Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1921-02-17
LABOR RULES
BURDEN COSTS
OF R. R. SERVICE
u. S. Railroad Labor Board
Asked TO Stop Payments for
Work Not Done.
WOULD SAVE s3oo,oO0,oOo
Lower Cost Of Service Can Be Secured
Only by Cutting Expense,
Atterbury Says.

I United STATES ltallrOau LABOR board
TO end gross waste and inefiiciency''
prevailing under present working rules
and conditions, General W. w. Alter
bury, vice president Of the Pennsyl-
yanIa railroad, In a statement to the
board in session at Chicago said in
part:
Many railroads are not now earning,
and with present operating costs and
traffic have no prospect of earning,
even their bare operating expenses,
leaving them without any net return
and unable to meet their fixed charges.
The emergency presented can be met
either by an advance in freight and
passenger rates, or by reduction in
operating expenses.
With declining prices and wages In
industry and agriculture, the country
/ demands that the solvency Of the rail-
roads must be assured by reduction
In operating expenses, and not by a
further advance Of rates.
Tho National Az eements, rules and
working conditions forced on the rail
roads as war measures cause gross
waste and ineGiciency.
Would Save $500, 900, 900
| estimate that the elimination of
/ this waste would reduce railway OPP
! Grating expenses at least 100000, 600
4 II would be far better to save this sum
/ by restoring conditions Of efficient and
! economical operation than to reduce
] wages.
1 We believe that as the wages OF rail-
/ road employees were the last to go up
/ they should also be the last TO come
/ down but we do insist that for an am
4 pie wage an honest days work shall
Sc given The public has the right TO
insist that thi. must be obtained
The public has also the right to ex-
/ pect that the railway executives, with
1 the cooperation of the regulatory
bodies and the employees, VIII as rap
/ idly as possible reduce the cost Of rail-
way operation so as TO Insure eventual
" a reduction In rates Ultimately a
| REIMBURSEMENT of basic wages Will be
required. Meantime 1t is to the inter
ests of all concerned, including labor,
| that the rules and working conditions
shall be made conducive to the highest
efficiency In output per man.
Losses In Income lrreparable
/ When wages have been too low the
harm done has been offset by retroac-
/ tive increases Losses OF railway net
/ operating income are irreparable You
1 cannot make retroactive tomorrow the
savings that should have been made
today.
The board cannot possibly write the
/ rules and working conditions Of every
railroad In this country and adjust
them equltably to varying geograph-
1 zeal, operating and social conditions.
1t rests entirely with the board TO
| determine whether this whole sltua-
ton shall drift into chaos, and or
derby procedure become impossible ex-
cept at the price Of railroad bank
ruptcy financial shock and still wider
1 Unemployment.
The Labor Board can prevent this
catastrophe by declaring that the Ma
tonal agreements, rules and working
/ conditions coming over from the war
period are terminated az once; that
the question of reasonable and eco
nomlcal rules and working conditions
shall be remauded to negotiations be-
tween each carrier and It's own emf
/ ployecs and that as the basis for such
negotiations, the agreements, rules,
and working conditions I'm effect on
each railroad as Of December 81, 1917,
shall be re-estahllshed
If the board viii do this. the Labor
/ Committee Of the Association OF Rail-
| way Executives will urge upon ev-
cry railroad company party 10 De
clslon No , that no proposal for
the reduction Of basic wages SHAH be
made within the next succeeding nine
ty days Tits will afford mn opror
tuutty 20 gauge the economies which
cam I've ACCOMPLISHED through more
efficient rules ana working conditions
II also win afford additional time
ST. which 10 realize the benefits of a
tnr,Nrr decline On the cost of living
Relief Imperative and Equitable
Tile course which we are recon-
meulmg is not only imperative but
equitable.
The War Labor Board declared that
the war period was an interregnum. to
be nsed neither 10y employer nor en-
pleyee for the purpose OF lettering
or imp0iring the position OF either
To perpeuate as the normal rules
and working conditions on the rail-
roads, the extraordinary provisions OF
the war period Is a distinct violation
OF all promises The war has now
been over more than two years The
tlHae has come when, II the railways
are to be efficiently and economically
operated, IN accordance With the pro
visions Of the Transportation act, nor
mai conditions of employment and or
working conditions must be restored
a5 reressst efficiency % labor &c
secured.