The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-01
400 MILLIONS ID
 BE SLASHED FROM
 ROAD WAGE BILL
Order Cutting Wages 12 Per Cent, Effective July 1, Will Be Handed Down by
 Board Today
Nv Associated Press


 four hundred million dollars will bs slashed from the nations railway wage bill when an order cutting wages an average of 12 per cent, to be hand ed down tomorrow by the United States railroad labor board, becomes effective July 1. The order affects members of 31 labor organizations, employed on 104 railroads. While the decrease is specifically ap- piled only to the roads whose cases have been heard by the board, the de- | cision says it may later be applied to any other road asking hearing under the provisions of the Esch- Cummins transportation act.
 Percentages of reductions computed craze of 12 per cent. and the same source estimated the annual reduction In wages at approximately s40o,oO0,- 900.
 The decision grants reductions varys ing from 5 to 13 cents an hour, or from to Is per cent, and in ths case of section laborers. completely wipes out the increase granted that class of employees by the s6o0.000,o0o wage award of July 20, 1921. For the section men the reduction was approx imately IS per cent. Switchmen ana shop crafts were given per cent reduction. while the train service men were cut approximately per cent. Car repairers were cut about 10 per cent.
 Common Labor Hit Hardest.
 Common labor pay, over which ths railroads made their hardest fight, is to be reduced to Sia cents an hour. cutting freight truckers average monthly wages to $97. 10 and track lsborers to SIT IL This new schedule gives section men an average daily wage of s3. .02 for an eight-hour day; although considerable testimony or- fered by the roads, particularly in tho south, showed common labor wages as low as s1 50 for a 10-hour day.
 Shop crafts employees and train ana engine service men, except those in pa ssenger service, are reduced cents an hour. Construction and section foremen are reduced 10 cents an hour.
 Passenger and freight engineers who were given increases of 10 and ls IEtIilS LII lOuI III jjAV dWdIu <lS to PO cut : and cents an hour respectively, | Passenger and freight conductors, who received increases of 12t2 and 1S cents | in 1920, are cut [ F and s cents respec- lively ty the new schedule. Train dispatchers and yardmastcrs whose monthly earnings at present av- craze $26O to s27o are cut 8 cents an hour.
 Office Boys Favored. The smallest reduction will apply to office boys and other employees under IS years of age who receive cents an hour less after July 1. Clerks are reclassifed so that enter ing clerks, usually young men ana women of IS to 20 years of age, will receive a monthly salary of s67 50 for the first six months and s77 50 for the second six months of service Clerks with less than one years experience now receive $40.
 A new monthly schedule for floating equipment employees on Ferries, tugs and steam lighters gives captains s2OO: engineers s1s0; firemen and oilers $40. On lighters and barges, captains witt receive s120 to s150; engineers s140 to s1 co and mates s100.
 The attitude of the railway unions toward the decreases ordered remains to be determined. The big brother hoods are expected to meet here July 1, to consider the boards decision. which is effective on that date.
 Claiming they were hard hit by the winter slump in business, railroad managements have been clamoring for several months for lower wages and the decision tomorrow will mark tho first relief granted by the board since it set the advance scale more than ten months ago.
 Living Costs Lower.
 The decision tomorrow will say that since the 1920 wage awsrd there has been a decrease in the cost of living and "the scale of wages for sfn1ilar kinds of work in other industries has in general been decreased" These two points were chief contentious of the railroads before the board. Testimony was offered in the hearing which be- gan April IS, and ended May Is, to show reductions of 20 to 50 per cent in the cost of food and clothing. Vary ing reductions in wages, mostly for, common labor were also cited by th9 carriers The board believes" the decision says that, based on the ele- ment. shown, the decreases fixed ars justified and required"
 ''Whatever may be said as to the origin or contributing causes. there has been and is a marked depression in industry, affecting the entire coun- try and some lines of production mos. seriously" the board says. "As a re- suit. heavy financial losses have been suffered and many hundreds of thou sands thrown out of employment and deprived of all wages. and this loss of purchasing power by them has ac- tolerated the general depression by re. ducing the demand for the products they would otherwise have purchased. While it has been argued that the fall in prices has not reached to any largo extent the consumer, it has without question most disastrously reached and affected the producers, especially some lines of manufacture and the ag- ricf1lturaI asses s."