Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-26
WILSON REFUSES
WAGE INCREASE
ICont;nued from First Pagc.l
attempt to increase freight rates tC
provide funds for higher wages.

tunity for certain calculation as 10
! the relations between wages and the
! cost of living" the President de-
Clared in n statement to the public
! explaining his decision as to wages.
1T is the duty of every citizen to in
sist upon a truce in such contests
until intelligent settlements can be
made. and made by peace and ef-
fective common counsel. 1 appeal
to my fellow citizens of every en-
! ployment to cooperate in insisting
upon and maintaining such truce"
Mr.. Wilson's statement was issued
! in connection with the decision o.
! himself and Director General Hines
/ on demands by railroad shopmen for
! % per cent. advance in wages. but
| the general policy pronounced COW
ers also the wage demands of other
! hundreds of thousands of railroad
workers. which are pending before
! the director general or about to be
presented. tt is to be expected that
other unions trying TO obtain more
! pay will be asked, as the shopmen.
| to play their part with other citizens
I in reducing the cost of living by fore
going Il temporar.' advantage which
would add to transportation costs.
Get Some Increases
The decision of the President ard
the director general was announced
to a committee of one hundred, rep
resenting the shopmen. In reply to
their demands for 25 per cent. in
! crease, the shopmen We're asked to
accept an adjustment OF their pay TO
the basis of ten hours pay for eight
| hours work. which they contended
was given other employees and de-
MED them when the Adamson law
became effective. This means an
advance of the basic pay from 6S
cents to - cents an hour, whereas
an hour was demanded.
Acting President Jewell. of the
railway employees department of the
American Federation of Labor. and
his advisers said they would com
municate the decision to the union
locals for acceptance or rejection. A
strike vote completed Sunday. but
not yet tabulated, was on the ques-
| tion whether the men should uuit
work to enforce consideration OF
their demands by the railroad ad
ministration instead of by n con-
gressional commission as first sug-
gested. AS this plan was aban-
| doned. the vote. whatever its result.
is non-effective and the shopmen
now have an entirely new question
| before them.
| ifcSldcntS Statement
| The President in his statement to
tie representatives Of the shopmen
said:
Gentlemen:
81 request that YOU Law this cri.-
ical matter before the men in n new
light. The vote they have taken was
upon the question whether they
! should insist upon the wage increase
! they were asking or consent to the
submission of their claims to n nezy
tribunal, TO be constituted by new
legislation. That question no longer
| has any life in it. Such legislation
| is not now in contemplation. I re-
quest that YOU ask the men to re-
/ consider the whole matter in view
/ of the following considerations. to
! which I ask their thoughtful atten-
tion as Americans. and which I hope
! that YOU will lay before them as I
here state them.
I'VE are face to face with n sitpo-
| tion which is more likely to affect
the happiness and prosperity. and
even the life, of our people than the
war itself. We have now got to do
nothing less than bring our indus
| tries and our labor of every kind
| back to n normal basis after the
greatest upheaVal known in history.
and the winter just ahead of us may
bring suffering infinitely greater thar.
| the war brought upon us if We blum
der or fail in the process. An ad
mirable spirit of self sacrifice, of
| patriotic devotion, and of Commun-
ity action guided and inspired US
while the fighting was on. We shall
need all these now, and need them
i in heightened degree, if We are tn
! accomplish the first tasks of peace.
! They are more difficult than the
tasks of war-more complex. less
easily understood-and require more
intelligence. patience and sobriety.
| We mobiliZed our man-power for the
| fighting, let us now mobilize our
| brain power and our consciences for
the reconstruction. If we fail it will
mean national disaster. The very
| first step is to increase production
and facilitate transportation, so as
to make up for the destruction
wrought by the war. the terrible
scarcties it created and so as soor
as possible relieve our people of the
railways are at the center of this
| whole process.
Would Offset Results
THE Government has taken I'D
with all its energy the task of bring
| ing the profiteer to book, making the
stocks of necessaries in the country
available at lowered prices stinu-
lating production, and facilitating
distribution, and very favorable re-
suits are already beginning to ap-
| pear. There is reason to entertain the
confident hope that substantial relief
will result, and result in increasing
measure. A general increase in the
levels of wages would check and
might defeat all this at its very be-
ginning. Such increases would in-
evitably raise, not lower. the cost of
| living. Manufacturers and pro-
ducers of every sort would have i'll
Vulnerable additional pretexts for in
creasing profits and all efforts to dis
cover and defeat profiteering would
! be hopelessly confused. l believe
that the present efforts to reduce
the costs of living will be success
| full, if no new elements of difficulty
are thrown in the way; and 1 con-
| fiGently count upon the men engaged
in the service of the railways to as
sist. not obstruct. 1t is much more
| in their interest to do this than TO
insist upon wage increases which
will undo everything the Govern
ment attempts. They are good
Americans along with the rest OF us,
and may, 1 am sure, be counted on
to see the point
1T gees without saying that II
our efforts to bring the cost of liv-
ing down should fail, after we have
had time enough to establish either
success or failure, it will of course