Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-04-23
TELEPHONE USERS
TO PAY INCREASED
OPERATORS WAGES
Revenue Will Be Raised and
Subscribers Must
Pay Price
NO PROFIT in RAISE
Postmaster General Thinks His Meth
cd Simple and Direct and Gives
Prompt Decisions

With the ending of the strike o
10000 telephone employees in New
England Monday there comes th'
notice from John c. Rooms, first as
sistant postmaster general, that the
increased wages granted the opera
tors and men of the mechanical force
would involve an increase in the rates
to telephone subscribers. The for
mulating Of new schedules will bt
started at once.
81 have been asked" said he, chow
this increase in wages will be met
and in reply l would say that, as
there is no congressional appropria.
tion for the payment of this or Other
expenses of the operation of these
wire systems, the postmaster-gencral
must pay them out of the revenues
earned by the various companies.
"These revenues must be increased
if expenses increase, and the only
available way of getting increased
revenue is through increased rates to
the public. Necessarily the increases
in wages agreed upon will involve an
increase of rates in this company. 1t
is proper to add that the company
will not profit by any increases that
may be necessary, as the revenue goes
to the government"
Mr. koons' statement was cssenti-
ally a defense of Postmaster General
Burleson's attitude with reference to
the strike here and to the method he
fixed for the handling of employees re-
guests for increased wages OF chang
es in working conditions. The meth
cd, he said, has been misrepresented
it involves no "rcd tape" nor does it
prohibit collective bargaining, either
between representatives of organ
lied workers and the companies OF
with the wire control board. His
statement in full follows:
Before returning to Washington /
want to express my qualification at
the early settlement of the telephone
strike, and to add a word of recogni-
tion of the earnest desire manifested
by all parties to the conference to
come to an agreement that seems to
have been mutually satisfactory.
"a large number of wage schedules
had been presented. These schedules
are intricate and technical and had
to be considered not only with refer
cnce to the particular classes of cm-
ploycs affected, but also in their rcla-
tion to each other and to their effect
on the public. AS one of the repre-
sentatives of the district council we'll
said: we are trying to do in few
hours what would ordinarily require
weeks and weeks of negotiation
"1n handling questions of wage
schedules, it should be remembered
that there arc many hundreds of in
dividual telephone companies, and
each one has it's wage scale. 1t
would be impossible for the postmas-
ter-general to attend local confer
cnces in all such cases or to send
a representative. 1t simply empha-
sizes the need of some such method
of procedure as the postmaster-gen-
eral provided for the handling of such
questions.
The postmastcr-gcncral felt that
the method set up by him was a
simple and direct one, and that it
would permit prompt decisions. The
government controls and operates the
various telephone, telegraph and
cable companies. 1t is responsible
for all disbursements in connection
with these companies. There is no
question that, inasmuch as the gov
ernment has to pay all wages in con-
nection Herewith, it should have
some voice in the settlement of wage
questions.
"Under private ownership, these
questions first went to the general
manager, whose recommendation
had to be approved by the president
and by the board of directors The
procedure set up by the postmaster
general provided that the general
manager should first consider the
questions presented, and that he
should forward them, together
with his recommendation there
on, through the operating board to
the wire control board of the post
master-general's department for final
decision.
"The postmaster-general believed
that such line of action would give
quicker results than one which &C.
quired that requests for wage or 9th
err adjustments be sent to him at
Washington, only to be rcferred back
to the operating officials of the va
rious companies for analysis and rec
ommendation, and then returned for
his final decision. Without some
L. nnuloI nf Ihncf 1nc,1 conditions