The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-03-23
OUTLOOK BRIGHTER
 FOR PEACE IN THE
 PACKING INDUSTRY
Employes Believed Agreed to Reduction and Packers to Extension of Wartime
 AIschuIer Agreement
By Associated Press

Washington, March 22.-Prospects of peace in the packing industry were understood to be brighter tonight than at any time since Secretary Davis, acting at the direction of President Harding and with the assistance of Secretaries Hoover and Wallace, be- gan his efforts at mediation in the dispute between the big five packers and their union employees.
 The principal events of the day in cluded a conference between Secretary Davis and representatives of the em- ployes, consideration of the matter ae the regular Tuesday cabinet meeting, and separate conferences between Mir Davis and the packers representatives. and between the labor Secretary and the employees delegates. At the close of the last conference. Secretary Davis announced that he would continue his meeting with the employees represen, tatives at 9:3O o'clock tomorrow morn ing.
 SOLUTION IN SIGHT
 As the matter stood tonight, it was believed that the employees had agreed in a general way to the wage reduc- ~tion put into effect March 7, and that in turn the packers had agreed to the extension of the wartime Alschuler agreement for submission of differ erces between them and their em. ployes to permanent mediation. This matter of hours, it was believed, would be solved by the adoption Of a weekly maximum based on an eight-hour day to meet the peculiar conditions ob- taining in the packing industry. The question of hours was considered be- fore the conference began to be a minor difference, but it is understood new that the greater question involves the consideration of a mass of tech- nicaI data.
 After comforting with the packers representatives last night and with employees delegates this morning, the lator secretary indicated before lie att tended today's cabinet meeting that he hoped for an early settlement and so informed the cabinet. Similar optim- ism was reflected in other quarters.
 Returning to the department of las Dor from the cabinet meeting for a
 
 ranged for o'clock, and for which both sides had arrived, Secretary Da- wis called Carl Meyer and J. Gregory Condon, for the packers, into his of flee for an hours session. Later, he was closeted with Dennis Lane and Redmond S. Brennan, representing tho employees, and then announced a con- tinuation of this conference for to- morrow morning
 CLEAN MUCH DATA (
 The separate conference plan which was decided on yesterday, has lonA been the method used by members of the labor departments board of con ciliators, who contend that represen- tatives of opposing sides will talk more freely, when they feel that what tEey say cannot be made the target for reply by the other side In this way, the labor secretary is obtaining valua ble data, it is said. which he quotes in his conversations with the opposing sides only with permission of those who furnished. The data presented at yesterdays joint conference by the packers involving a full review of the industry from the time the cattle are bought on the hoof to the time the meat products pass from the packers hands Is understood to have agreed with statistics which Secretary Davis had his experts assemble for him be- fore the conference began. The labor secretary's familiarity with these sta> tistics is believed to have gone a long way in reaching the tentative agree ment on wages, which was believed tonight to be ready for formal accept ance.
 Secretaries Hoover and Wallace were not present at any of today's sessions, which was taken as further indica- tion that none of the basic questions were involved in the discussions and that merely matter of arranging de- tails still remained to be worked out.