The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-08-05
FEDERAL INQUIRY
IN WAGE DISPUTE
Railroad Managers Submit
Plans to Avoid Great Strike.
ARBITRATION IS OFFERED.

go fhSfSi ~ ~
More Pay to the Interstate Commerce
Commission or to Accept Settlement
Under Newlands Act.
New York.-The announcement that
the strike vote which has been In prog
ress among the train service employees
of American railroads for the past sew
eral weeks has been completed, and
that the final demands by the union
leaders are o o to be presented to the
railroad managers here, indicates that
the public will soon know whether the
controversy between the railroad work
ers and their employers Is to be settled
~peaceaDly, or whether a nationwide
strike Is to be inflicted upon the coun-
try.
Thus far the leaders Of the four
unions-the Brotherhood of Locomo-
tive Engineers, the Brotherhood of Lo-
connective Firemen and Enginemen, the
Order of Railway Conductors and the
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen-
have refused to consider any proposal
for an arbitration of the questions in
dispute, or for settlement of the con-
~troversy by the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
Would Cost 500, ooo, 900.
The demands of the train service men
for an increase in wages, which, it Is
.-k.-o-4NI -rA,-l oN-k 49, -as1uAa11 -
the country 500. 100000 a year, were
originally presented last March. At
that time the representatives Of the
unions asked for a conference with a
committee of railroad managers repre-
senting the various railroad lines of
the country.
This conference began here in New
York on June LIST, and continued for
two weeks. The railroads were repre-
scented by a committee of nineteen
managers, and the brotherhoods by the
heads of their various national and To-
cal organizations-some eight hundred
men In all.
Choice of Methods offered.
The conference failed to reach a deci-
sion owing to the refusal of the union
leaders to consider any modification of
their demands, or any proposal for ar
bitration. At the conclusion of the
meetings the railroad managers sub
mitted a proposal to refer the whole
question to the Interstate Commerce
Commission, or to arbitration under the
provision Of the federal statute over
ing this matter.
The alternative suggestions which
they advanced for adjusting the con-
troversy were as follows:
al. Preferably by submission to the
Interstate Commerce Commission, the
only tribunal which, by reason of it's
accumulated information bearing on
railway conditions and it's control Of
the revenues of the railways, is in a
position to consider and protect the
rights and equities of all the interests
affected, and to provide additional rev.
enue necessary to meet the added cost
of operation in case your proposals are
found by the Commission to be just and
r~easonable; or, in the event the Inter-
Sldle COIuI1eECG 0ODlIllSSlDn dUuOI
under existing laws, act in the prem
ises, that we Jointly request Congress
to take such action as may be neces-
sary to enable the Commission to con
slider and promptly dispose of the
questions involved; or
"2. By arbitration in accordance with
the provisions of the Federal law, enti-
tied, AN Act Providing for Mediation.
Cancellation and Arbitration in Contro-
versies between Certain Employers and
their Employees" approved July 10,
1918, and commonly known as the
Newlands Act"
Unions Refuse Offer.
The union leaders declined to con
slider the suggestion of the railroad
managers. and announced that they
would seek a vote of the members of
the unions asking that they be given
authority to declare q strike on all the
railroad lines of the country. This
strike vote has been In progress for the
past six weeks, and, according to re-
ports which have been received here
from time to time, will result in giving
the four union leaders the authority
which they asked for to halt every
railroad train from one end of the
country to the other.
Meanwhile a resolution has been in
PRODUCED into Congress at the request
of the Chamber of Commerce of the
United States directing the Interstate
Commerce Commission to investigate
the whole question of railway wages
and their relation to railway earnings.
The commercial interests, the newspa-
pers, and public men of the nation
have gone on record as demanding that
the dispute be settled %peaceably.