The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-12-30
MAYOR DOES NOT
 ATTEND LABOR
 WAR CONFERENCE
(Continued From Page One.)


 Half a loaf is better than no bread" Waldo c. Bryant, head of the ordnance department for the district of Connecticut, with headquarters in Bridg pert, told Secretary Charles E. Julin of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce at a meeting of the TWO Saturday afternoon in New Haven, to ! discuss the decision received from the i war department at Washington rela- tive to thes cancellation of war con-. tracts.
 My suggestion to the manufactIr- l ers," MT. Bryant declared to Secre- 1 tary Julin, is that they string out the contracts by reducing the number of days that they let their people work ger week. Let them work three days per week instead of six days if neces- sary. Half a loaf is better than nothing"
 That the carrying out of this sug- gestion would mean half wages on the eight-hour basis with no over time was pointed out to MT. BryaTrt by Secretary Julin. MT. Bryant re- marked that he knew that was so, :, but that he could make no better suggestion.
 Major General Williams, head of the Ordnance department, yesterday wired MT. Bryant that there will be nc change in the program as laid cut by the government. Mir. Bryant made
 the suggestions then relative to let ting the employees work half time in order that the contracts may last lCnger. Telegram to Crowen. In view of that tdrn or events the Chamber of Commerce of New Haven has sent the following telegram to the Hon. Benedict Crowell, assistant secretary of war:
 Accepting suggestion made in your last sentence of letter received today have visited MT. Bryant of 1 Ordnance department office in
 Bridgeport offering cooperation in l matter of helping advance plan for 1 gradual reduction of employees in munition' plants rather than drastic
 and sudden suspension and big re- 1 Guction in forces. Would infer from 1 your letter that MT. Bryant has
 power to modify such suspensions. 1 He denies that he has any authority 1 or discretion and ssys that he was l today informed that he must carry l out original program. Our people gre 1 unable to reconcile this with your | letter and beg respectfully to suggest
 that if MT. Bryant is in error as to
 discretionary powers that he be ad= i vised. Situation here is serious be- i cause if there is not modification it means immediate discharge of thou
 sands of workmen in addition to ! those already let go.
 Chamber of Commerce" i At a, meeting of the mayors of this
 state held Saturday afternoon, at
 HoIteI Garde, New Haven, to discuss
 and formulate a plan to avert the impending labor crisis which is l threatening munition employees oy 4t the wholesale cancellation of the gov
 ernment war contracts, action was
 taken which, it is hoped, will improve
 the situation, and if successful will be announced to the public within a
 few days.
 The meeting was held in executive
 session and, although there were GOV
 CTS laid For IA mayors to attend, there
 were only nine men present and of
 that number five were mayors. Mayor
 Clifford B. Wilson of Bridgeport did
 not attend.
 The conference started at 1:15 when
 a lunch was served. This lasted until 8 o'clock when the issue at hand was
 taken up for discussion. Mayor Fitz-
 gerald of New Haven, who called the
 meeting, read the telegram from Washington which was in reply to a telegram sent by him last week to the heads of the ordnance department at Washington urging them not to cancel the war contracts with the munitions plants. Mayor Fitzgerald believes that the situation will take a more hopeful turn and as a result 5 action will be taken to ameliorate the situation. If the plan Is success ful it will be announced to the public and if not, it will never be made a known"
 ! The above statement was made by q Secretary Osborn. Continuing, he s stated: "At the request of Mayor < Fitzgerald I sent out. invitations tc s Mayor Kinsella of Hartford, Mayor a Sandland of Waterbury, Mayor Kine A ] OA A-C4 AOCA4, 4lctS UT W 1lSOH Ol 4 port, Mayor Treat of Stamford, Mayor S Quigley of New Britain, Mayor Meade 4 of Ansonia, Mayor Sullivan of Derby q Mayor Morgan of New London, Mayor Fitzgerald of New Haven, Charles E 5 Juhn, a member of the state labo: VI board, and Ira N. Ornburn, presiden s of the New Haven Trades Council tC q attend a meeting at Hotel !Garde t A discuss the labor situation in thi M state and to take action to irnproy, s the situation. The meeting was heI, A in executive session. The committe is desires that nothing further be maI y public at this time"
 @ Labor Men to Fight, :, Ira N. Ornburn gave out the state = ment that he was not invited to tn " meeting and speaking for the Stat y Federation of Labor stated: "Re - gardless of what the meeting of tn ' mayors will bring in the way of re ' lief to the labor situation, the Stat
 Federation of Labor will continue UT
 relentlessly to attempt to solve tn
 impending crisis. We will keep at tn
 officials in Washington until they Sc O. the situation through our eyes. W of feel that it is as necessary to talk x- care of the industrial army of tn m country as the fighting army, an 79 that the government can cancel tt It contracts in such a way that will Il,
 afreet the workers in such whelesal