The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1916-06-10
RAILROADS SAID +,
T0:USE SlU|BTERFuGE ]
Unfair Methods To Delay Eight
Hour Day Matter Charged By
transportation Unions. y
COMMITTEE NAMED ON
"RAILROAD SITUATION"
Referendum By Roads May Defer
Action For Two Or Three
Years,

CLEVELAND, Ohio, June s.-That
the United States Chamber Of Com
merce is being used by the railroad.
as g. means Of delaying action on the
demand for an eight-hour day made
by the freight train employees. is
charged in a statement issued by the
transportation hrotherhoods.
Immediately after an address by
Howard Elliott, president Of the
financially wrecked New Haven sxs-
tenn, made before the United States
Chamber of Commerce at Washing
ton in February, a COMMITTEE on the
railroad situation" was appointed by
the body.
This committee after celebrating
for three months, now proposes that
the local chambers of commerce
throughout the United States shall,
by vote on the resolutions prepared
by the committee, express their opin-
ion as to the Introduction tn congress
of joint resolution directing the In
terstate commerce commission to in
vestigate and report 'as soon az prac-
ticab ble," the minimum and maximum
average wage paid, with hours of
service. etc., to each class of railroad
employees in the United States and the
relation OF railroad wages to railroad
revenue. and various other compli-
Gated and technical subjects. :;
The significant part of this trans
parent scheme for delay is, that both
the railroads and the employees are
urged to postpone any action on the
hours and wage question until the
commission has made it's report.
Anyone who is familiar with the
amount of unfinished work now be-
fore the commission and who knows
the necessarily slow procedure, must
admit that two or three years is the.
lowest estimate of the time required
for such ADMINISTRATION.
The whole proposition OF the So
called referendum of the United
States Chamber OF Commerce would
appear to be, to os2nstpozes.enY eaaon
that would tend to: improve the f6nx
working hours of railroad freight
Why there sl1os.it d, sby any occasion
for taking aSreferendum vote. on the
question is a mystery, as it is fore-
gone conclusion that the local cham
bers of commerce will decide unani-
mouaiy OF the delay and at
the end sof the time, they will of
course Just as joyfully: vote for some
other delay for a succeeding period
of years.
It is significant to note that the
committee on the railroad situation~
arrived at its conclusion that congress
sional action was; needed without
hearing or asking for information
from anyone representing the en-
ployes. They formulated their report
from hearing only one side of the
proposition.
These tactics remind one of the
methods of railroad attorneys in the
courts when an injured workman is
bringing suit-any 'maneuver to delay
the case and wear out the patience
and capital of the workman, is so
much gained for the railroad.
The disastrous affects of hope de-
ferred are all too we'll known by the
railway wage Garner to cause him to
sympathize with this movement to
postpone the receipt by him of his
just dues.
= It is to be hoped that. the United
States Chamber Of Commerce in its
investigation by its COMMITTEE on
the railroad situation took cogniz-
ance of the increase in the salaries
paid general officers as compared to
the increase in wages Of other rail-
way employees.
Taking sixty-two western railroads
as a fair example, the salaries paid
general officers in 1900 were $4,537,-
404 and in 1913 $9,444,52S, which Is
increase of more than 100 per