Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-10-16
RAIL STRIKE OR NOT,
SLASH IN FREIGHT
RATES DUE THIS YEAR
CONTINUED from Page one.)

trade association. placed the case
before the executive { mmittee of
the railway executives. That COM
mittee is compf ed of Vice Presi-
dent Attcrbury of f Pennsylvania
and Messrs Storey ana Elliott OF
the Santa Fe end Northern Pacific,
respectively After the usual pre-
liminaries and exchange of views
the committee finally ives Induced
to attend confereL wit ship
pers and to listen to the proposal.
Accordingly the manufacturers ar
ranged such a m citing. 1t was
held in New York a month ago.
There werS pr mt about twenty
men, including representatives of
the manufac. rers, of t iron and
steel industry. of the lumber. in
dustry, the coal industry, agricul-
ture and other callings. The meet
ing was one of big men Of big az
fairs all specialists in their re-
spective industries, and it lasted
from earlv forenoon till o'clock
at night.
The utmost precautions were
taken to. avoid publicity. Strict
secrecy was imposed on every one
present. Even e officials OF the
government most intimately con-
cerned with the subject were not
informed Of the & thu ng. The
executives association W; ! not told
of 1t. Few carriers were taken. at
first. into tho conf ance of the
executive committee. Newspaper
publicity at that time. 1t was
thought, would wreck the plan,
cause business men generally to-
hesitate about placing orders, wait
for the new rates and generally slow
down.
When that meeting ended the
manufacturers and other shippers
had cold their big idei and the ex-
ecutive committee Of the carriers
was pledged to go back to their
organization and recommend a rate
reduction.
But selling a rate reduction to
three men and selling 1t to several
hundred are two different PROPOSE
tons. The big idea had to be sold
to the bigger rumber.
During the month which has
passed since the meeting the ex-
ecutive committee has been selling
the lea to their own crowd. They
have been generall successful
notably in the case of Pennsylvania
and New York Central systems
and the majority Of the carriers to-
day are ready TO take the plunge
and make |. bet on prosperity.
That, in effect. is what the roads
are preparing TO do--bet on the re-
turn of prosperity with the return
Of lower rates. They want to get
those hundreds If thousands Of idle
cars to work They want to see
freight flowing over the rails as II
used TO flow. They are about TO,
take down the bars in the belief
that It will cause a general ana I'M
mediate revival OF Industry N
which they themselves will share
The procedure will be for the
individual roads to file lower tar
ifs with the Interstate Commerce
Commission and ask that they be
nut into effect Is soon as possible,
possibly In five days from the time
of filing. The public may look Tor
such tariffs soon.
And, as a corallary the public
may also look for an attempt by
the roads - reduce wages ctill fur-
Their. What that may develop is
yet in the mi king. but what It does
develop will be aside from the DE-
termination to reduce rates, unless
{ ere is an overnight change u
heart on the part Of the executives.