The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-07-21
IMMEDIATE PLANS ID PASS EXPENSE
 ID THE CONSUMER
With Addition of $500, ,000,- 900 Wage Budget Roads Pay Rolls Will Exceed
 $3,0OO,00O,0O0 In 1920
sy Associated Prsss


 Chicago, July 20.-Whether the specter of a nationwide railway strike has been laid by the $600,000,O00 wage in-, crease granted today to more than 1,8O0,0O0 railroad em- ployes tonight remained un- decided.
 Brotherhood officials, arter all-day conferences. made no attempt to con ceal their disappointment that they did not get all of the billion-dollar increase they asked. The belief grew, however, in the absence of any talk of an imm ediate strike, that the union officials would submit the award, prob- ably without recommendations, to referendum of the men. decision on this point was promised tomorrow by w. G, Lee of Cleveland, grand presI- aent of the Brotherhood of Railway 1rainmen.
 .There will be no illegal. out
 law, rebel, sporadic rail strike,"
 Mir, Lee said. "Whether the rail-
 road wage award is accepted or
 rejected, the union actlOh VIII Dc
 concerted and deliberate"
 The various brotherhood groups conferred far into the night on the wage awards, but no arrangement was made by any of them as to what action had been taken. Each group will report at a general meeting tomor- row, at which it is expected de- cision will be reached on the award. It was reported tonight that four courses of action were under consld- eration. These were acceptance under protest; acceptance with a provision that new wage requests would be formulated later; submission of the awards to a referendum vote of mem bers for action, and flat rejection with plenary powers invested in the leaders to call a strike.
 Railroad representatives accepted the award philosophically and immediately set about plans for passing the $600,- Ov0.000 addition to their wage budget < along to the ultimate consumer-in this case the man who pays the freight. Armed with reliable advance knowl- edge as to what the award would pro- vide. the railroads had their figures ready Judge R. M. Barton, chairman of the United States railway labor board, had harlyy handed down his de- cision when E. T. Winter, representing
 
 announced that the roads would need an increase of IS per cent in freight rates to meet the wage boost. The in- terstate commerce commission will be asked to spread the increase over both freight and passenger rates.
 21 PER CENT INCREASE
 The $600,000,000 award represents 21 per cent increase in the pay of the railroad men. For the first time in histosy the roads pay rolls this year will pass the $S000s 100000 mark. Mr. Winter Xstimated the 1920 pay rolls at s3,340. 100000. more than double the $1,46S,576,394 paid in 1916.
 The boards award was made retro active to May l. with provisions that back pay for three months falls due August 1, when s150, 100000 is to be distributed in addition 70 the regular pay Yard service engineers, firemen and helpers, who received an hourly in- crease of IS per cent, will get the big gest back pay checks, their three months award totaling $110.16. In its decision the board followed the broad general policy laid down by the Lane commission, appointed in 1918, that the men who received the 1easr should get the most. On percentage basis the biggest increases went te the unskilled and semi-skilled labor. while the conductors, engineers and shop crafts, the so-called .'aristocracy of the road" received smaller percent ages
 The one notable exception to this gen. eral rule was the yard service mon. whose IS cents hour increase topped al. others Here, the board explained. the deciding factors were the extreme hazard to life and limb and degree of skill required.
 ENDS CONTINUOUS CLAMOR Today's award, if it IS accepted by the men, will bring to a close at least for the present, the board believes. the seem ingly endless cycle of wage demands from the railway workers Starting with the demands of 1916. which were met for . time by passage of the Adamson law, tEere has been an almost continuous procession of rail unions before various government boards and commissions, all demanding changes in pay.
 k When the government took control of z the roads in December, 1917, it found pending requests from many unions for more money The Lane commission re- sponded with a graduated scale ranging from a 43 per cent increase for the poor- est paid men to nothing for those get ting above s249 month. series of adjustments followed. Less than year later, in January, 1919, Director General McAdoo received a request from the shop crafts asking that he add another $srs 100000 to the wage budget to meet the rising cost of living The request hung fire for many months. In August of .ast year President Wilson appealed to the men to wait and give the govern ,nent a chance to reduce the cost of living. They waited until this year, then pressed their requests again.
 Again the matter was deferred, as fed cral control cf the roads was about to end In February Congress passed the transportation bill providing new ma chinery. in the labor board, to deal with the case, but it was not until the board was appointed on April l5 that work was begun.
 This long delay and succession of dis appointments coupled with the pressure o< . further rise in living costs. pro duced deep and not unreasonable dissat- ssfaction on the part of the railroad em Ipiuyex. who felt themselves called or tTo ,naka sacrifices as they believed. fai Y beyond that of any other class the board said in it's report.
 LIVING COST UP 100 PER CENT
 Tt is clear that the cost of living 1T the United States has increased approxi- matsly 100 per cent since 19l4.'' the de cision added. Tn many instances the in
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