Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-10-01
LIE ALBION

MN. W >. BRAND, Supt.,
Georgia Railroad Company.
Augusta, Ga.
Dear Sir:
Your two communica tons written YES
terday and one today referring to the rein
statement of Conductor ]. n. Paschal. and
which was the subject matter of our con-
terence held in your office on Saturday
AFTERNOON, l4th inst, have been received
and carefully considered. Your first and
second letters did not set out clearly what
your decision was, but we understand
from your communication of today that
our request is denied
we can not accept your decision as final
and as the matter has been placed in your
hands by the General Manager to adjust,
we understand that we have the COM
pany s fnal reply. Therefore, there seems
only one course left open for us, which
ls 10 submit the case to the membership
for them to decide our future course.
However, inasmuch as the Conductors and
lrainmen are federated on this system, we
have decided first TO convene the fedora ted
committee and lay our case before that
committee. As soon as an officer of that
organization and committee has convened
we VIII ask you for further conference to
ADVISE YOU of the decision reached by
the Federated Board
In our first communicat ton TO YOU YES
terday ! advised you that as soon as we
received your final answer in writing. Civ
ing your decision in the case at issue we
would answer your communica ton and
advise you whether or not we would ac-
cept your decision
In Your communication yesterday. | no.
uce several places where | am ouoted in
correctly, and ! wish to call your atten
ton to these statements and will correct
them.
l said that no official could succeed
without the cooperation and support of
| those under him-that unless the men had
confidence in their superiors and felt and
| knew that favOritsm and discrimination
was not practiCed, that it had been con-
ceded by almost all fair minded officials
| that his success was hopeless And did
| not believe you would claim that Won
were an exception. Your answer to this
statement was-That You are right. and
! II l felt that | did not have the support
! or my Conductors, | would resign as Su-
perintendent" But l did not say, that
the Conductors would withhold their SUD-
port and cooperation from you
! | told you, however, that II We failed TO
reach satisfactory settlement (you hav-
ing failed to convince us that there was
no merit in Mr.. Paschal's case) there
was only one course left for us to pursue
and that was to let the men whom we
represent decide for us what action we
should take | presume this is what you
refer to as threats"
| We agree just as heartily as YOU do
that the Conductors employed on the
Georgia Railroad are for Law and Order
and cheerfully submit to authority at all
times. We believe that Mr. Paschal has
been and is today a firm believer in these
same principles and furthermore. we are
firmly of the belief that he carried out
the instructions contained in your bulle-
tin dated November a. 1911, to the letter.
Mr.. Scott, General Mana ger wrote to
Mr. \. l.. Chandler, Vice Chairman of
the Conductors Committee, under date OF
July 10. 1912, as follows:
Your letter of July is has reached me
here.
II have carefully considered the case of
Conductor Paschal held responsible for
violation of Superintendent Brands Bull
letin of November A. 1911, relative to the
hours of Service Law and the National
Law itself Therefore, | am not inclined
TO consider an appeal for his reinsta te-
ment."
Therefore, on July 10. as a matter OF
record, Mr. PaSChal was charged by his
General Manage with violating your Bull
letin of November IA, 1911 and the Ma
tional Law, AND NOTHING MORE
However, he is now charged by YOU with
also violating Rule 1872.
We claim that the Bulletin issued Nov
18th, 1911, supersedes and amends Rule
81, inasmuch as it is addressed to En-
gineers Firemen. Conductors and Train
men, and it confers no power on the Con-
duCtOr or any other individual therein tc
arbitrarily decide the question. 1t is ad-
specifically and places the responsibility
on men individually. If it were addressed
to the Conductor alone, or if il were ad-
dressed to all four classes and then speci-
fed that the Conductor would be held re-
sponsible for seeing that il was carried
out, it would be entirely different. There
is not line in il that recognizes the Con-
ductors authority to arbitrarily decide
when that time has been reached, AND
consequently it seems to us that holding
him responsible for violation on the part
OF others is far-fetChed and unfair
We were told by you in conference that
he was not charged with violating the
law himself, therefore il is not fair tC
now charge him with doing so We UNI
| derstand he was on the siding with the
switches closed seven minutes before the
sixteen hours was up.
We note what you say relative to the
Georgia r. Il, equipping its line with tel
ephone system-"Thus the Bulletin in
| struCtiOns to report to dispa tCher coult
have been easily carried out, and his fail
ure to do so is without excuse or reason. >
| Under date Of teby. 18th 1912. the In
| terstate Commerce Commission made
ruling on the Hours Of Service Law,
| which reads in part as follows:
| Neither under the act nor under tht
| ruling of the Commission can a carrier
| employ regularly for the purpose Of send
| ing. receiving OF delivering orders affect
| ing the movement OF trains. d trainmal
who mas been on duty longer than thu
limit fixed for a telegraph or telsphon
operator The proviSo of the law applies
to an operator train dispatcher or othe
employee, and a trainman who, by TIL
Rules of the COMPANY is required e
! send receive or deliver orders afteCtinl
the movement Of trains. in conjunction
with his duties as trainman, would CONF
within the proVlsO
Therefore, # the above means wha
We have excellent reasons 10 believe i
does. and the Bulletin of November "A
1911, means that the Conductor is re-
CURED TO can up the dispatcher and re
ceiVe orders for his own or any Othel
train. after having been on duty thu
length OF time Mr. PssCnal was on thi:
date in question. then We are at a loss tC
understand how the company was PLACED
i'm the attitude of being more OF a law
breaker and subjectng II to a more Sc