The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1921-02-16
U. 5. Railroad Labor Board
Asked to Stop Payments for
Work Not Done.
WOULD SAVE S3OO,OOO,O00
Lower Cost of Service Can Be Secured
Only by Cutting Expense,
Atterbury Says.

prevailing under present working rules
and conditions. General w. w. After
bury, vice president of the Pennsyl-
vania railroad, in a statement to the
board In session at Chicago, said In
part:
Many railroads are not now earning,
and with present operating costs and
traffic have no prospect Of earning,
even their bare operating expenses,
leaving them without any net return
and unable to meet their fixed charges.
The emergency presented can be met
either By an advance in freight and
passenger rates, or by reduction in
operating expenses
With declining prices and wages in |
industry and agriculture, the country |
demands that the soIvency of the rail |
roads must be assured by reduction
In operating expenses, and not by al
further advance of rates.
The National Agreements, rules and
working conditions forced on the rail
roads as war measures cause gross
waite and ineiiiciency.
Would Save s3oO,COOoOo
l estimate that the elimination OF
this waste would reduce railway Op
Grating expenses at least $3O0000.000
1t would be far better to save this sun
by restoring conditions of efficient and
economical operation than to reduce
wages.
We believe that as the wages Of rail
road employees were the last to go VI
they should also be the last to come
| down, but we do insist that for an am
| pie wage an honest days work shall
be given. The public has the right tC
insist that this must be obtained.
The public has also the right to ex.
! pect that the railway executives. with
the cooperation of the regulatory
bodies and the employees. will as rap.
idly as possible reduce the cost of rail
way operation so as to insure eventual
Iy reduction In rates. Ultimately q
reimbursement Of basic wages will be
required. Meantime it is to the inter.
csts Of all concerned, including labor
that the rules and working conditions
shall be made conducive to the highest
efficiency In output per man.
Losses In Income IrreparabIe
When wages have been too low the
harm done has been offset by retrOac
tive increases. Losses Of railway net
operating income are irreparable Yor
cannot make retroactive tomorrow the
savings that should have been made
today.
The board cannot possibly write the
rules and working conditions Of every
railroad in this country and adjus
them equitably to varying geograph
zeal, operating and social conditions.
1t rests entirely with the board Il
determine whether this whole situa
ton shall drift into chaos, and or
derby procedure become impossible ex
cept at the price of railroad bank
ruptcy, financial shock and still wide
unemployment.
The Labor Board can prevent thi.
catastrophe by declaring that the Ma
tlonaI agreements, rules and workin,
conditions coming over from the wa
period are terminated at once; tina
the question of reasonable and eco
nomical rules and working condition
shall be remanded to negotiations be
tween each carrier and its own EN-
ployees; and that as the basis for sucl
negotiations, the agreements. rules
and working conditions In effect ol
each railroad as of December, 81, 1917
shall be re-established.
: If the board will do this, the Labo
Committee of the Association of Rail
' way Executives will urge upon ev
2 cry railroad company a party to De
cision No. 2, that no proposal 70
the reduction of basic wages shall b
made within the next succeeding nine
. ty days. This will afford an oppol
: tunity to gauge the economies whic
S can be accomplished through NOR
o efficient rules and working condition.
e 1t also win afford additional tim
in which to realize the benefits Of
4 further decline I'm the cost of living.
r Relief Imperative and Equitable
The course which we are recon
6 mending is not only imperative bu
q equitable.
! The War Labor Board declared ths
the war period was an interregnum, I
be used neither by employer nor en-
ployee for the purpose of betterin
L or impairing fhe position of either.
To perpetuate as the normal rul'
re and working conditions on the raj
o roads, the extraordinary provisions {
!. the war period Is distinct violati0
of all promises. The war has no
n been over more than two years II
K time has come when, II the rallsva,
10 are 20 be efficiently and economical
Sc operated, in accordance with the pr
l. visions Of the Transportation act, no
n mai conditions Of employment and
n working condssiossB nnssst be restoEs
AZ and Increased efficiency Of labor
secured.