The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-08-09
MEMBERSHIP WEIGHS OFFICIAL

''It might furthermore interest you to learn that those men were elected ana placed in that position to act m our be- half until their term of office expired or until they had been removed accord ing to the courses laid down in the con stitutions and bylaws of the various or ganizations, and are pledged to fill that position to the best of their ability until these courses have been exercised.
 ITO disregard these facts is serious in the extreme It is for the membership to decide when they nave not funct1oned properly and is no matter of conjecture They are our representatives and any negotiations regarding the wage agree ment for shop employees could not consis- tently be carried on with other than those entrusted with those duties.
 "It is the opinion of this body as whole that there will be no change in the present situation until there is concrete cts presented, alleviating doubts as to whether those intrusted with our interests fave functioned properly, and dehnite date set when we may have our differ ences settled.
 ..T,o sail out on an open sea with an- other eight months voyage ahead of us promises extensions of time, and unfor- seen reverses carries with 1t no encour- aeement for those who have waited pa tiently for the whole of this year, fight ing all the while that grim reaper or m ternal peace high cost of living. ECO homie conditions as they exist at pres- ent are of such nature that any acton that will tend to reduce them to normal should be considered functioning power of our government.
 ..F1Irther reports from your honorable bodies carrying with them clear, concise and correct dates when we may expect decision granting our original demands will be given the most serious consldera- ton. and we will act upon them with all the intelligence vested in our organiza- rion as a part of this government
 MAY RETURN TO WORK Pailroad officials expressed the opin- ;on thai since the majority of the union men are backing the Presldent With confidence, they will return 10 worN Hooking to an adjustment Tn ashins ton by Director General Hines anu union officials. J. H. Hester, superin- tendent of terminals here for the South ern railway system yesterday afternoon stated;
 Tt is my opinion that the shopmen will return to warn wlenn zi hours, Among the ranks of the men on strike there were few expressions excep' among themselves. Some indicated tna, | they will not return to work unti | tHelT utLldIuS nave oCCit iAiCS' 1 clared that they didn't go out to come back before the settlement had been made"
 l Among members of other trades unions there was considerable commen Most of the opinions reaching The Age Herald representative were to the ef I feet that the shopmen were. wrong 1T
 walking out without explicit orders i from the union officials
 | One engineer stated that strike should jalways be the last resort and was takel
 up too early by the shopmen. and tha | in his opinion the men should return 1 to work at once. The chief conceri ! of most of the laboring class. he stated is the reduction of the cost of living
 He indicated that there is no probabilit, of the engineers going out on a strik, with the shopmen.
 TRAFFIC NORMAL Traffic. both freight and passenger l is normal. it was emphatically stated yesterday by railroad officials Trains at the Terminal and Louisville an( Nashville stations have been arriving
 on as near schedule time as they d. ' in normal times.
 MT. Hester stated that the southerl