The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-02-18

| Ah IC6dtu tV LifS HIOpOStQ
 of compensation of employees of the At
 lanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway company, V. E. Whitaker, superintendent 1 of traffic and transportation, received
 from Col B. l.. Bugg, the president. the | following official statement yesterday: THE STATEMENT
 Atlanta, Ga, February II. 1921. At the hearing before the railroad labor board in Chicago between the em- ployes and their representatives, the off cers of the railroad brotherhoods af- filiated with the American Federation of Labor, on the one hand, and the officers of the railway company. on the other, there was no controversy over any of the facts as stated by the railway company and supported by numerous exhibits, statements. etc.
 The representatives of the employees admitted the conditions as claimed by the railroad it was losing approximately f100,000 per month and that the railroad
 had highly efficient management, eff cient employees and highly efficient plant facilities.
 The issues were very closely drawn
 however. entirely on the technical ques-
 tion of Jurisdiction and admission of evil dcnce. It was contended by the brother
 hoods that the labor board is without
 Jurisdiction to consider the financial
 ability of railroads to pay the wages
 prescribed by the board and that the
 boards function is to prescribe such wages as in it's opinion are just and req sonable, taking into consideration only the interest of the employees. Their posi-
 ton also was that the law imposes upon the interstate commerce commission the duty of fixing rates high enough to pro- duce an income on the roads sufficient to pay the wages prescribed by the
 board, and, in case of failurs of the roads to earn sufficient amount, the remedy lay in an application to the in- terstate commerce commission for in- creased rates rather than with the labor board for reduction of wages.
 The logical conclusion of this reason ing is that the board is without any au- thorty to reduce wages and that its only function is to increase wages. The rail- road management, on the other hand. contended that the labor board should take into consideration not only the abil- ity of the railroads to pay the wages fixed by the board. but the public inter est involved. and that the obligation rest ed on the board not to fix wages at such high level as would require a level of freight and passenger, rates which would restrict rather than encour- age traffic.
 Tt was pointed out by the representa- tives of the railway company that it is claimed by many shippers, and admitted by some railroad executives, that the rafa cn iUb fn traffic. and that any further rate in- creases would result in further deple- tion of the revenue of the railroads. The railway company insisted that the board should take cognizance of these condi- ticns and that the revision of the pay schedules should now be downward in response to the general conditions exist ing throughout the country
 AFFlDAyITS MADE
 'Tt was shown by the railway com pany from afffdavits, made by employ CTS of labor generally fin the territory served by the railroad, that the wages in industry other than railroads have been reduced from 9 to 50 per cent from the high level of 1920. It was also shown by information submitted that the prices of essential commodities have been re- duced approximately 70 per cent from the high prices of 1920 It was also shown from the affidavts of employees that there Is much unemployment In the terri tory served by the road and that em- ployers are having no difficulty in se- curing an abundant supply of labor at the reduced scale of wages.
 The brotherhoods made strenuous ob- jection to the admission of any evidence bearing on the cost of living, the scale of wages in other industry, and the ex- tent of unemployment. but the transpor- tation act requires the labor board to consider these items in fixing rates of pay and the board therefore very prop erly ruled that the evidence should be submitted.
 'It is expected that a decision will be rendered by the board this week, though this is largely speculative" --s----------------------