Freedom is never given; it is won.
-A. Philip Randolph
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Saturday May 8, 1915
From The New York Age: "Lincoln's Son Claims Pullman Co. An Uplift"
Rober T. Lincoln, son of President Lincoln, came before the
Commission on Industrial Relations this past Tuesday and gave testimony regarding the wages of the Pullman Porters. Mr. Lincoln admitted that the wages of the porters are too low and that the Porters must depend on tips in order to make a living for themselves and their families.
Sadly, Commission Garretson, President of the Order of Railway Conductors, in the process of questioning Mr. Lincoln, saw fit to degrade his fellow railway workers. The New York Age describes the questioning, and the response by Mr. Lincoln:
Commissioner Garretson, in questioning Mr. Lincoln, had to interject an insult to the vast body of worthy Negro men who serve as Pullman porters by referring to them as "coons," and to his reference no exception was taken by the great emancipator's son, or any other member of the commission. This came when Garretson asked Mr. Lincoln, "Then if tips are to be paid you believe in the corporation getting them instead of the 'coon'?" to which the reply was given, "That is what it amounts to."
From The New York Age of May 6, 1915:
LINCOLN'S SON CLAIMS
PULLMAN CO. AN UPLIFT
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Tells Federal Commission Co.
has Done Most to Uplift Negro Men
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TIPS REALLY TO COMPANY
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Robert Lincoln, Former President of Pullman Co.,
Testifies That Salary Paid Porters is Too Low,
and if Law Prohibited Tips
Salaries Would be Raised Immediately by the Company.
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Special to THE NEW YORK AGE.
Robert Lincoln
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 5.-Robert T. Lincoln, son of the late President Abraham Lincoln, and a controlling factor in the destinies of the pullman Company, was a witness before the Federal Commission on Industrial Relations, Frank P. Walsh of Missouri, chairman, which opened a three weeks' hearing on Monday in this city.
Mr Lincoln declared that the Pullman Company has been "the one large element (outside of the learned professions) that has done more to uplift colored men." Mr. Lincoln was president of the company from 1897 to 1911, while ill health necessitated his retirement, and he became chairman of the board of directors, which position he now holds. He declared that the matter of tips to Pullman porters was an old custom, but that it was not a nice arrangement and was very annoying. He acknowledged also that tips to porters were really tips to the company stockholders.
He said that if tips to porters were prohibited by law the company, without two minutes' discussion of the matter, would immediately raise salaries. He said that salaries to conductors and porters were too low, that increases should be granted, and that it was a matter which would have the attention of the executive board of the Pullman Company at once.
Refers to Porters as "Coons."
A. B. Garretson, President
Order of Railway Conductors
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Commissioner Garretson, in questioning Mr. Lincoln, had to interject an insult to the vast body of worthy Negro men who serve as Pullman porters by referring to them as
"coons," and to his reference no exception was taken by the great emancipator's son, or any other member of the commission. This came when Garretson asked Mr. Lincoln, "Then if tips are to be paid you believe in the corporation getting them instead of the 'coon'?" to which the reply was given, "That is what it amounts to."
On the origin of the tipping system Mr. Lincoln said that it was existing when he became president of the company, and was a condition found by George M. Pullman when he entered the business.
When Chairman Walsh brought up the subject of tips Mr. Lincoln sat straight up in his chair.
"That situation annoys me very much," said Mr. Lincoln.
"Has this tipping habit always been as widespread in the United States as at present?" asked Chairman Walsh.
"I have no doubt of it," replied Mr. Lincoln.
"Your porters get $27.50 a month. They are supposed to supplement their pay by getting tips from the public?" was asked.
"Might I put it this way?" suggested the witness. "We know they get tips."
"Would you say that a man was able to retain his self-respect living under a system where he is forced to get gratuities in order to earn a living wage? Are not his morals corrupted by such a system?"
Not a Question of Morals.
"I do not think it is a question of morals," replied Mr. Lincoln. "They would get tips whatever wages were paid. They get such tips as a matter of fact for performing services not strictly in their line of duty as porters. You know the colored race is subject to great limitations in getting employment. I believe that outside of the learned professions, where they have made some progress, the one large element that has done more to uplift colored men has been afforded through employment by the Pullman company."
"Do you think this service has uplifted them?"
"The tips are paid without regard to the amount of wages," replied Mr. Lincoln. "If you increase their wages and they continue to get tips as at present they would get much more money. You can understand how that might not be desirable."
Mr. Lincoln conceded, in reply to questions, that the wages of Pullman conductors and porters were too low; that increases should be granted, and that it was a matter that would have the attention of the executive board of the Pullman Company at once.
When told of the case of porter who testified that one month he had made $115, all of which except $27.50, was paid by the traveling public, Mr. Lincoln explained with a show of embarrassment:
"I do not think the arrangement is nice at all. It is an old custom."
Tipping Never Prohibited.
Mr. Lincoln added that the company had never attempted to prohibit the acceptance of tips. He expressed the belief that if tips were prohibited the porters "would be very much troubled."
Mr. Lincoln said he had never heard of any dissatisfaction on the part of the traveling public to the payment of such gratuities. It was suggested to Mr. Lincoln that most social clubs prohibited the payment of tips.
"That is true," he said. "But I find that in all the clubs I belong to I am invited once a year to contribute to the Christmas fund of the employees."
"Are not the stockholders of the Pullman Company the real tip takers?" asked Commissioner Garretson.
"Really that is so," answered Mr. Lincoln, smilingly.
"Then if tips are to be paid you believe in the corporation getting them instead of the 'coon'?" observed Mr. Garretson.
"That is what it amounts to," replied Mr. Lincoln.
The witness added in answer to another question that if tips were prohibited by the law, wages would be increased immediately.
"There would not be two minutes discussion over it," he said.
[Photographs added.]
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SOURCE
The New York Age
(New York, New York)
-May 6, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
IMAGES
Pullman Porters and Conductor, date unknown
http://projects.aljazeera.com/...
Robert T Lincoln in top hat
http://rogerjnorton.com/...
A. B. Garretson
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Pullman Porters, date unknown
http://projects.aljazeera.com/...
See also:
Industrial relations: final report and testimony
United States. Commission on Industrial Relations
-ed by Francis Patrick Walsh, Basil Maxwell Manly
D.C. Gov. Print. Office, 1916
Volume 10: 9057-10,066
https://books.google.com/...
9663-Testimony of Mr. Robert T. Lincoln.
https://books.google.com/...
9677-Garretson degrades his fellow railway workers:
https://books.google.com/...
Tag: Pullman Porters
http://www.dailykos.com/...
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Pullman Porters Ride Again
Eye On The Prize - Sweet Honey In The Rock
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