Connecticut western news., 1921-10-20

held no meeting at W1lcn the matter could have been discussed.
 "The proposition, as stated nl the newspapers, is that the railroads should withdraw their plan to seek concurrent reduction in present | railroad rates and wages. The inti- nation of the public members of the | Railroad Labor Board is that the l public has had no benefit from the l 12 per cent reduction in wages l authorized in July and it is suggested l that the railroads make further re- ductions in rates without further l reductions in wages. ''In order that the public may be able to judge the merits of this prop osition, the following data is sub mitted: Since the general increase in rates put into effect under authority of the Interstate Commerce Com mission September 1, 1920, there have been, in fact, extensive reduc- tions, most of them voluntary, in rail road rates, bringing about a large loss in earnings to the railroad. The reduction of wages made on July 1 was put into effect only after many freight reductions had previously | been made.
 "Since the reduction in wages of July 1, large additional number of reductions in rates have been made. For example: There was a reduction on cargo coal from points in Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virgin ia, to Lake Erie ports affecting from August 1 to October ' some 14,7O0,- 900 tons, on which the actual loss in revenue to the railroads amounted to $4,116,OOO.
 Successive reductions have been made on grain and grain products beginning during the summer and continuing until now, ranging from $40 to $2.1O per ton, and the ex- port rates from Chicago to the Atlan- tic seaboard are actually lower than when the Interstate Commerce Com
 mission approved the increases in August, 1920.
 Reductions have been made in
 rates on road making materials, i. e.,
 crushed stone. sand, gravel, in New
 England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
 West Virginia, Indiana, Maryland
 and Delaware The rates on these
 commodities were not raised ill New
 York State. This involves reduced
 revenues on many millions of tons,
 the benefit of which goes directly to
 the tax payer.
 There was a reduction in rates
 on export iron and steel articles. effective September 6, 1921. In i 1920 the tonnage of this business amounted to 4,7O1,169. The rednc-
 ion in rates on this traffic averarod $1.G6 per ton.
 ; "A reduction of 58.8 cents per ton on imported iron ore is just be- coming effective. In 1920 this busi-
 ness amounted to 1,231,O94 tons.
 The average railroad rate from nort to furnace was $2.1O.
 Rates on ex lake ore are being
 reduced, a representative reduction
 amounting to 365 cents a ton. In 1920, 33,992,292 tons of ore were shipped by rail from lake ports to eastern iron furnaces.
 "A compilation by the Pennsyi- > vania Railroad shows that on that
 system east of Pittsburgh there have
 been since September, 1920, a total of 3,871,286 rate reductions. These ! reductions were in part due to ex. f empting certain articles from the f higher class rates and making for them lower rate. The exemptions
 on these articles apply from 1925
 stations on the Pennsylvania and < l763 stations on lateral lines, mak- ing total number of points of ori- gin of 2988. The number of destina- tlon stations to which such rates
 were effective was 34,561.
 Through tariffs filed by the Gen.
 tral Freight Association Agency
 territory, rates have been reduced on about 662 commodities, covering , approximately 4,5OO origin points and 10000 destinations.
 Similar figures could be given for the railroads throughout the country
 There has been a constant tendency
 toward readjustment and reduc 1ion
 or rates ever since the general rate advance of August, 1920, was auth orized.
 "On some railroads the reductions m rates have amounted to more than the reductions in wages so far made,
 ana on many other railroads the re ductlons in wages allowed no net return on Operatins, but merely Dro- Vlded against the further accumula- ton of deficit.
 The plan of the railroads is to
 proceed as follows:
 Il. An applicatin will be made e immediately to the United States = Railroad Labor Board for a reduc. l. ton in wages of train service em. ' pIoyees sufficient to remove the re malnder of the increases made by the - Labor Boards decision of July 20 t 1920, (which would involve a fur. y ther reduction of approximately ter