The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-10-20

board will succeed only if it plays fair
with both sides and that it might be just
as ready to chastise big institution like
the PENNSYLVANIA Railroad as a railway
union. Mir. Harding isn't showing any
partiality TO either side-he isn't actu-
ally interfering in the details of the con
troversy He keeps on pointing out that
congress has created the labor board to
settle disputes and that both sides must
toe the mark and obey that board. Mr..
Harding has confidence in the integrity
and honesty and fair-mindedness of the
board and, believes public opinion Will
| follow its decisions.
The railway Brotherhood chiefs called
a strike in advance of a decision by the
board They took action largely because
the railroads announced that they would
| seek a second cut in wages. But there's
a vast difference between a request for a
| cut and the actual granting of the same.
| Mr. Harding feels that the calling of
strike is largely MISUNDERSTANDING
| fear of something that may or may not
materialize. The President is confident
that when the labor board formally calls
upon each side to behave. there will be
no more fiouting' of the authority of the
| railway board. The labor chiefs have
been watching to see whether the labor
board had any real power behind it,.
| When they saw the Pennasylvania rail-
road ignored the decisions of the board,
| they were prompted to do likewise. The
| remedy for the situation in the opinion
\ of the administration is to get back to
! fundamentalS-tO make both sides re-
spect the board. If that isn't accom-
piiShed. chaos comes once more into the
railway problem and no improvement will
have been made over the situation in
| 1913 when the AdamSOn law was forced
| through congress to avert strike. But
with the railway labor board made equal
1 in Importance to the Interstate Com
Il #TurrA boil
the end of strikes on American railways
| will be in sight. So long the board
regards itself as a judicial body and acts
/ without favor to either side, the public
| will come gradually to regard its word as
| final and strikes or lock-outS in defiance
| Of the boards decisions viii not be
/ deemed practicable by either side.
/ Even if the board should issue a ma
J iority and minority report, the views of
/ the majority will carry sufficient weight
to swing public opinion. Railway en-
| ployeS on the one hand would not as a
body defy such a report any more than
| stockholders of a railway would permit
executives to pursue a policy which IS
| against the verdict of the railway board.
| The rulings of the Interstate Commerce
commission and of the supreme court
of the United States are accepted without
challenge and il is the aim of the admin.
| istFation to add to the moral influence OF
the railway labor board so that its word
viii carry just as far.
Freight Reduction Coming
Incidentally. there's a reduction in
freight rates coming. The White House
can't say So officially, but every sign
II points to it. There are some cases
pending in the Interstate Commerce com
mission involving rates on hardwood
lumber. grain and grain products which
may remove a large part of the - per
cent increase granted last year. The
railroads have made voluntary cuts III
handling export grain, livestock, oil, and
building materials and it Is estimated
that practically all Of the S400,00O,O0O
wage cut will be offset by freight rate re-
ductiOnS within the next fortnight. Then
II it win be n question of whether the in
creased income of the railroads due to low
freight rates will enable them to take
care of their operating expenses OF
whether further wage cuts are necessary
in order that the roads may be run at q
| profit to their stockholders. Earnings OF
the roads have picked up in recent
months and one set of statistics Is busy
showing how the rule in wages made II
possible while another set argues that
the increased business the roads are do
ing really is responsible for the better
Il financial showing When rates are fur
Their reduced. it is expected that dlsln'
terested analysis will not have trouble IN
finding out which claim is correct Mean.
while a precedent has been established
by President Harding in bringing the
United States Labor Board into confer
ence informally with the Interstate Com.
merce commission. 1t breaks the ice, and
makes it possible to have further con
ferences 1t will be noted that only the
members of the public group of the rail
road labor board visited the Interstate
Commerce commission as the railway ane
labor representatives respectively were
excluded. The Importance of the steT
is that in the hereafter there will be con
slant link between the two agencies so that
cuts in wages may be related to adjust
ments in the income of railroads from
|