The Washington herald., 1920-04-17
Conditions Improved De-
spite Defiance of Insurg-
ents in Some Cities.
D. c. YARDS NORMAL
Men Return to Jobs When
Assured Crews Won't
Be Reduced.

The unauthorized railroad strike
is near an end, reports from vari-
Gus sections last night indicated.
Strikers continued to return to
work yesterday. although at some
points, particularly on the Pacific
Coast, the OUTLAWS" remained de-
fiant
Traffic conditions improved ma
terially. Freight embargoes were
lifted by a number of railroads.
The situation in the New York dis
trict. where a food and fuel famine
was feared. was reported materially
improved.
Normal Conditions Here.
Normal conditions once more pre-
vail in Washington railroad yards.
Men at lexington yards reported
for duty yesterday morning. Those
at Potomac yards did So in the
afternoon.
The Potomac yardmen returned
after they had been assured by
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
representatives that Union Station
officials had agreed no reductions in
crews would be made.
Six men employed at the Ecking-
ton yards who were to have testi-
fed regarding the walk-out before
the grand jury here, were excused
yesterday. The strike was not taken
up by the jury.
Passenger service in and out of
Washington improved considerably.
Plan Finish Fight.
At Chicago, instigators of the
strike. following their arrest by
Federal agents. announced they plan
q finish fight" with the. government
John Grunau, president of the Chi
cago Yardmen's Association, and H.
Z. Reading, head of the United En-
ginemen's A ssociation. declared they
would demand that Federal authori-
ties place them in Jail and keep
them there until charges against
them are dismissed. They are at
liberty on bail. They termed their
arrests as unjust" and predicted
that strikers will stay out until
granted a living wage"
No additional arrests were made
yesterday by the Department of JUS
tice in an effort to break the strike
Inc Ht"iy INdllTOdu La
Dor Board met organized and i'm
mediately began to consider wage
demands.
No Preference to Strikers.
1t is believed that assembling of
the board will influence men to re-
turn to work. 1t was announced
last night, however. that the board
will not give the strikers aRy pref
erence in adjusting wages. Henry
Hunt, Cincinnati, was selected tenn
porary chairman. G. w. w. Hang
er, Washington, is temporary Sec
retary. Both represent the public.
Answering the charge of Attorney
General Palmer that the strike was
engineered by l. w. VS. and Boil
shevists, some of whom were back
of the Inflated steel strike. Flank
Morrison, secretary of the American
Federation of Labor, denied the rail-
road strike was instigated to dis
rupt organized labor.
Lee Says End Is Near.
Brotherhood chiefs at Cleveland
perfected plans to get insurgents
back to work. w. G. Lee, head of
the trainmen, predicted the strike
will be over by Monday. Our
messages from all over the coun-
try show the strike is making it's
last gasp" he declared.
Hundreds of thousands of work
ers in all sections of the country
were still out of work yesterday as
result of the strike which has pre-
cipitated an acute coal shortage,
causing factories to shut down.
Food prices in New York and sew
eral other cities were reported to
have reached new high levels. The
food situation in New York, how
ever, was improved somewhat when
strikebreakers began to move food
that has been tied up on docks for
hve weeks by the longshoremen's
strike