New-York tribune., 1919-08-02
Illness Letter to Wilson

Nr. Illness letter to the President
follows:
Several months ago the railroa d
hop employees asked for an increase in
ages The matter was considered by
the railroad Administrations board Of
wages and working conditions, which
$ composed of three representatives Of
labor and three representatives Of the
railroad managemcnts. This board was
unable to agree and therefore took no
action as a board. but on July 16 | re
ceived two reports from members Of
me board, one from tho three labor
members, recommending = general in
crease in wages Cor example, increas-
.ng the wages of machinisls from GS
ccnts an hour TO 80 cents an hour and
proportionately increasing the wages Of
other classes of shop employes), and
iNent members recommending against
my general increase in wages, although
recommending certain readjustmo nts Of
he wages Of some classes of the enl~
Dloyes.
"The position of the labor members
n the board is that the wages Of rail
Ttad shopmen are substantially below
ne wages paid similar classes OF en-
playes in the navy yards, arsenals end
;hipyards, and IN many industrial en-
.orprises ia the principal cities OF the
country, and that substantial increases
in the wages in the shipyards and out
side industrial enterprises have taken
place since the wages of the shop en-
ployes were established in the summer
of 1913, and that the cost of living has
aecn, and is, steadily rising. The posi-
ZION of the management members on
the board is that the wages of shop
employees are not properly comparabi ic
with the wages OF non-railrOal en-
ployes cited by the employees and their
representatives., and that these latter
industries have differcQ cQtiating condi
tions which account for the high wages
paid by them, and that further wage
increase at this time would simply be-
gin new cycle in the increased cost OF
living, which would not benefit the en-
pleyes They urge, instead, the adoption
cf effective methods of reducing the
cost of living, but they add thai unless
some action can be taken within q
reasonable time to accomplish this re-
suit they see no alternative hut to con-
tinue the wage cycle increases with
corresponding increased cycles of liv-
lngcosts
Definite Action Urged
in accordance with an arrangement
made on July 8 between the reprcsent-
atives of the Railroad Administration
and representatives of the shop en-
ployes. At this conference the repre-
sentatives of the employees made il
plain to my associates that their mem
sbers expected and believed that they
were entitled to a substantial increase
sin wages, retroactive to January |
1919, and that the state of unrest was
so great that it was of the highest i'm
sportancc that definite answer bt
given on the wage matter without de
lay. These representatives expressed
The same views to me Yesterday
ION July II the Shop Crafts' convcn
tion, meeting at Atlanta, Ga, and rep
resenting employees from sixteen rail
roads in the Southeast, strongly urges
the necessity for substantial increase,
in wages by August !. retroactive t,
January /, 1919.
"The earnest insistence that immedi
ate action be taken to equalize wage,
with the rapid increase in the cost O
living is not confined to the shop en-
,lA