The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1921-10-21
RATE CUT URGED
TO BALk STRIKE
Public Group of Rail Labor
Board Suggests Carriers
Be First to Act.

Be First to Act.
Washington. Oct 16--Immediate
translation of the reduction authoriz-
ed last July in wages of railroad en-
ployes into reduced freight rates. was
suggested by the public group of the
Railroad Labor Board tonight as
zone feasible plan by which the pres
ent controversy can be settled and a
strike averted."
"If the railroads will act imme-
diately, in good faith, adopt this sug-
gestion, the public group said in the
first statement issued since arrivs. in
Washington the sjtlat lion can Be
cleared up, freight rates reduced 70
shippers, the cost Of liyins reduced to
consumers, and stimulating effect
sxerted on all business"
Under the plan suggested by the
public group. the railroads would
withdraw their request tor further
wage reductions until freight reduc-
tons have been completed and pend
ing action of the Board on such petit
ton for further reduction as the
carriers may subsequently submit"
the unions would withdraw the strike
order.
Based ON Atterbury Statement.
The suggestion of the public group
for a settlement of the controversy
was based, the statement said, on one
out forward by w. w. Atterbury,
vice president of the Pennsylvania
Railroad, before a convention in Chi
cago Friday.
Immediate reductions in freight
rates. 1t was asserted, would trend to
the benefit of the railroad employees
and would constitute one of the
statutory grounds for a further re-
iuction in wages" while, through re-
iuction of the cost of material, it
would to that extent relieve the rail-
roads of the necessity of relying
solely on wage cuts for reduction
of their operating expenses"
The statement which was given out
by Ben w Hooper, member of the
group, who said it was drafted by the
entire membership, follows:
n..I.rs.. n....s,.. H. I,..,.,.o
Cup until Friday. there was but
little. if any, danger of a railroad
strike. This fact is we'll known to
every man in close touch with the
real situation. The railway work
ers would have brought down upon
their heads universal condemnation
for resisting by force a wage cut so
manifestly just and reasonable as
that made in July. 1t may likewise
be said that it remains to be seen
whether the issuance of a strike or
der merely because petition for a
wage reduction is about to be filed
will be sustained by public opinion.
1.-THE Railroad Labor Board has
functioned for more than eighteen
months, settling hundreds of contro-
versies between carriers and their
employees, and its decisions, with but
few exceptions. have been respected
by both sides. There would have
been a strike long ago, if the two
parties had undertaken to settle with
out Intervention or supervision of
the manifold disputes they inherited
from the war period.
There is absolutely nothing in ex-
listing conditions that justifies the
carriers and their employees in in
flicting the ruinous results of strike
or themselves and on the public.
There is no AMOUNT of propaganda
that can convince the people that
either side IA entirely blameiess
Received Further Benefits.
"On the frs: day of July, the Rail
road Labor Board made effective a
decision which reduced the wages of
railway employees IL er cent, aggre-
eating about s400,000.000 per an
mum, basing the estimate on the nor
NAL number Of employees. Since then
by a revision of only part of the
working rules of only one class of
employees, the carriers have received
further benefits, amounting to many
millions of dollars.
Friday the carriers notified the
employees they would ask the Labor
Board for a further wage cut of 10
per cent, at the same time assuring
the public that the shippers and the
people would have the benefit of this
wage reduction in the form of reduc-
ed freight rates.
ITO this proposition hte employees
reply that no general reduction OF
freight rates followed the $40 ,000,-
900 wage reduction of July 1; that
the cost of living has not been suffi-