The Connecticut labor news., 1921-10-21
SUGGESTIONS OFFERED BY LABOR
 NOT ACTED ON BY CONFERENCE SO MINORITY REPORT IS FILED
Object to Clause in Majority Report that '*Work- ers Are Trying to Exploit Country-Rail- road Situation Brought Up Before Non Union Meeting Makes for Feeling
 That Is Not Recognized

lNaoul SS PlOpOStu DN the OOmmlttc
 on Manufactures of the President
 Onenployment Conference was pre-
 sented to the Conference on the fina
 day ot its sessions here over the
 signatures Ot Samuel GOmDcrs. pres
 ldent of the American Federation O.
 Labor; Sara A. Conbov, secretary O
 the United Textile Workers o
 America; and Roy Dickinson, asso-
 clate editor of Printers Ink, New
 York City.
 lnasmuch as only unanimous com
 mittee reports were taken up by the
 Conference tor action, this minority
 report, as we'll as the majority report
 from which it disscntcd, was merely
 presented to the Conference and not
 acted upon. This was the case with
 number of other reports which came
 to the Conference without unanimous
 committee report.
 The report signed by MT. Gompcrs.
 Mrs. Conboy, and MT. Dickinson is
 as follows:
 Although the undersigned consti-
 tute a minority of the members of
 the Committee on Manufactures in this Unemployment Conference, they can not by any stretch of the imag- lnation be regarded as representing minority of the citizenship involved
 
 We dissent from the conclusions and decisions reached by the major 1ty of the members of our commit
 tee, and submit for consideration a Dr1et statement of the reasons for our inability to agree with the ma jority report
 The third preamble is so cntvined with proposals that one cannot dis cern where "Whercas" ends and reso- lutlons begin. The third whereas or preamble IS artfuly wordcd and in 1 tended to imply that business men are now selling at a loss and that the l profits and interests have been de hated, and that the only factor that | remains for reduction is the wage earner ln his wages, a matter with 1 which we shall deal later in this re- port
 On the recommendation for the re- peal by Congress of the so-called 1 Adamson law, attention is called to the fact that wholly apart from, in dependent of and prior to the decis- ions ot the Supreme Court of the United States declaring the Adamson law constitutional and before it's pro- visions were put into operation by rdliroad arrangements, a voluntary agreement had been reached between the presidents of the railroad com panies and the chief executive officers ot the railroad brotherhoods repre- senting the employees in the railroad service, negotiated and endorsed by a 1 commlSs1on ot four citizens appoint ed by the President of the United , States, by which agreement the eight f hour work day was established in inc railroad service of our country. The 7 recommendation for the repeal of the ( Adamson law can only be interpreted I as an effort 10 break down the prin- r ciple ot the eight hour workday. Ii would hardly seem necessary I mat III thIs enlightened period there { need be made any statement in st1D L port of the eight-hour workdav as e measure tor protecting and promot- ing the health and welfare of the cm- D ployes and protecting the life. limb. Il and property of the public. W The proposal of the committee ma d Iorlty tor the abolition of the Rail O way Labor Board established under e he ESch-Cummins law upon which c aoor has or IS supposed to have rep ,esentat1on ot persons of their own s, choosing, would remove the only re- d 'PonS1ble governmental agency to al "h1ch the workers may present for W consideration and action their claims D.
 
 mployment ot While we agree with the decIara- D, lon that waste III industry and tran to portat1on (more than 50 per cent. of o1 Vt1ch has, by competent engineers. 1 hs een alIocated to capital and manage ly nent) should be eliminated and that la cooperation of workers and manage w aeht IS necessary 10 accomplish this TT urPose, the attempt of the majority m i the committee to place the wage WI arners ot our country, human beins. gr l the same categorical position as DC business" and Transportation" is tic ased upon the assumption that men ge nd women, human beings, are in the co anne category as commodities or ar da cles of commerce to be weighed. leasured, bought and sold in the of tme manner as commodities or tn, -t1cleS of commerce. hi. The statement by the author of the err solution was that this conference we I'd the citizenship of the country of lould condemn and denounce any of on the part of railroad en1- of oyes-the men engaged in the rail ma 'ad service-should they resist wage SUI ductions. From this we most en- orc dissent. for The statement of the committee Re- ajority that. "every element in our cha -izenship should frankly set it's face sto alnst any group whether in aeri cm lture, business, labor, or transpor- I ton that selfshly undertakes to re- ma t necessary economic adjustment sta any narrow endeavor to protect it's ing rsonal interests at the expense of ket 2 permanent betterment of our na- uni nal life" is vague and indefinite but bas dently is intended to imply that tf1e cen rkers (mistakenly called "1aborO cap , seeking selhshly to promote their hay erests by narrow endeavor. whi We dissent from this point mo1 Every thinking person, freed from incl -ely selfish gain, understands that of D uctlon of the earning power of the T rking people is most injurious to con whole people, economically, in that trially, commercially and socially. dea, Iced, the declarations unanimously fact 'pted by this Unemployment Con- suff ence at it's meeting on September nor urged the people of our country W make purchases of commodities dati the fullest extent of their means 1ievt the purpose of reviving industry iron business so as to give work to the unemployed. If low wage is w