The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1920-01-16
RAILWAY UNIONS
AND FARMERS JOIN
To Cheaper Living, Plan Big Co.
operation Scheme for Produc-
ton, Buying and Selling.
FORM A JOINT COMMISSION.
and Shop Crafts Represented
Among OffieiaIs-May Drop
Wage Demands.

shington.-Failing to obtain sat
isfactory relief from the high cost of
living, either through further wage
advances by the railroad administra-
tion or from the anti-profteering cam
paign of the department of justice, Of
ficials of the four railway brotherhoods
and the railroad shop crafts affiliated
with the American Federation of La
Dor have decided to seek solution for
themselves through cooperative buy
ing, production and distribution. The
step was construed in some quarters
| as indicating that demands for further
wage increases would not be pressed
pending the outcome of the experiment
Details of the cooperative scheme
have not yet been completed, but plans
for 1t have been under consideration
since the farmer-labor conference at
Chicago in November. The formation
of the All-American Farmer-Labor Co.
Operative Commission, an outgrowth
of the conference, was announced at
| its offices here. Another conference
will be held in Chicago, February u
| to 10.
Warren S. Stone, grand chief of the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
and one of the organizers of the Chi
cago meeting, is general treasurer Of
| the Cooperative Commission, and 9TH
er officials of the railway employees
| organizations are officers
Representatives of the four brother
| hoods conferred with Howard Figg,
| special assistant to the attorney gen.
| eral, in charge of the campaign against
the high cost of living Mr.. Figg said
the brotherhood representatives had
come to obtain first hand information
regarding results achieved by the de-
partment of justice and had informed
him that their organizations planned
to solve their own problems of living
costs through cooperative methods.
Indications that pressure from rail-
way workers for increased wages
might be lessened was seen In a state
ment by Bert NJ. Jewell, acting presi-
dent of the railway employees depart
| ment of the Federation of Labor, that
ian increase In pay will not solve the
problem" Jewell asserted that higher
wages, accompanied by proportionate
| increase in prices, result in vicious
no better off after the increase in pay
than he was with the smaller salary.
Other officers of railway workers
| organizations saw no hope for relief
in the prosecution of profiteers and de-
clared the only way to deal with an
economic situation was with economic
factors.
An alliance of the farmers, the or
ganized producers, on the one hand,
with the laborers, or organized con-
sumers, on the other, was the purpose
of the Cooperative Commission, said
| Jewell, who is member of the COM
| mission. 1t aims to conduct a vfgor-
Gus campaign for direct dealing be-
| tween farm producers and city con-
| sumers and, as soon as feasible, be-
tween city producers and farm con-
| sumerS."
Plans for the organization of CO.
| operative bank, authorized by the
| Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
before the war, may soon be pushed
to completion and steps taken to es-
tablish cooperative stores and dfstri-
button facilities to supply members Of
the brotherhood with necessaries of
life at a reasonable price.
Allen E. Barker, grand president of
the Maintenance of Way Employees, is
member of the joint commission, and
L. E. Sheppard, president of the Or
der of Railway Conductors, is vice
| president. c. Fl. Gustafson, president
of the Nebraska Farmers Union, is
president of the commission, and Os-
car H. McGill of the Western Coop
erative Timber Mills is general secre-
tary.