Connecticut western news., 1921-02-17
U. 8. Railroad Labor Board Asked to Stop Payments for
 Work Not Done.
WOULD SAVE saoo,ooo,
Lower Cost oF Service Can Be Secured Only by Cutting Expense,
 Astsrbury says.

vania raiircad, in . statement to the board fn session at Chicago said in part:
 Many railroads arc not now earning, and with present operating, costs and trafac have no prospect Of earning, even their bare operating expensea, leaving them without any net return and unabie to meet their fixed charges.
 The emergency presented can be met either by an advance in freight and passenger rates, or by reduction in operating expenses.
 With declining prices and wages in industry and agriculture, the country demands that the soIvsnoy Of the ralI- roads must b. assured by . reduction ln operating sxpsnses, and not by further advance ef rates.
 The National Agreements, rules and working conditions forced on the rail- roads as war measures cause gross waste and ineficiency.
 Weaia Save &soo, ,ooo, 900
 I estimate that the elimination of this waste would reduce railway. op- erating expenses at least $500, DOG, 900 It would be far better to save this sum by restoring conditions of efficient and economical operation than to reduce wages. t g,
 We believe that as the wages of rail road employees were the last to go up they should also be the last to come down, but we do insist that for an am yNIn honnok douBu ch be given. The public has the right to insist that this must be obtained.
 The public has also the right to ex- pect that the railway executives, with the cooperation of the regulatory bodies and the employees, will as rap Idly as possible reduce tiss cost of rail- way operation se as to insure eventual b reduction In rates. Ultimately d readjustment of basic wages will be required. Meantime it is to the inter ests of, all2concerned, including labor, that the rules and working conditions shall be made conducive to the highest efficiency in output per man. Losses In Income IrreparabIe
 When wages have been too low the harm done has been offset by Iretroac- tive increases. Losses of railway net operating income are irreparable. You cannot make retroactive tomorrow the savings that should have been made today. .s. -.... ,. -E st.-
 The board cannot possibly write the rules and working conditions of every railroad In this country and adjust them equitably to varying geograph- ical, operating and social conditions.
 It rests entirely with the board to determine whether this whole situa- tion shall drift into chaos, and or derly procedure become impossible ex- cept at the price of railroad bank ruptcy, financial shock and still wider unemployment.
 The Labor Board can prevent thls catastrophe by declaring that the Ma tionaI agreements, rules and working conditions coming over from the war period are terminated at once; that the question of reasonable and eco- nomical rules and working conditions shall be remanded to negotiations be- tween each carrier and Its own em- p1OyCcS yl anu LlldI us IhC DooAo 1OI DuSh negotiations, the agreements, rules, and working conditions in effect on each railroad as of December 31, 1917, shall be re-established.
 If the board will do this, the Labor Committee of the Association of Rail- way Executives will urge upon ev- cry railroad company a party to De- cfn hot the reduction of basic wages shall be made within the next succeeding nine ty days. This will afford an oppor- tunity to gauge the economies which can be accomplished through more efficient rules and working conditions. It also will afford additional time in which to realize the benefits of 8 further decline in the cost of living.
 Relief Imperative and Equitable
 . The course which we are recom- mending is not only imperative but equitable.
 The War Labor Board declared that the war period was an interregnum, to be used neither by employer nor em- ployee for the purpose of bettering or impairing the position of either.
 To perpetuate as the normal rules and working conditions on the rail- roads, the extraordinary provisions of the war period is a distinct violation 1 of all promises. The war has now been over more than two years. The time has cone when, if the railways are to be efficiently and economically operated, in accordance With the pro- visions of the Transportation act, nor nal conditions of employment and Of working conditions must be restored and increased efficiency of labor bs secured.