The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1921-01-21

a financial way with j p Morgan &
Co, are closing their repair shops,
throwing thousands Of men out Of
work, and are giving locomotive and
freight car repair work, at extortion-
ate rates, to large private equipment
companies in which railroad capital
lists or banking groups are heavily IN
terested. More than thirty thousand
union men already have lost their
jobs under this plan, and can return
to the shops only upon surrendering
their union cards.
Railroad Managers Hope to Break Up
Unions
IN this fashion, it is charged, rail,
road arrangements hope to send the
unions on the rocks, and charge the
bill to the public through taxation to
pay the subsidies guaranteed by the
federal government or by maintain
ing present high rates to shippers and
the travelling public
This drive on workers in the railroad
shops, Mr. Lauck charges, is but s
phase Of the open shop" movement
which has for its real object disruo-
tion of all legitimate labor organiza-
tions and trade union agreements.
Evidence of its scope has been dis
closed, he points out, by:
'The wreck of the interchurch
world movement, because it dared to
advocate collective bargaining in the
United States Steel Corporation, an
organization affiliated with ]. P. Nor
gan & Co.
Recent revelations before the Lock
wood committee in New York to the
effect that the United States and Beth
lehem steel corporations refused to
furnish fabricated steel to construc-
ton companies in New York city en-
ploying members of labor unions
Additional Evidence
"The recent refusal Of anthracite
coal companies, controlled by Morgan
4 Co., to grant complete union recog,
milton to mine workers.
"The present deplorable situation in
Mingo and Mcdowell counties, West
Virginia, and in the Birmingham dis
trict in Alabama, where there has
been a complete breakdown Of civil
government, due to the refusal of the
coal and steel companies, dominated
by the U. S. steel corporation, to grant
to the coal miners the right of col
lective bargaining"
Public Must Pay
Mr.. Lauck points out in the petition
that the railroads, while proceeding
under a governmental guarantee Of
fair earnings, are assigning their re-
pair work on locomotives and freight
care to private companies which they
are diligently fostering as heavy
money makers. Since the public ulti.
mately pays the bill for the transpor-
tation industry, he points out, this
practice means that the public is be-
ing looted so that profitable returns
may be realized for certain equipment
companies which are controlled by the
same financial interests which con-
troll the railroads.
The cost of locomotive repair work
when done in these outside shops, the
petition recites, costs the railroads on
an average of four times as much as
it costs in their own shops. Repair
work on locomotives, which under or
binary circumstances could be done in
railroad shops at cost Of from four
to five thousand dollars, amounts to
approximately twenty thousand when
done by these private concerns. Since
locomotive repair work of the entire
transportation system Of the country
amounts annually to between $780,
100000 and 100000, the effect
would be to burden the general public
with an excess and unwarranted
charge of at least half billion dol
lars year.
Freight Cars Also
The same condition, it Is alleged