Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-01-30
CUMM|NS BILL
. IS DENOUNCED As
CONSP| TRACY TO
CRUSH STRIKES
GomperS Declares Unions
Have Done More Than
Any Other Agency to Pre-
vent Industrial Strife.
PROPOSED MEASURES
WOULD CRUSH LIBERTY
Presidents Plan for Boards
of Adjustment Pronounced
Worthless; Would Be
Dominated BY Politics.


New York. Jan 29,-Direct
charges that certain railroads"
We're planning to reduce wages as
soon as the roads were returned
TO private ownership, were made
by Timothy Shea, acting president
OF the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Iiremen and Enginemen, speaking
Al the twentieth annual meeting of
the National Civic association here
today. Mr.. shea denounced the
Cummins bill, now before the SEN
ate, and joined with samuel Comp
ers, president of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor, in an attack on
compulsory arbitration Referring
TO the Cummins bill, he said;
This bill is the outcome of
conspiracy to reduce wages below
their present inadequate level when
the roads are returned to private
ownership" The alleged conspir-
ators. he continued, proposed to
make a cut in wages, and, If
strike followed, attempt its sup
preston by wholesale prosecutions.
Will Make Quick Cuts.
1--WE have positive evidence. fur
nished by our local agents. of GER
tain railroads, whose managers
have said that they would only con-
tinue the present wage scales dur
ing federal control" declared the
speaker.
Denying the statement Of 4
speaker at the opening session, that
the railroad men were the highest
paid class Of workers in the eonn--
iry. and that one engineer had
received $3.50 monthly, Mr.. Shea
declared that the man might have
received this amount, but that he
would have had to work fourteen
hours day, thirty days a month,
to get it. Wages have increased
approximately 10 per cent for this
class of workers, he said, whereas
the cost of living has increased
about 90 per cent.
"There is no danger of a strike
on American railroads unless 1t is
provoked by such legislation as the
Cummins bill or such an attitude
of the government as in the coal
strike" the speaker said in con-
clusion.
Gompers Speaks.
Mr. Gompefs, defending organ
ized labor, asserted that the unions
had done more to prevent strikes
than any other agency.
"If absence of strikes meant
commercial prosperity" he added,
then China ought to stand at the
head of civilization.
"That which the employer con-
cedes is almost invariably that
which the employe presses home
hardest. Only those are heard who
make themselves heard. This ques-
ton of repressing the aspirations
of the workers will not succeed.
The citizenship of our republic will
refuse TO allow it. For it would
he better to suffer the inconven-
fences attending industrial strife,
than uproot the principles of the
republic. Any attempt, particularly
by> legal means, will not only fail,
but will he the cause of'many dis
putes which otherwise might be
avoided"
Speaking of the proposal for a
national board of adjustment, sup
plemented by regional boards. as
suggested at the presidents second
industrial conference in Washing
ton, Mr.. Gompers said that politi-
cal changes would have so Sreat
an effect upon these boards that
their worth would be destroyed.