Evening star., 1920-03-03
LABOR men TO GIVE
RAIL BILL A TRIAL.
General Strike Possibility Is
Now Believed to Have
Been Passed.

By the decision of railroad labor
leaders to give the new REORGANIZATION
bill trial. possibility of general
strike of railway employees is believed
to have been passed for the time at
least.
All of the representatives of work.
ers. except one group. have agreed to
cooperate with the government and
the railroads in trying out the act
with it's arbitration clauses, and Presi-
dent W N'.Son has requested the eXecu-
tlveS and the labor spokesmen to ap-
point representatives for the federal
wage board.
Ihe action of the employees leaders
was taken in official circles as a definite
movement Tor the settlement of the
railroad wage controversy which has
oeen hanging over since last August
Ihe one GROUP that Is still holding
OUT is the brotherhood of Maintenance
OF way E'nDio3ts and Shop l.abore-s.
rms group has called a meeting of it's
leaders In Chicago Thursday, when
their future course will be decided.
Spokesmen for tn uninns. in a
statement last night explaining their
position. declared that while they
could not approve the TRANSFORMATION
act, they had agreed to aid in giving
the law a trial. 'Labor's criticisms S
ana protests against this legislation
are matter of record and were pre-
sented to the Congress. the President
and the public" the statement said in
part. I'VE have not changed our
views in regard to this lneislation
ana therefore We do not indorse this
lay" However. as American citizens,
we feel that in the interest of rail-
road labor there is nothing left for
us TO do at present except to CO.
operate in the prompt creation of the
machinery provided for in the law"
President'x Letters.
In a letter to the union heads the
President said he had turned over di-
rection OF the preliminary wage ne
gotiations to Director General Hines
The President also sent letter to
railroad executives through T. De
witt Cuyler. reviewing the wage sit
uatfon from the presentation of the
demands last August to the present
time. and recalling that last month
ne had told the union representatives
that settlement Of the demands ought
not to be postponed and that the
matter should be handled by an
agency which could continue to func-
tion after federal operation of the
roads had ceased.
The letter referred to section 361
of the transportation act, which con-
templates that the carriers and en-
resentatives who will in effect con-
stitute a bipartisan board for the
purpose of attempting by conference
to agree upon solution of wage
problems. The letter requested that
the rail companies select such num-
Der of representatives as may seem
to conduct the confer
ence as promptly as possible.
In his letter to the employees Presi-
dent Wilson quoted from his com
to them of last Saturday
saying he believed such board
would go far toward maturing the
wage dispute "for final disposition
and asked that the brotherhoods Sc
lect such number of representatives
as may seem appropriate" to conduct
the conference.
Both the railroad executives and
union heads were asked to notify the
director general of their representa-
tives on the board. and were told that
Mr. Hines would arrange for the first
meeting Agreement Of the unions to
give the law a thorough trial was
as making remote the strike
Keen disappointment was
however. by certain groups
of the union membership.