Q. And of engineers?
A. Not of engineers or firemen.
Q. Conductors?
A. Conductors also.
Q. And brakemen?
A. Yes; the men at that time were making short time, because business was slack. They were not making more than three, four, or five days a week—five trips, and the monthly wages were small. We had discharged a good many men—twenty-five or thirty per cent. of the men, but the remainder, of course, would have made better wages, and we paid by the trip only.
Q. How did the business of your company compare with the business done by the company for the three months preceding that time?
A. It was much lighter. The business fluctuated a good deal. There is sometimes a market for grain, in Europe for instance, when the shipments are large, and then again the shipments slack off. That very day I got a message from Mr. McCullough, the vice president of the western lines, stating that there was a brisk demand for cars, and asking me to send cars. If they had only waited a couple of weeks, they could all have had enough to do.
Q. How did the business compare with the amount of business done at the same time in the previous year?
A. We very often have periods of light business, quite as light as that—very often—that last a few weeks or a month or two.