Unfair Wage Research Articles

Teaming English and Social Studies: An American Civilization Experience

Cosby Harrison is my grandfather. He was born and raised in Tuskagee, Alabama where he still lives today. I never really talked with him about the old days, but I know he's seen it all-from the bad times of the Depression in the 1930's to the cheerful times of the 1950's. My grandfather was, and still is, a farmer. When he was middle aged, most of the big farms were owned by rich white families who hired blacks and other immigrants for unfair wages. My grandfather had a large farm where he gave his friends and other members of the black community jobs with fair and equal pay. My grandparents had seven kids, four of whom went on to be valedictorians of their high school classes. Six of the seven graduated from Tuskagee Institute, founded by Booker T. Washington. My father used to tell me about how strong my grandfather was and how he would never miss a day without getting up and going to the fields. He owned a lot of land which he used for crops and livestock. Cosby Harrison was not well educated but he was intelligent. He earned, deserved and got the respect of the black community and all the people who knew him.

Clarification of Transportation - Policy Goals

The basic principle of transportation policy should be adequate, efficient transportation at reasonable, non-discriminatory cost to users. Early railway growth in the age of great territorial expansion led to a chaos of rates and services, discriminatory treatment of users, and unfair wage and labor practices by the railroads. The original objective in the regulation of railway rates and services was to prevent monopoly and to assure fair competition among the railways themselves and among the communities and industries affected. This has been implemented, but with the constant effort to fix rates which yield "cost plus fair return" to the railways while still maintaining their public-utility function. The uneven railway rate structure thus produced has coupled with vast technological change and diversification in the transportation field to encourage an array of alternative means of transportation to flourish and compete with the railways for business. Certain governmental attitudes underlying regulation have placed railways at a disadvantage in the competition. Furthermore, railway corporations themselves have followed policies of curtailment of services and merger with competing lines. The time has come for a new look, with national scope, at transport conditions with a view to returning to the original objective of regulation to provide adequate service at fair rates and with maximum preservation of competition.