Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1920-07-21

Chicago. July 20.-tBy Inc Assoclal-
ed Press. Whether the spectre OF a
nationwide railway strike has been lad
by the 5000. 100000 wage increase grant
ed Tuesday to more than l,sOooo ran,
road employees Tuesday night renamed
undecided.
The $500 100000 award represents a
81 per cent increase in the pay Of the
railroad men. For the first time in his
tory, the roads payrolls this year will
pass the $3,O00,O 100000 mark. The l92o
payrolls were estimated at S3,344.OW
600, more than double the 81, ,46S, 80
394 paid in 1916.
In its decision the board followed the
broad general policy laid down BY the
Lane commission appointed in 1918. thai
Tho man who received the least should
get the most. On the percentage BASIS
} the biggest increases went to the un-
skilled and semi-skilled labor, while the
conductors. engineers, and shop crafts:
the so-called "aristocracy Of the road
received smaller percentages.
Yard Mems Greatest Raise.
The one notable exception was the
ward service men. whose 1S cents an
hour increase topped all others. Here,
the board explained, the deciding fac
tors were the extreme hazard to life and
limb and the degree of skill required
The award, if it is accepted BY the
men. will bring to a close, at least for
the present, the board believes, the
seemingly endless cycle Of wage de-
mands from the railway workers. Start
ing with the demands of 1915 which
were met for O time by passage Of the
Adamson law, there has been an al
most continuous procession OF ran un-
ions before various government boards
and commissions. all demanding changes
in pay -
Have Scale Graduated.
When the government took control OF
the roads in December, 1917, 1t fonnd
pendng requests from many unions TOR
more money. The Lane commission re-
sponded with a graduated scale ranging
from 43 per cent increase for the
poorest paid men to nothing for those
getting above S249 a month. A series
of adjustments followed. Less than a
year later, in January 1913, Director
General McAdoo received request from
the shop crafts asking that he ado
). another SsOO,OO0000 to the wage budget
10 meet the rising cost Of living. The
request hung fire for many months; IN
August of last year President WllsoE
annealed to the men TO wait and give
the government a chance to reduce the
> cost of living They waited until tins
year, than pressed their requests again
Again the matter was deferred as fed.
eral control of the roads was about t6
end In February. congress passed the
Transportation bill providing new ma
chipery in the labor board to deal witt
+he case. but it was not until the boarC
was appointed on April 15 that work
was begun.
This long delay and succession of dis
amendments, coupled with the pressure
Of a further rise in living costs, pro
duced deep and not unreasonable DIS
satisfaction on the part Of railroad en-
ployes who felt themselves called on tC
make sacrifices, as they believed, fai
ybevond that Of any other class the
board said, in its report.
!, Great Living Costs.
fl lit is clear that the cost Of living r
the United States has increased approx
imatelv 100 per cent since 1914 the
decision added In many instances the
increases to employees herein fixed, to-
. gether with prior increases granted since
4 1o14. exceed this figure. The cost o.
1 living and wages paid for similar kinds
of work in other industries, however
differ as between different parts of thu
country. Yet. Standardization Of pay fol
y railroad employees has proceeded so fa'
and possesses such advantages that II
was deemed inexpedient and impractlc
able to establish new variations baset
on these varying conditions.
Nearly 10000 employees of the Amer
lean Railway Express company are no
included within the provisions Of today
award The board will open hearing OF
X Thursday to pass on their demands.
The problem Of the railroad men VIII,
ioined new unions last April and strucl
for immediate increases also remains IN
solved. The labor board maintained IT.
stand that the strikers violated tht
Transportation act by walking out with
out first submitting their grievances. ant
fiiat therefore the case of the strikers
was not before the board No reference
10 the new unions is made in the de
cision, but th preamble specifically names
eighteen recognized organizations as be
ing parties thereto on behalf Of the men
John Grunau, president Of the Chi
cago Yardmen's association, parent bod!
Of the new unions, issued a statemen
branding the boards award as ..incon
sistent and unsatisfactory and an
/ nounced that 1t had been rejected by thu
delegates representing the union.