New-York tribune., 1921-01-28
Chicago Conference To-
day Expected to Bring
Attitude of Roads to
Labor Boards Attention
Demand Likely to
Come i'm 80 Davs
Officials of Transporter
ton Companies and En-
ployees Have Data Ready
Special Dispatch to The Tribune


general reduction of railway wages is
expected to be made within thirty days
by the railroads of the country to the
United States Railroad Labor Board.
The labor committee of the American
Association of Railway Executives, of
which w. W. Atterbury, of the .Pennsyl-
vania system, is chairman, will hold
conference on the matter to-day.
The labor committee acts only in an
advisory capacity, but it's decisions are
accepted by the executives. 1t is pre-
dicted that the committee will formu-
late detailed substitute for the pres
ent wage scale, which was drafted by
the United States Railroad Labor Board
a year ago.
The executives petition for reduc.
tion will be based. it is said. on asser~
tions that the railroads of the country
are not earning the 6 per cent guaran-
teed by the transportation act and that
the rates cannot safely be advanced;
that expenses other than wages have
teen cut to minimum; that wages,
generally increased 120 per cent since
the passage of the Adamson eight-hour
law, are responsible for a major part
OF the rise in operating costs, end that
the necessity which gave birth to the
present scale has been removed by de-
creases in the cost of living.
0norofirr, Co.< ,uy.,x ~.
Operating expenses. according to the
executives, have increased from SO. 3.100.-
100000 to nearly $4,000, ooo, 900 a year.
Almost two-thirds of this increase J.,
the result. of higher wages, they saw
In 1914 the railroads of the country
paid $i,337,0 900 900 to 100000 en-
ployees. At present the same roads
are paying So 3600,0OO.00O to less than
100000 workers, the executives say.
MANY railroads are in bad financial
condition." declared Samuel O. Dunn.
advisory counsel to the Association of
Railway Executives, to-day. 'This is
due to decline in business and failure
of the rates to earn the revenue ex-
pected. Railroads during September,
October and November, 1920. when they
did their heaviest business. failed to
earn the large net returns expected
The roads have made reductions in
their forces made necessary by the de-
cline in business. They are operating
as economically as possible, and they
hnd no way out except to reduce the
payroll. Beginning with November
there has been a decline in business
until the freight movement now is less
than two-thirds what it was three
months ago. Apparently there is no
way out except to reduce wages"
Brotherhoods Silent
brotherhood officials would not in
d:cste the tactics likely to be en-
plcy in resisting the executives
move for lower wages. Some observers
saw clew, however, in a statement
issued by w. S. Carter, president of
the Railway Firemen, in response to
the recent request of the Atlanta
Birmingham G. Atlantic Railroad for
permission to cut wages.
Mr.. Carter said that if the railroad
persists in its efforts to have wages
tion of the company's books. An in
quiry, he said, would reveal Financial
ircompetency paralleling that which
brought about the New Haven scandal
some years ago"
AS an immediate answer to this
roads petition, the brotherhood chiefs
have called the labor wage boards at
tention to an alleged violation of the
transportation act. Before fling its
petition the railroad posted notices of
~ impending cut in wages. By SO
doing, the brotherhood leaders say,
the lailroad officials put themselves
in the position of employees who
strike without submitting their griev
ances to the Federal board
Wages Cut Held Up
The board already has ruled that
employees who strike without resort
ing to arbitration are violators Of the
law. 1t will pass on the status of the
railroad company tomorrow.
The board to-day ordered the At
lanta, Birmingham & Atlantic Railroad
to rescind its notices of wage reduc-
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