davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10

Toward the end of the year, however,
market conditions appeared to indicate
the accumulation of excessive stocks,
and the crash in metal prices during
October, November and December
showed the desire Of holders to unload.
The fall in silver prices began in Jan
uary and was accelerated in October.
The severe price decline has resulted
in the recent closing of number of
mining operations, with the consequent
labor unemployment involved. Some
of these must perforce remain closed
or work at part capacity until exhaus-
ton of :. accumulated stocks restores
the market demand, or higher prices,
or until the operators are able to re-
duce costs of production to the point
OF successfully meeting prevailing
prices.
1t is not intended to discuss here
the probable effect of the -year-end
price decline and economic depression
upon the mineral output during the
coming year, but the hope may be ex-
pressed that it will rapidly be followed
by an industrial activity based upon
more healthy conditions Of price and
profit. While Canada has her domestic
problems in respect to supplies of iron
and petroleum and distribution of coal
the great basic factors of her enormous
mineralized areas, her great known re-
sources in coal, nickel, copper, gold,
zinc, asbestos and other metals and
products too numerous to specify, and
her infinitely greater latent possibili-
ties should never be lost sight of.
These will continue to form the basis
Of industry and of national develop
ment ever growing in extent and accel-
Grated with increasing knowledge Of
better methods OF recovery and use.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10

iAJ tne recent nearing before the
Railroad Labor Board there were thir-
teen other unions represented besides
the four brotherhoods. These thir-
teen other unions and many others
with smaller membership are affil-
lated with the American Federation of
Labor and are under the direction of
3. NJ. Jewel, representing the railway
employees section of the American
Federation. In addition there is a
comparatively new but extensive or
ganization called the Federation of
Railroad Workers. This organization
AIMS at establishing one universal
rsilroad union, TO include any one
from division superintendent down to
d track iaborer.
The brotherhoods have been cstab-
i:Shed for many years. The Brother
hood Of Locomotive Engineers and the
order of Railway Conductors are more
than forty years old and the Brother
hood of Locomotive Fircmen and En-
einemen and Brotherhood of Railroad
irainmen are only of a little more
recent origin Each OF these four
brotherhoods, while having a national
organization Of its own. has a local
organization on each railroad which
Geals with that road individually.
Furthermore, each local brotherhood
organization is left free to make what
ever contract as to wages and condi-
tons Of work it sees fit, with the
railroad on which it is located. The
head of the local organization has the
title OF Grand Master. and is elected
annually by the members of the broth
erhood on the road. This election is
not subject TO veto by the national
organization OF the brotherhood.
While this man serves as general
chairman, he is paid a salary by the
local brother pod organization. He
gives up his entire time to this work
and travels extensively. He gets a
leave Of absence during this time from
the railroad company and retains his
seniority rights in the railroad COM
panys employment. When successor
J elected the man returns to his Job
Of enginoman, fireman or conductor. as
the case may be.
Each of the brotherhoods is more
than a mere labor union association
formed purely to deal with contro-
versies with employees and manage
ments. 1t is in practice a fraternal
order, which has some social signiG-
canoe and which affords members in
Surance and other benefits. Further
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
Neic England Group

One more matter of ADM nistrativs
discretion in connection with rate
making. The commission might well
consider the setting up of a separate
rate group for the New England roads
with view to a specific study of their
peculiar problems. The absorption Of
New England into the large territory
of the North and East has thus ftr
worked to the serious disadvantage Of
that section.
OF equal Importance with the rate
provisions of the act are those relating
TO labor. The law in this respect was
4 compromise between those who would
have had compulsory arbitration and
those who would have continued the
machinery of war time. with its b.
partisan Cancellation boards and It's
national agreements.
Machinery was provided for volun-
tary adjustment with a national board
to hear appeals. Failure in large meas
ure OF voluntary procedure TO function
successfully has thrown upon the Kali
road Labor Board mass OF contro-
versies In which it seems now to he
buried. VIII it dig its way out ia
tune to be Of real service, and is II pro
ceedlng, as the law requires" with due
diligence? One is compelled to cor
clude that on the whole it is doing as
we'll as could be expected. The tasS
thrown upon this inexperienced boarc'
which has had to work out its own
methods OF procedure and its PRIV
ciples of action, has been enormous.
In its first three months it had 10
render decision on wage increases IN,
volving over $500, 100000 year. ana
the emergency of this decision was 50
great that the President publicly re-
quested a speedy conclusion. To con-
ply with his request it was necessary
to defer action on many questions o.
Importance that have occupied the
board since, of which the problem Of
national agreements is the most tuh'
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10

condition of the industry is reflected
in the reduced rate of dividends paid
curing the first quarter of the YounRs-
town Sheet and Tube Company, the
Brier Hill Steel Company and the
Trumbull Steel Company. That this
condition prevails throughout the in
dustry is manifest from financial re-
ports made by other large independent
interests.
Before there can be any revival of
trade there must be a readjustment Of
railroad rates, states President James
A. Campbell, Of the Youngstown Sheet
and Tube Company. This, with the
liquidation of wage rates and reduction
of prices by the retailer, is necessary
to bring about steady business condi-
tions. Mr.. Campbell believes Congress
should take action to enable the car
riers to readjust their rates.
CAS- the conditions are now" he
states, "the farmer is unable to get his
produce to the market and sell at a
price that would pay him to produce it.
When he is selling wheat in Chicago
for S1.5O it isn't netting him 81 because
Of the high freight rates. The same is
true of cattle and everything else the
farmer sells. He is compelled to pay
high price for the commodities he
buys and must suffer from the high
freight rates on his farm products.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10

a NEW industrial Germany re-
~ sulting from the deprecated
value of the German mark in
foreign exchange, with a consequent
influence on British international
policy, and to some extent upon our
own. is foreseen by Irving T. Bush,
president of the Bush Terminal Com
pany, who recently returned from d
trip to England, France and Italy.
In Mr. Bush's opinion Germany is
striving necessarily 20 regain as much
as possible of her former position in
International trade. In this she is
aided by the position of the mark,
which gives her great advantage in
making low selling prices and by low
wages, due mostly TO a Willingness on
the part of laboring classes to work
harder than those in most other Euro
pean countries. This is due to the
relatively better position the German
workingman finds himself in after suf-
fering war prvations.
There lis no gainsaying the fac
that Germany, right now, is in an en-
viable position to enter upon an ex
panding world trade policy" said Mr.
Bush "Signs Of keen German compe
ttion are visible in England particu-
larry, and in almost all other countries
OF the world.
mot only is Germany competing
with England in the British home
markets. but in the worlds markets as
we'll. This puts England up against d
new problem. On the higher British
wage scale-not only high compared
with Germany, but extremely high
compared with the pre-war scale--Eng-
land cannot compete in price as for
merly in the worlds markets. British
labor is strong-strong enough to pre-
vent return to the old prewar basis
of wages i'll relation to the cost of liv-
ing, and English manufacturers them
selves do not desire a return to that
basis
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
formed by the representative of the
American federation.

formed by the representative of the
American federation.
The four brotherhoods, when the
original Order 27, the McAdoo wage
award, as it was called, was pro-
mulgated, viewed the increases that
were handed out to the lower. paid
employees as more or less just ar
rangement and made no bitter COM
plant that they did not share in
them. When, however, various ad-
justments, in the form Of supplemental
wages or the car knocker, or, to put it
more elegantly, the car inspector--the
man who couples the baggage car on
to the locomotive and who taps the
axle boxes to guard against cracke
aXles--was given moro money for his
days work than the enginemen of the
seventy-car freight train who handled
100000 pound Mallett locomotive, the
brotherhoods demanded an increase in
their pay.
There is a wide difference Ct opinion
among railroad officers and among
railroad employees themselves as to
whether the brotherhoods are over
paid at the present rates and
under present working conditions
Since, of course, each railroad. has
ITS own individual agreements. Of
hcers on one road may be right in
tt linking that they are paying the
baotherhoods too much, and officers on
mother road are right also in thinking
OH the whole the brotherhood schedules
on that road are fair There is one
consideration that is Of Importance
A locomotive engineer has spent at
least five years in learning trade
which is SO distinct from any other
form of employ ment that he has closed
against himself other kinds of work
progress made in five years. As SaS mat at.
ter of fact, with the great majority of
ren once locomotive engineer always
a locomotive engineer. In this work,
as in any other, there arc the excep-
tons who step from employee to Off
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
Unable to Agree

The present critical situation ms
thrown upon the board multitude q
reductions in which agreement locaNy
has not been obtained The machinery
of wage adjustment is apparently cum
brous. 1t certainly is not yet workihs
smoothly. 1t has not as close ana ~
hercnt relation to the commissiV,1I
that controls the revenues as 1t shousa
have. But it is entitled to the oppoi-
tunity to demonstrate clearly its fitness
for it's job. The time is not yet l0l
scrapping it,
Unfortunately, there is nothing, -
the statistics of the operating sh.
alton that can give one feeling =.
great optimism. Reports for $50 tiasss
/ roads for February show a deiicit 9.
$4,250,0 600 in net income. There Is ~
actual decline OF Ak per cent in grcs'
revenue, as compared with year ass
notwithstanding the increase in ra.es
last August. Complete reports ios
January show that more than hall =.
the roads failed TO earn their expenses
and taxes. More recent car service nk'
ures tell the same story. Car loaa'ass
figures for the week of March ~ snosss
continuance Of the decline, via :
falling off of 10000 cars from the pre-
vious week, but this was almost eA'
tirely in coal.
There has been an uninterrupted -,
vance in the number Of idle frsigas
cars since .thes heritage changed 70 :
surplus last November, and the ias
week reported, that of March %, skors
q total surplus of 459,4ll cars, rs
largest number of idle cars in the n's'
tory OF American railroads.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
resent hardship

cordingly and the present hardship
would be removed.
another thing which must come
about Is reduction in the prices
charged by the retailer. For the last
five years the retailer has experienced
an era Of prosperity never before
known
Nov that employment has been re-
duced to one third or less he should
mark his goods down. ! am int res ted
IN retail store, so that know what
Inc conditions are and what can be
done. have urged our store to take
this stand and sell as closely as pos
sble. p0'
II think the United States Steel Cor
poration will readjust its wages.
There is no reason why the leading in
terest should not have done this long
before. The delay has caused others to
keep up wages and has created an I'M
balanced state Of affairs that should
not exist.
Wages must be liquidated as we'll
as prices, and this must come in all
trades.
Il think Congress will take the
necessary action along this line. 1t
should 40 it before considering the
tariff. That will come next, but what
we want is some action that will put
the people back to work at once"
Fiuctuatlon in operating schedules
OF district iron and steel producers in
dlcates the uncertain state of steel
buying. On the whole, there seems to
be an improved tone, however. Most
Of the makers in this territory say
their March sales showed substantial
gains over those in February, and
prospects are that April will be still
better.
Only six blast furnaces are pouring
IN the MahotlinH Valley at this time,
out OF twenty-five, the lowest point in
years, but it is believed that it marks
the bottom of decline.
With the closing this week of the
blast furnace of the Stewart Furnace
Company. every stack in the Sharon
district between West Middlesex and
Sharpsville is idle. There are four
teen furnaces out Of blast as follows
Two at West Middlesex, three in Far
VILE. This is the first time in many
years that all of the furnaces have been
idle at the same time.
Announcement also is made that the
sheet mill of the American Sheet and
Ilnplate Company at Farrell will close
the last of this week for an indefinite
period. The tinplate works of the
same company will also close next week
for an indefinite period. About 5000
men will be affected by the shutdowns.
When these plants suspend opera
ions every department of the United
States Steel Corporation in Farrell and
sharon, with the exception of the Far
rell Works of the American Steel and
Wire Company, will be idle. The
plants when operating at normal ca
pacity employ about 5000 men.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
Gold Output Maintained

The past year has shown a quick re-
covery in the production of copper
nickel and zinc amongst the metals
and in the production of coal and many
other non metallic products. Gold pro
duction has continued to increase dur
ing each of the past two years, though
the Increment has been very small
and Canada occupies an almost unique
position in being perhaps the only gold
producing country which has not shown
serious falling off in the production
of this. metal. In the production of
zinc, asbestos and coal the highest pin
nacle of production has been reached
during the year just closed. True it
is that some products such as graphite,
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
Lowest Prices Reached
At Closing Carpet Sale
Big Jobbing Houses Depress
Values When Small Buyers !
Quit Auction

The carpet and rug auction con-
Quoted by Alexander Smith e. Sons
Carpet Company closed yesterday with
the lowest prices registered during the
parently having filled their require
ments earlier in the week, left the field
to the big jobbing houses, who de-
pressed prices considerably from the
levels established earlier in the sale.
Several of the large jobbers sue
ceeded in getting large lots at from 81
to 50 per rug cheaper than earlier
prices.
1t is expected that the fall price list
of the company will be made public
this week, and the trade anticipates
price levels in the neighborhood of
those established at the auction.
Other carpet companies that have is
sued new price lists show reductions
from spring quotations. made last No
vember, of from 20 to 20 per cent.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
Virginia I rade Gains
Despite Depression

Retail sales in the Fifth Federal
Reserve District have been SHOWING
gains over last year, despite the in
dustrlal depression in the cotton
manufacturing and growing districts
of Maryland, Virginia, West Vir-
ginia and North and South Carolina.
For the district, according to the
Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, re-
tail sales in February, the latest to
be compiled, averaged S.6 per cent
ahead of 1920, and for the first two
months of this year were ga per
cent ahead of last year This indi-
Gates a great increase in business
III February over January.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
important Decision

Never before had the results =. !.
decision by the commission so gres. a.
immediate consequence. In nreu;...-
cases, even when decisions had invoi,,ssi
large territories, they were not sns
GENTLY comprehensive or fundament.l
20 result disastrously, no matter Sshs.
the SPECIFIC rates fixed. But in +L:-
case, with the roads emerging ;m,ns
dlately after the decision from o,,t =,
pfotectlon OF the government. the nv
mum revenue rate had TO be strrnl.
exactly and at once. 1t was dyed -
accordance with the best iudorne,. =,
the commission upon an assumed ~ y
ume OF traffic, and then the tro~.
failed. usaic
Results have been grievouslv dis.,
pointing. but it is difficult to discovsr
how Congress could make them snr
better snort of a radical overthrou as
OF the entire scheme, and we have a.
yet no sound experience upon which "a
JUSTIFY such procedure. Howevar
lhere are opportunities for adrninistrs,
tive action, Tor a revision, or. at anvi
rate denomination OF its orders hy.
the commission. There is some donht
Tor example, whether, under the cir.
cumstances as they developed. thAI
commission in its decision of last Anos
ust prescribed rates in all respects thst
would produce the maximum reyenus
To determine this it is necessary 10
answer the question why traffic does.
not move Is it due to high rates or
10 refusal OF the market to buys Prob
ABLY TO. both. SO far as it results from
purchasers' strike a lowering of rates
would have little, if any. effect. h
would have little effect upon the move.
ment OF commodities in which the
freight rate is small factor.
On the other hand, in the case ~
tfose commodities where freight rates
are influential-the low-grade produes
like coal, the raw materials, the ayr
cultural products-there is a verv cor
siderable question whether rates are
not above the maximum revenue Level
There is no way of determining this
except by experiment. But such ey-
pertinent should be made by the rail-
ways voluntarily if possible: if MOI.
then through the initiative of the corr
mission.
1t is widely asserted that rates car.
not come down until after wages, ard
this view was sustained at the RAILWAY
Business Association dinner week
ago by no less an authority than
Chairman Clark Of the commission
This may be true Of rates in general
although wages are usually the las
thing to drop, but lowering of rates
on specific commodities might not only
increase the revenue directly, but it
might conceivably be the means Of
Starting something's and that is what
industry needs.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
Lenroot to Speak Here

United States Senator Irvine l.. Len
root will be the chief speaker at the
convention of the National Paper Box
Manufacturers Association. which will
be held at the Waldorf Astoria on May
10, II and H. The chairman of the
banquet on the evening of May ~ will
be Walter c. Carlson, president of the
Chamber of Commerce of Milwaukee.
Present Indications point to an at.
tendance of eight hundred.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10

serious drawbacks, and this will be EVIL
dent in the Forthcoming sessions. They
will consume much of the valuable
time Of executives now urgently needed
at home. They will involve large ex-
pense In the preparation of testimony,
particularly Of statistical nature. It
is doubtful whether the net gain will
offset the loss. Little of any value can
be brought out that is not already
Known or available through the public
utterances of executives and en-
ployees, testimony before commissions
and the Labor Board, and the stats
teal publications Of official and cor
porate agencies.
Testimony presented before Congress
sional committees will be only a re-
working of this material at further ex-
penditurs of money and time, and the
hearings will merely be used as a
forum for the presentation of the is
sue to larger public.
1t is certainly a question whether
members Of Congress whose duty it is
to handle this problem, many Of whom
are already experts in the field. would
not accomplish far more and at a
great saving of time and expense, BY
gathering together existing data under
expert guidance and drawing their own
conclusions
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10
Realize Accounting Needs

Members Of the garment and clothing
industry rapidly are coming to realize
the need for accurate systems of cost
accounting, according to Arthur Schwab,
industrial engineer in charge of the
bureau of factory practice and indus
trial relations for the international
Association of Garment Manufacturers,
who has just returned from trip
around the country, where he addressed
meetings of regional cost councils in
Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, ST. Louis, Kan
sas City, st. Joseph, Mo-, Minneapolis
and Milwaukee.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10

However, there will be some gain if
they result in clearing up any of the
controverted questions. and if the Sem
ate committee proceeds in a judicial
spirit and arrives at sound conclusions
this may be the outcome. Such COM
plants as excessive expenditures for
maintenance, improper relation with
outside repair shops, the charge that
railway management is out to destroy
unionism; that railway labor aims
to develop one big union and adopt the
soviet form of organization; the claim
of many shippers that rates are too
high-these are questions upon which
the public desires to know the truth.
But it would be mistake, in my
Judgment, to waste any considerable
amount Of time in consideration Of
ways in which the law could be ad-
vantageously amended, for such dis
cussion can do little except open the
whole problem and retrace the ground
covered during the year preceding the
adoption of the present statute.
To be a little more specific, the two
outstanding features of present legis-
lation, which, if any, would be the ones
calling for modification, are the section
dealing with rates and guarantees and
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10

"The farmer is unable to purchase
what he needs in the way of farm
implements with the high freight rates
against him and cutting down the price
he received for his products. The rail
ways are handicapped by the uniform
wage regulations which require uniform
rates to be paid in Alabama and in
Ohio, for instance. They cannot re-
duce the rates to produce the freight
which would follow if the rates were
reduced.
IF the government acts to release the
railroads from these restrictions they
would have to pay the going rates for
wages i'll the different communities
The wages paid would be governed &C
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-10

He pointed to the statsment of w.
+. Corey chairman of the board OF the
Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company,
in New York Wedne sday, as being one
of the economic reasons why steel
operators cannot continue to make and
sell their products at the prices now
prevalent. In this statement Mr.. Corey
said that his company's operations for
the first two months OF the year showed
Il loss and that there is no reason to be-
lieve that March will show any i'm
provement over January and February.
In Youngstown the unsatisfactory