The Mena weekly star., 1920-03-04
PRESIDENT SIGNED
 THE RAILROAD BILL
Tells Union Men They Should Be Sat isfied--TraDsfer of Railroads to Pri- vate Control Was Made Sun
 day Night.
From the ArI.ansas oazette.

from tnc Arkansas Gazette.
 Washington, Feb. President Wilson signed the railroad. -hIi tonight He issued--a proclamation appointing Walker b. Hines, under the act, to wind up aIr matters arising out of federal control. He also sent his re- ply to the 15 railway unions. which have urged that pending wage dis putes, should be left to a bipartisan body arrangements and men-to op- crate independently of the bill.
 The president took the position that the machinery set up by the new rail road act is ample to advance quick and fair settlements He pointed out that the act sets forth that carriers and their officers and employees shall exert every means possible to. avoid halt in transportation growing out of any dispute shall be decided in conference between representatives of the em- pioyers and employees
 Mir. Wilson holds that the plain in- tention of the bill was that bi-par- tisan body should be set up to try to settle the pending wage problem He told the unions he will at once call upon both sides to join in selecting such committee. He says the board will be more than satisfactory sub stitute for the body of experts he re- gently suggested when the threatened strike of the maintenance of way men was called off,
 Labor Needlessly Alarmed Concerning the Labor Board, on which these elements, the manage ment, the workers and the public are to have three members each the presi- dent tells labor 1t Is needlessly alarm ed.
 T cannot share the apprehension of yourselves and your constituents" he writes.
 The unions. in their appeal for a veto. said that in cases where wage increase means substantial raise in rates for any carrier, the decision must have the concurrence of at least one member of the public bloc. The six labor management members might be for raise, but 1t would need one vote from the third side. or seven votes out of nine. They argued that this abrogated the right of workers and employers to bargain among themselves over compensation, that the public would be hostile to wage adjustments which would bring high CT fares and rates, and that the whole process is too slow.
 The president upholds to the full | tripartite idea on which the machin- cry of wage adjustment is based in the bill. He says it Is the interest of both the railroad workers and of the public itself, which is chiefly com posed workers and their families. He says by the selection of unprejudiced members of the public bloc. labor need fear no discrimination. He does not agree that the public blcc would op- pose wage increases because they might mean rate boosts. | As a final safeguard he points out the Labor Board is charged to fix "just and reasonable" wages and rates, being guided by wages in other indus tries, cost of living. occupational haz- ard, the responsibility involved, the raining needed and the character of the work.
 1 Such Labor Board, the president teiis the unions. will mark the begin ming of new era of better under standing between arrangements and their employees" In conclusion he says all the agencies involved appre- ciate that the pending wage demands are ''entitled to the earliest possible consideration and disposition.
 Transfer at Midnight All was in readiness for She transfer of the lines to their private owners at one minute past midnight Sunday aft CT two years and two months of gov ernment control The shift of the worlds largest transportation plant, valued at s20.000.000. with nearly D. 100000 employees and some 240.0o0 niles of main track. will be made without a hitch
 For months the corporations have been making their plans. reorganizing their departments. perfecting their ex- ecutive forces, and with the co-opera- ton of the Railroad Administration the switch from federal to private hands will run as smooth as the trans fer from private to government con- trol in January, 1917.
 Director Hines Report. l Director General Hines seaay sent the president a report covering the IA months since he succeeded William lG. McAdoo as head of the Railroad Administration The most notable fea-
 lures of the report are declarations by
 Mir. Hines that:
 i. Federal control has not cost a
 cent more than private control would
 have cost in the same difficult period,
 but on the contrary has cost consider
 ably less.
 l 2. sTf rates could have been increas-
 ed January I. 1918. there would have been no deficit or loss whatever up
 to and including the end Of october 1919. The loss Up to october 1919 l8 figured ct s4So 0Oa00a I 8. The apparent deficit of Ss15sr o0O 900 for the 26 months excess ot '