The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-09-18

with employers of railroad labor and
representatives of labor, the situa-
| ton generally for the whole country
is that there is no surplus supply of
| labor from which employees can be
! drawn to replace those who may be
! taken for military service. Any COM
petent railroad employee taken from
an indispensable branch of the rail-
road service will be subtracted from
a force which is already too small
and which cannot be adequately re-
| plenished. The taking of any such
employe by any district board would
| be step tending to injure the war
| operations of some railroads. The
taking of such steps by numerous
| district boards would in the aggre-
gate constitute cumulative and far
raching injury to the United States
| railroad administration and would
/ destroy the purpose for which the
| government took possession of such
control OF the roads.
The scarcity of skilled railroad
| employees is due partly to the fact
| that up to the present time the rail
roads of the country, in addition to
meeting their full share of the de
! mands of men for general military
service, have been subjected to the
/ peculiar disability that they alone,
tout of all the industries of the coun-
! try, have had TO furnish large num-
bers of men for special military serv-
/ ice.
| Hundreds Of miles of military rail-
roads in France are being operated
for the military forces of the United
I States by men who have been
| drawn from the ranks of the skilled
| officers and employees of railroads
| in this country. In this way the
drain upon skilled railroad labor has
already been proportionateIy greater
J than the drain upon skilled labor OF
other industries. And this in part
accounts for the exceptional shortag e
| of skilled labor which confronts the
United States railroad administra.
| ton.
! 1T must also be clear that en-
/ pioyes in these classes cannot be
supplied by the employment and
| training of new employees. Practi-
cally without exception, these en-
i Payments are not suited to women,
/ but able-bodied and vigorous men
are needed for the discharge of the
duties. These men are not available
! in adequate numbers and will be-
| come less and less available as the
war progresses.
Besides, unframed men cannot
perform the functions, and if skilled
railroad employees are taken for mill
tary service, the substitution OF un-
trained employees, even If available,
would prove destructive to efficient
railroad operation.
.It is desired that the understand
ing and systematic cooperation of
the district boards shall be sought
/ in all instances. To the extent that
railroad men can be spared from
railroad service for military service,
we ought to spare them. But to the
extent that they are needed for
railroad service, the district boards
should not attempt to take them for
military service.
1.-The United States railroad admin
istration intends to ask for deferred
classification only when the men on
whose behalf the request is made are
needed in the public interest for the
continued Performance of their duties
and when experienced substitutes
can not be found. And, the district
boards, upon whom rests the respon-
sibility for preserving the necessary
labor supply for essential occupa-
IlOlS, SIOuIu DE uFSGu 10 grant, IN
the interest of the national needs and
with nation wide view of the con-
trolling factors, the applications for
deferred classification which are sup
ported by the United States railroad
administration.
Instructions have been issued
through the regional directors to all
officials under federal control to see
that proper applications are made for
deferred classification OF all railroad
employees and to support such applica-
lions vigorously and at the same time
to avoid making applications wher
ever reasonably practicable.
1T is the patriotic duty of the men
who are considered necessary for the
operation of railroads to claim de-
ferred classification and to furnish
the district boards with the necessary
information in their answers to ques-
tionnaires to show the basis for such
classification Every man who is help
ing in these necessary occupations to
operate the railroads in this country,
is rendering not only a service in
dispensable to the war, but a service
and cradjta hi q