The Washington herald., 1921-10-05
RAILROAD HEADS
WARY OF STEPS
TO REDUCE WAGES
Fear Another Cut Would
Bring Demand for
Lower Rates.
SEE VICIOUS CIRCLE
willing to leave Wen
Enough Alone" for the !.
Present.

Although there are persistent
rumOrs that the railroads VIII
shortly set in motion the machinery
for bringing before the LABOR
BOARD a proposed second general
wage reduction, and other rumors
that they will couple demand for
wage reduction with a proposal 20
reduce freight rates, inquiry among
pficers OF a dozen important sys-
tenn. has failed to discover DEN
mite movement in either direction-
Railroad ofacers are haoituahy
reluctant to discuss wage matters
In advance Of events. but not Few
Of them are inclined to think that
a movement for further wage re-
auction at this time would lend
strength to a demand for general
rate reduction II the two were
made In proper proportions to one
mother, the carriers would prob
ably not offer serious objection, but
some Of them fear that a wage
reduction OF a given percentage
would evoke a demand from ship
pers for widespread rate reductions
81 a similar percentage, which they
aeclars 10 an impossibiiity under
present conditions.
With wages consuming approx
mately so cents OF the revenue dol
lar, q 10 per cent wage reduction.
Tor example, would reduce ex-
penses by 6 cents, whereas. q 10
per cent reduction IN rates would
tollar. The attitude Of many ship
pers Is illustrated by the recent
proposal OF an attorney. for West
ern livestock growers, who asked
The carriers to propose to their men
s per cent reduction In all wages
In order to make possible a IS per
rent reduction In livestock rates
llone- The fact is, however, that
Western livestock rates have been
reduced without any connected re-
Suction IN rates.
Oppose Horizontal Cut
The president of an important
Eastern system declared that the
CARRIERS, so far from proposing a
conditional rate reduction, would
strongly oppose any attempt to re-
AeNCo hONANOhlAIy ana
stead would insist that the present
handling of the rate situation con-
hnue. Individual rates and eroup
OF rates, he pointed out. were now
being revised from time to time
ana almost always downward A
norizontal decrease would produce
as many, dislocations of rate rela-
nonships and resulting hardships to
IndlYidual shippers as does a hori-
sontal ADVANCE. This oficer's con-
tention was that rates should now
oe examined and corrected piece
meal
The trouble with all of US" h.
hddsd' is that we want everything
corrected at once. For six years he
tore the war every item of rail-
road operating cost was SLOWLY but
steadily rising, without any offset
IN charges for railroad service.
When the peoples of Europe
stopped producing and took to
lighting they had TO buy practically
everything they needed in this
country. with the natural result
that prices and wages bounded up-
ward: Then we ourselves made the
same switch from production to
warfare and accelerated the price
movement.
~ Says Public Impatient.
We had been in the. war more
than a year before any attempt
was made to bring railroad rates
Into line with operating cost and
we had been out Of the war al
most two years before the process
Of alignment was roughly COM
pleted- In spite of the fact that
for ten years freight and passen-
ger rates dragged far behind ex-
penses on the way up. the public
Is becoming impatient because they
do not promptly fall with the pre-
cipitate drop in wholesale prices
and farm products