Railroad Receiver Implements Austerity Measures
Faced with financial strain, the Lake Shore road's receiver fires thirty-six men and halts essential maintenance work.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Receiver Thomas R. Brown, of the Lake Shore road, is lopping off every item of expense in the management of that road which can possibly be spared. Yesterday Superintendent Kline discharged thirty-six men, mostly from the track force. 'We haven't any money to make ourselves look pretty with,' said he, 'and we will even have to postpone doing work which is really necessary to do some time. We intend to keep just enough force to keep the road up to the safety limit. We are not doing any new work whatever, and we are now pretty near down to bone in the matter of economical running.' This is the time of year when the track force clears out the ditches and culverts, cuts down the weeds on the right-of-way, puts in new ties wherever needed, and generally gets the road ready for the rough weather of winter. This work can be done to the best advantage now, but exertion will be confined to taking care of the needs of each hour as they arise. We cannot spend any money in preparing for the future.
“We have not any money to make ourselves look pretty with.”
This reflects the volatile nature of labor in Seattle's early industrial economy, where the 'safety limit' was a constant trade-off for cost-cutting, a tension still visible in current debates over infrastructure maintenance and public sector austerity.
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