Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-24

from tne conference. Inc Democrats in
the House supported the action of their
representatives on the committee.
1t passed the Senate by vote of AZ to
II, with more Democrats supporting it
than opposing it.
The bill is the result of serious and
honest effort to agree on plan fol re-
turning the railroads to their owners
while protecting the rights of the public,
of the employees and of the shareholders.
1t provides that there shall be no re-
duction in wages and no reduction in
rates prior to September /. This guar
antees to the workers a continuance of at
least the scale of wages which the gov
ernment fixed and a continuance of the
rate Of income for the railroads on which
the scale of wages was based for period
long enough to permit careful study Of
the situation before any reductions are
made.
The Interstate Commerce Commission.
however, may increase the rates during
this period if circumstances warrant and
the wages also may be increased. The
point to be noted is that it is reductions
alone that are forbidden for six months.
The powers of the Interstate Com
merce Commission over rates are in
creased and the commission itself is en-
larged to eleven members in order to en-
able it to exercise its new functions.
Provision is made for a railroad labor
| board to adjust all disputes between the
railroads and their employees regarding
wages or conditions of work. The board
is TO consist of nine members, three rep
resenting employees and subordinate Off
cals of the railroads, three representing
the railroads managers and three repre-
senting the public. The President, with
the advice and consent of the Senate, is
to make the appointments. In the case
of the group representing labor and the
group representing management he is to
select three men for each from six nomi-
mated by each group; but in the case of
the public representatives he is to make
his own selections directly without Off
cal suggestion from any one.
AS soon as a representative Of the en-
ployes or the managers is appointed he
must sever all active connection with
the body which he represents and devote
himself wholly to his new duties A
salary of $4,000 a year is provided for
each member of the board and the term
is fixed at five years. save for the first
appointees. They serve one, two and
three years, so that when the board is
firmly established one-thiId of it will go
out of Office every year. This arrange
ment provides for a continuing body.
Subordinate to ,tbis railroad labor
board, the bill authorizes the railroads
by agreement with THAR employees to es-
tablish boards of labor adjustment to
consider all grievances which threaten to
interrupt the operation of the roads, and
to remove them so far as possible. If
the adjustment boards are unable to
agree on plan for removing grievances
the matter is to be referred to the rail
road labor board, which shall consider
the questions at issue on their merits and
make and publish its findings.
No provision is made for compelling
either the employers or the employees to
accept the decisions of the labor board.
1t is hoped that those decisions will be
so fair and just that the pressure of
public sentiment will be sufficient to COM
pei the parties to the disputes to respect
the decisions and to refrain from inter-
rrpting commerce either by strikes or by
lockouts.
The financial provisions Of the measure
are intended to protect railroad invest
ments. An income of 5i2 per cent on
the value of the property is guaranteed.
If the income earned by any railroad
under this guarantee is in excess of it's
minimum operating expenses the excess
must be forthwith paid into the United
States Treasury, but each railroad may
retain enough to pay its fixed charges.
A period of ten years is allowed for re-
payment to the government of the sums
invested by it in permanent betterments,
and arrangements are made for paying to
the roads S636,000000, which is the net
deficit that has accumulated under gov
ernment operation.
An appropriation of $300,000,000 is
made TO serve as a revolving fund, out of
which the secretary of the treasury is
authorized to make loans to the roads at
any time within two years to enable them
properly to serve the public. The need
for the loan, however, must first be GER