Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1916-09-01
FEDERAL INQUIRY
N WAGE DISPUTE
Railroad Managers Submit
Plans to Avoid Great Strike.
ARBITRATION IS OFFERED.
Agree to Refer Demands Of Men For
More Pay to the Interstate commsres
Commission or to Accept Settlement
Under New!ands Act.

More ray TO the intersSato N0nW0Ss
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
peaceab,y. OF whether a nationwide
strike is to be inflicted upon the coun-
try.
thus far the leaders Of the four
uuions-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, 900.
The demands of the train service men
for an increase in wages. which, 1t L.
estimated, would cost the railroads Of
the country S10O,0O0,o0O 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 1st, 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 10
r~aEizations-some eight hundred
Gf~r q "GLfiO0S 0u0t GU
difference failed to reach deci-
ing to the refusal of the union
&c consider any modification of
nnds. or any proposal for ar
At the conclusion Of the
the railroad managers sub
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:
a. Preferably by submission to the
Interstate Commerce Commission, the
oniy tribuna. which, by reason of its
accumulated information bearing on
railway conditions and it's control Of
the revenues of the railways, is in q
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
a. By arbitration in q ~roTdance with
lie provisions of the Federal law, emit
tied, An Act Providing for Mediation.
Cancellation and Arbitration in Contro-
yersies between Certain Employers and
their Employees" approved July Is,
1918, and commonly known as the
Newlands Act"
Unions Refuse Offer.
The union leaders declined to con-
slider TIE 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 strike on all she
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 reques,
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