The Palatka news and advertiser., 1916-09-08
FEDERAL INQUIRY
IN WAGE DISPUTE
RaIlroa1 Managers Submit
Plans TO Avoid Great Strike.
ARBITRATION IS OFFERED.
Agree to Refer Demands of Men For
More Pay to the Interstate Commerce
Commission or to Accept Settlement
Under Newlands Act.


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 soon 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
peaceably, 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-
comotive 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 $1OO,Ooo,oOo.
The demands of the train service men
for an increase in wages, which, it Is
estimated, would cost the railroads of
the country $1OO,O0O,OOO a year, were
originally presented last March. At
that time the representatives of the
unions asked for 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 1st. and continued for
two weeks. The railroads were repre-
sented by committee of nineteen
managers, and the brotherhoods by the
heads Of their various national and 10
cal organizations eight hundred
men in all.
Choice Of Methods offered
The conference failed to reach deci-
sion owing to the refusal of the union
leaders to consider Cny 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 cover.
ing this matter.
The alternative suggestions which
they advanced for adjusting the con.
trOversy were as follows:
"1. Preferably by submission to the
Interstate Commerce Commission, the
only tribunal which, by reason of its
accumulated information bearing on
railway conditions and it's control of
the revenues Of the railways, is in
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
reasonable; or, in the event the Inter
state Commerce Commission cannot,
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
so. 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 49,
1913, 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 vote Of the members of
the unions asking that they be given
authority to declare 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
"a l.
country to the other. !
Meanwhile a resolution has been in
troduced 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