The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1921-05-06
j: =
FOR RAJ. loads
jewell declares Proposed Cut
is Not Jll' titled.
ASKS D|SNI]<> Il CT CASE

Tells Railway Labor Beard Wage
Award Should Net Be i,iG!s Before
New Acr. en7cnts Are Negotiated.
Chicago. May 6.-SumrIr@ up the
entire testimony If The railway IN,
ions atiI:;, rd with the American ted-
Grafton of l.ahcr, Il. NJ. Jewell, lead
of the organization. declared there
was no Jlstiti"a.ion for reduction of
railway workers wages and moved
that the wage reduction case now
before the railroad labor board he
dismissed.
Jewell consumed six hours in pre-
senting Il comprehensive review 81
the charges made by the employee; nt
inetticiency and financial misma'A""-
ment on the part of the rajlrnH;S
the employees statistics on living :; ,
and human standards Of l!vi::.- and
the unions rebuttal to the carriers
data on wages in otE>r indus. RES AL
the cost OF living.
None of the ev dence introduced
by the railroads would justify W. g"
cut by the board, Jewell commended.
declaring that "any argument of re.
duced living costs Is Fundamentally
unSOund." The only fair basis for
a wage award. he said, was on an
"Amprican standard of living" rpitcr-
ating the employees stand that any
reduction now would reduce the wt"e :
Of unSkilled labOrers to bare sub
SiStence.
The attitude which should guide
the board in its decision" jewell 81 q,
rs that any decline in prices now
should be looked upon merely as com.
.npnsati0n for the losses sustained by
the employees during the war when
wages failed to keep pace with the
cost of living"
Jewell also declared that no Wa%"
decision could rightly he made UntI
the rules controversy, now pending
before the board and referred TO tie
individual roads for negotiations. WIS
thraShed out and an agreement reach
ed. 10 establish rev wage schef
ule before new agreements are neg1-
tiated would preclude the possibility
of ,eaching any agreement" Jewell
said Such a decision. he added.
would provoke tie employees anew
and perpetuate strife and M nd|r-
standing"
Negotiations now in progress on
new working agreements to take the
of Ky I:N hI
the board, could never result in IN
agreement before tile day of iudg-
ment." jewell declared, if new wage
schedules are established now and at
tempts are made to negotiate the new
agreements on the basis IF Il reduced
wage.
I'VE submit" Jewell said. that the
board cannot make an intelligent and
full decision as to wage rates except
it reatfirms the prevailing rates, until
the new agreements have been fixed
and promulgated.
"1he reason for this is obvious.
Neither carriers nor employees can
know what wage schedules mean or
amount to until they know the rules
by which those schedules are to be
applied We must have our yard
stick before we can measure our
CLOTH Manifestly rail workers can
not be expected or asked to accept
wage schedule when they have no
means of knowing exactly how much
they are to receive under that sched-
uIe. 1t is equally manifest, also, that
to establish a new wage schedule be-
fore the new agreements are negotf-
ated would preclude the possibility of
our reaching any agreement through
those negotiations.
For this board TO make a decision
in this case, unless that decision be
to reatfirm existing schedules, before
working out new agreements, would
be to provoke the employees anew and
to perpetuate strife and misunder-
standing"