Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1921-02-16
U. S. Railroad Labor Board
Asked to Stop Payments for
Work Not Done.
WOULD SAVE s3oo,ooo,ooo
Lower Cost Of Service Can Be Secured
Only BY Cutting Expense.
Atterbury Says.

10 END EfuSS waste and ineiictency"
prevailing under present working rules
and conditions. General W. ". After
bury. vice president OF the Pennsyl-
vanla railroad. in a statement to the
board In session Mt Chicago said In
part:
Many railroads are not now earning.
and with present operating costs and
traffic have no prospect of earning.
even their hare operating expenses.
leaving them without any net return
and unable 10 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 aud wages in
Industry aud agriculture. the country
demands that the solVeney Of the rail-
roads must be assured by a reduction
In operating expenses. and not by
further advance Of rates.
The National Agreements. rules and
working conditions forced on the rail-
roads as war measures cause gross
Waste anu lheIlfttHtA.
Would Save $500, zoo, 600
estimate that the elimination of
this waste would reduce railway OPP
Grating expenses at least 100000. 900.
Il would be far better to save this sum
~ restoring conditions Of efficient and
economical operation than To reduce
wages.
We believe that as the wages Of rail-
road employees were the last 20 20 up
they should also be the last To come
down. hut we do insist that for an ann
pie wage an honest days work shall
De given. The public has the right TO
insist that this must be obtained
The public has also the right 10 ex-
pect that the railway executives, with
the cooperation Of the regulatory
bodies and the employees. will as rap
dly as possible reduce the cost OF rail-
way ooefation so as 10 insure eventual
" a reduction In rates. Ultimately
Establishment OF basic wages will be
required. Meantime II Is TO the inter-
ests OF all concerned. including labor,
hat the rules and working conditions
shall be made conducive 10 the highest
efficiency In output per man.
Losses In Income lrreparable
When wages have been too low the
aarm done has been Offset by retroac-
i've Increases. Losses of railway net
operating income are irreparable. You
cannot make retroactive tomorrow the
Iavlngs 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 equitably 10 varying geograph-
cal, operating ana social conditions.
II rests entirely with the board TO
! determine whether this whole situa-
lion shall drift Into chaos. and or
ierly procedure become impossible ex-
,ept at the price II railroad bank
ruptcy. financial shock and still wider
unemployment.
The Labor Board can prevent this
catastrophe by declaring that the Ma
.lonal agreements, rules and working
conditions coming over from the war
period are terminated at once; that
he question OF reasonable and eco
aomical rules and working conditions
shall be remanded TO negotiations be-
tween each carrier and its own EN-
oloyees: and that as the basis for such
negotiations. the agreements. rules,
and working conditions In effect on
each railroad as OF December 81, 1917.
shaIl be re-established.
II the board will do this, the Labor
4 comnittee Of the Association OF Rail-
way Executives viii urge upon ev-
Try railroad company n party TO De-
ision 40 >. that no proposal for
The reduction OF basic wages shall he
made within the next succeeding nine
" DAYS. This will afford IN Oppor-
l,unity 10 gauge the economies which
,an be accomplished through more
efficient rules and working conditions.
II also will afford additional time
lin which TO realize the benefits OF q
further decline In the cost OF living.
Relief Imperative and Equitable
The course which we are recon-
mendIng is not only imperative but
equitable.
The War Labor Board declared that
the war period wa, an interregnum, TO
be used neither - employer nor en-
ployee for the purpose OF lettering
or lmpairlng the position Of either.
To perpetuate as the normal rules
and working conditions on the rail-
roads. the extraordinary provisions OF
the war period Is distinct violation
4 Of all promises. The war has now
been over more than r@wo years. The
time has core when, " the railways
are 10 be efficiently and economically
operated, In accordance with the pro-
visions Of the Transportation act, nor
nal conditions Of employment and or