question ōf i»creaBed remuneration, Johnson was always willing, he aasured 4fee iieputation, to listen to the men, preferring to hear their in-1 < 4ividual grievances individually, but such a thing as collective ( ,b«gaUiing with the men jarred his sensitive and aesthetic soul| to such an extent as tp giye him coavulsion3 in his clantanterpipe. However, he wo.uld see y what he could do. As a result of Johnjpte,,e%!ts in thia direction the an- , nouncement has just been the Eapid Xrans|t men are to get an increase of —ye gods and little fiāies!—five centa an hour. lLet us Tepeat itr—five cents an hour! While figures may Ke and liars may figure, it seems"a fact in this instance that five cents an hour represepts an increase of about 8 per cent in the carmen's wages—a$ againgt an increase of alx>ūt 100 per cent in ,the cost of liying—or, to put it in anotfcer way, that the carmen will receive~~when they get their inerēaee of five cents an hour—about 42 per cent less wages than before the war. AJwngry dog may appreciate a bare bone when it is thrown to him, but he won't $erive mueh nourishment from chewing it; the carmen may be happy with five cents an hour increase in thefr wages, but such ari increase will strike most people as a rather bare bone. We were almost overlooking, the thjß car men may decide to fiU up on p.oi and tice, whieh leads us to the further suppoaition that every night also .thfi cax men may kneel down at their dainty little white beds and thank God and their »tars ,that they work for tlie Amen conier bunch of Central'Union Church, and the bien aime of that bunch, the H. R. T. & L.