New-York tribune., 1907-12-19
SEES HIGH WAGES END.
ERIE Held TO GOMPERS.
President UnderzCood Says Labor
Mast Yield to Depression.

Frederick D. Underwood. president of the Erie
Railroad Company, said yesterday that Sa1r-9l
Gompers, head of the American Federation of
Labor was reckoning without his host when he
said that the wages Of organized labor would
not have to come down along with the prices OF
materials in the present general business
and financial depression"
1.-The inexorable law of supply and demand.
which is the basis of political economy, said
Mr.. Underwood. will make itself felt in the
case of organized labor. well as in all other
branches of business, Mr.. Gompers notwfth-
standing. In case an attempt is made to hold
up the present abnormally high price of labor,
when the earnings of railroads and industrial
corporations do not warrant 1t, the alterna-
tive will be to shut down.
Labor has been at premium for the last
four years and it has also been less efficient than
before. All classes of employees have
pointed the heavy earnings and in conse-
quence have received their share in the share
of higher wages. Now a change has come.
Earnings are falling off and employees will re-
ceive lower wage This they should do with
out protest, as they have the precedent that
when earnings are improved their wages are
advanced.
EMPLOYER DICTATOR NOW.
Mr.. Gompers overlooks the axiom that when
labor is at a premium the employe is in a posi-
ton to make terms with the employer, but
when labor is at discount, as it is now, the
employer is the dictator. In the immediate fut-
employers will have more TO say about the
scale of wages than for several years. provided
the present business recession obtains. now.
The price of unskilled labor has already de-
clined and reductions in the price of skilled
labor inevitable the contracts with 1t
expire and are brought UP for renewal.
Asked concerning the report that the en-
gineers fremen, trainmen and mechanics all
the railroads east of the Mississippi River
would make demands for higher wages. Mr.
Underwood said that he placed little credence
In the report.
mo such demands can be granted by rail-
roads at the present time he said.
Asked how railroad employees were likely 80
receive the necessary curtailmerts in wages, Mr..
Underwood said that he had great confidence in
the good sense of railroad employees.
All that the employees need do" he said.
''is to scan the current reports of earnings to
understand that In fairness they should stand
their share of the necessary reductions II is a
case of apportioning the necessary curtaments
equitably among those concerned-labor and the
owners of the properties
Mr. Underwood added tha. the drop in the cost
of living which is already in view gives the
wage Garner under a reduced scale OF wages
the same purchasing power he has had in the
past.
Referring to Mr.. Gompers's statement that
labor was .'ot TO blame for the present business
depression and must not be made to suffer- Mr..
Underwood said II was not a question of who was
to blame. but whether the retrenchments made
imperative should be divided in proportonate
shares He called attention 10 the lower wage
scale of the copper miners and 10 the lower
scale to be adopted in many branches cf the
iron ana steel trade
TINE WILL CURE ILLS.
Touching on the business recession. Mr.. Tn
dervood said that people were so busy trying
find some one TO blame for the hard times that
they had not stopped TO figure how far the re-
cession had already gone Likely to
The copper industry was ths first feel the
recession" he said. The price of the metal
lidropped with a rush, the outpu: of the mines
| was curtaed and the wages of the miners were
reduced. Next the coal and coke trade and the
iron and steel business were affected Soon the
depression spread to other branches of business,
Locally the building trade was perhaps the first
to reflect the depression"
Referring to the scarcity of coal and its price
six months ago. he said: Then the consumer
was clamorinS for COAL and the price was OF
small moment provided coal could be had. 1t
is different now-coal is plenty and cheaper
The same is true of lumber and other raw ma
terals.
Mr Underwood stated that most railroads
could handle more traffic now than was offered
Referring again the lower cost of unskilled
labor he said that had 1t not been for the recent
exodus OF some thirty thousand 'laborers from
the port Of New York to Europe the cost of that
class of labor would be still lower.
Mr. Underwood said he thought the financial
situation was on the mend. but added: Eighteen
days Of typhoid fever will burn strong man
I'D He will be reduced almost to a skeleton.
The financial world has been sick, and a too
speedy return to normal conditions must not be
expected 1t takes time to steady the nerves OF
credit"
He did not think the railroads would have
trouble in getting what money they needed for
tho remainder Of the fiscal year, for the reason
that their expenditures would be pared down as
much as possible.