Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-04-24
RAIL MEN, FED Up
0NPR0M|SES, TIRED
OF DELAY, THEY SAY
Mr.. Shea Asks Labor Board
to Settle Demands of
100000 Promptly.

Warning against further delay in
settling the wage demands of the o.
100000 railroad workers Of the coun-
try, Timothy Shea, vice president of
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire
men, told the railroad labor board to-
day that the men were fed UP on
promises and dead, dog tired of de-
lays"
Mr. Shea presented the demand of
the firemen and hostlers for a basic
living wage of $3.50 a day. with diff
ferentfals for skill. responsibility. ex-
perience and the increase in the cost
Of living since the demands We're first
presented last June.
"Lesson From strIkes.-
He told the board that the lesson to
be learned from the steel. coal and
railroad strikes was that ''men will not
work when they cannot live decently
on the wages they are paid" When
he had urged the striking railroad
men in the eastern terminals to re-
turn to work. Shea said their almost
universal justification for striking
was that they and their families were
starving at work and they might just
as well starve not working"
Citing the conclusion of the recent
Industrial conferences that 1t was fun
dafnentai that "the basic wages of all
employees should be adequate to main
tain the employe and his family in
reasonable comfort and with adequate
opportunity for the education of his
children" Mr.. Shea said the railroad
workers had been patient and they
had been patriotic.
I'VE were patriotic,% he said. while
the thousands and tens Of thousands
Of war millionaires were being Great
ed. We have been patient while the
profiteers have paused In their orgy
of spending ill-gotten gains only long
enough to skyrocket prices still
governments promise that living costs
would be reduced.
Refuse to BE "Plundered,o
"Gent1emen, the time has come
when our people say they will no
longer be patriotic only to be plum
dered. nor patient only to be pauper-
lied. They have learned by bitter ex-
perience that their landlords are not
patriotic and that their grocers are
not patient They are fed up on
promises. and they are dead. dog-tired
Of delays"
Averaging the estimates Of all
known authorities on the budget re-
Quirements for a living wage, Mr..
Shea said this necessitated an annual
income Of approximately s2,25o AS to
the Importance of immediate action,
Mr.. Shea said:
when our country was at war we
were asked to be patriotic and bear
as best we might with an inadequate
wage in the face of constantly in
creasing costs of living. Last Au-
gust, when we had waited almost
year after the armistice for relief that
seemed as remote as peace itself, we
urged our necessities and were asked
to be patient and were promised that
the government would see that living
costs came down."
Unrecogni1ed WOrkers' Position.
Congress is to be petitioned to pass
a resolution asking President Wilson
to direct the railroad labor board to
hear the complaints Of the ,pon-recog-
nized railroad workers, r. ]. Mitchell
of the Chicago Enginemen's Assocla-
ton announced today. He said let
ters were being prepared today plac-
ing their request before senator's and
representatives from the various dis
tricts where the men have quit work.
The White House recently refused
q request Of the strikers that 1t in
tervene to have the board hear their
COMPLAINTS.