The Glenwood post., 1917-03-24
Railroad Managers came to
Presidents Rescue With
Magnanimous Offer
men MEET THE ISSUE

New York, March lathe confer
ence committee of railroad manager
early this morning authorized Presiden:
Wilson S. mediators to. make wha,teve,
arrangements J, were necessary, with thhe
railroad brotherhoods .to call off. thi
threatened strike. The formal, letter
in which this authorization was made
was signed by Elisha Lee, chairman o.
the, managers committee, and was a;
follows: "In, the national crisis pre-
cipitated by events OF. which We hesrf
this afternoon, the national conference
committee of railroads join with yof
> in the conviction that neither at homf
nor. abroad should there be fear %
hope that the efficient operations o1
the railroads of the country will bt
hampered or impaired Therefore yor
ara authorized TO assure the, natiur
there will be no strike, and as a basis
for such assurance we hereby authorize
the committee of the council of nation
al defense to grant to the employe.
who are about to strike whatever :ad-
justment your committee deems neces'
sary to, guarantee uninterrupted and
efficient operations of the railroads a.
an Indispensable arm of NATIONAL de-
E fense. ~ = - - '''''sl !. u
The decision .reached by the man
ayers at their midnight conference
/. means that the brdtherhoods have won
an important victory, although it"doe.
not bring them ail'' their original de
manas. BY the agreement, 1t is as
sumed they will be- awarded pro-rata
4 time for overtime on the basic eight.
hour day, which they have been as:
eursa. ''..- "
Their original demands called 70,
time and a half for overtime on the
same basic day.
Secretary Lane issued this statement.
Regardless of the decision of the
supreme court on the Adamson law, thu
basic eight hour, day will go into ef
fect.''
The men will get their present pay
for ten hours for eight hours work
under the agreement.
These concessions on the part of the
managers are virtually whut the EN-
ployes contended they would gain under
the Adamson law if 1t were declared
constitutional.
Immediately after Secretary Ian,
had made his announcement, the broth
erhood members sent telegrams to al
the general chairmen informing then
that the strike had been declared off.
The announcement Of the managers
that they had yielded apparently came
as surprise to the brotherhood chiefs
for they were in bed when summoned
again to the conference room. Earlier
in the evening there had been a dis
tinctly pessimistic feeling as to the
prospect for averting strike, ,-
Up to that hour the railroads had re-
fused to make the concessions granted
and tbe brotherhoods had stood fast to
their determination to strike unless
they won their demands either by, the
supreme court declaring the sAdamson
law valid or by their employers grant.
ing them the eight t7hour day. b., IS i
Earnest appeals by Secretary Lane
and the other mediators to, the patriot
ism Of the. railroad managers are be.
lieved to have been an important factor
in bringing about a. settlement. %.
The. critical situation in which the
country. finds itself because of the
sinking Of American ships by German
submarines was impressed upon them
and they were told that II strike were
permitted at this time, ,it would be a
national calamity. Similar pressure
has brought 70 bear upon the brother
hosd tshiefs '''' 4 ''
whether OF not President Wilson
communicated directly with Secretary
1ane duSiag the night could pot be
1eayned, but there were reports thai
the spokesman for the mediators hal
been informed by the president tant
pasalysis Of the nations transportatisu
system must be prevented at IN costs
The first intimation that the strike
was to be called OF was given to th'