The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-24
BLAME FOR TIE-UP PLACED ON BOARD
 BY UNION CHIEFS
Stone Declares Brotherhoods Never Desirous of Being Parties to Precipitating
 Cessation of Service
By Associated rress

sibility for the nationwide e~ railroad strike scheduled to begin next Sun day morning, was placed on the and the carriers in statement is- sued here today. This, and the an nouncement thai all the general chairmen of the '''big fivep brother hoods. numbering about 600 men. also have been cited to appear be- fore the board in Chicago wednes- say, featured today's strike develop ments hero.
 The attitude of the union chiefs was explained following conference of four of the "big five" leaders to- day In statement by Warren s. stone, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. in which the chiefs reiterate their hope that solution acceptable to the employees may yet be found.
 ] It was indicated that tho state meut may be regarded as an outline of the stand the labor leaders will take when they appear with the ex- eeutives of the railroads before the labor board.
 Statement Ny stone The statement follows:
 with regard to the position of the employees Of the railroads at this tipe, we can only say that their rep resentatives are patiently awaiting ifor any developments that woagd ap- pear to offer solution of the sit. uation that confronts us,
 We are not now. nor have we ever been, desirous of being party to pre- cipitating strike, but when 1t is quite apparent that the railroads pro- pose to not only reduce wages but to take from these employees practic- cally all the conditions of service that have been maintained for many years, and the railroad labor board is unable, or fails to give us any assurances that the interests of the employees will be protected from such onslaughts by the interests that con trol the transportation lines of our country, nothing is leftwfor the em- | ployes but to stand on their con stitutional rights to retire from the service of these carriers.
 "yve are advised through the news papers that the interstate commerce commission has authorized consid- erable reduction in freight rates.
 "Notwithstanding the fact that wages of the railroad employees have been reduced 12 per cent since July tl, there was no talk about reducr ton of freight rates until this crisis arose. Now the railroads are at tempting to gain the sympathy of the public in this crisis by this late reduction of rates.
 "The public never would have re- oeived this reduction with the con sent of the railroads had the rNl- roads not been confronted with tfiis emergency
 Besides MT. Stone, others attend ! ing today's confereqce were w, Lee. president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. l.. E. Sheppard, president of the Order oG R2ilway Conductors, and W. S Carter. presi- dent of the Brotherhood of Locomo- tive Firemsn and Enginemen. T, I. Cashen, president of tho Switchmen Union of North America. the other member of the @big five" s expected 10 arrive here tomorrow and attend future conferences of the chiefs.
 Diseuss southern Honds
 The establishment of open shop conditions on the Fremont and Gulf railroad and tie strike at noon yes terday of trainmen on the lnterna- ttonal and Great Northern railroad were under discussion at today's con- ference. but none of the chiefs would comment on the situation on these roads. President Lee. however stated that he had received reports from his general chairman on the International and Great Northern that practically 100 per cent of the trainmen had auit the service.
 One of the subordinate leaders, however. said that if 1t IS correctly reported that the men on the Ire mont and Gulf railroad have accept ed open shop conditions it is due to the fact that they are few Tn mum Der and have little hope of their re- sistance being successful. They in-' timated that the Fremont and Gulf situation will be brought ito the at tention of the railroad labor board when it meets in Chicago Wednes- day.
 It was learned that the chiefs have received telegrams from a large number of general chairmen Of the five organizations reporting that they had been cited by the railroad tdDOT pOhtd u f to dPPce*h RtAVt t4. 'hat body in Chicago Wednesday. With the approximately 500 general chair men. the five chief executives of the brotherhoods with their vice presi- dents and other grand officers, to- gether with the 200 railroad execu- tiyes, It was said approximately 1000 officials of the unions and of the railroads have been cited to ap- pear.
 Comment on shop Crafts
 President Sheppard of the conduc- tors, commenting today on the ac- tion of the shop crafts tn voting against Joining the strike. said: T do not construe their action to be break with the brotherhoods They are probabaiy reserving to themselves the right to take action in the matter in their own way and pursuing their own tactics'
 President Lee Of the trainmen to- day issued statement on the Thu
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