davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
this country during the period of gov
ernment operation or during the forma
tlon of the national agreements.
Different Salary Values

One point which applies to both the
public representatives and the repre-
sentatives of the railroad manage
ments is that the salary of a member
of. the board is $4,000 only, and man
of the caliber required to pass upon the
most important labor questions in the
United States can make, either in pub
lie life or in railroad management,
much more than $4,000. In this the
labor side of the question is at an ad-
vantage, since a $4,000 salary is one
which the best of the union members
can with justice to themselves con-
5,der satisfactory.
The work Of the board is done in n
rather informal manner, much like the
manner of conducting a Senate commit
tee hearing. AS witnesses come before
the board they are questioned by one
of the members, who is representa-
tive of their interests. They are then
cross-eXamined by members of the
board representing the other two in
terests. Thus, when labor man ap-
pears he is examined by Mr.. Phillips
or Mr.. Forester and cross-eXamined by
representatives of the public and the
managements. When a railroad officer
appears he is examined by Mr.. Baker
or Mr.. Park and croSs-eXamined by rep
resentatives of the public and of labor
Mr.. Forester was a representative of
the American Federation of Labor and
thus of railroad labor other than the
four brotherhood organizations-th
enginemen, conductors, firemen and
trainmen. His successor is a member
Of the trainmen's union. The Ameri-
can Federation of Labor therefore is
not represented on the board, both the
other labor men representing the four
brotherhoods, which are not affiliated
with the American Federation.
The board in it's recent decision laid
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
Temptation to Aduance

In rising market the temptation to
advance prices too rapidly is checked.
according to an open price authority
but the tendency is to speed up manu-
featuring to make up the deficit in pre-
ductlon which led to the start of a
rising market
The open price people feel that there
wrong in disseminating facts about any
particular industry and then allowing
the tree play of economic forces to ad-
just prices. The open price plan, they
belleve, eliminates some of the evils
attendant upon ruinous competition
fostered by fraud or ignorance of true
market conditions. Economically it is
wrong for an individual in any line of
industry to sell below the cost of pro
Will give him reasonable profit. Le-
gally, competition may be as ruinous
as possible, although twenty-rwo states
nave passed laws against underselling
to force competitor out of business.
The analogy of the open price asso-
citation idea to the governments Bu-
resu of Markets is often used as an
illustration in defending the open price
plan. The Bureau of Markets, it is
contended, collects information about
the size of crops, the market prices, the
weather and all other factors tending
to affect prices, and disseminates them
to the farmer. This, it is argued, does
not interfere with the free play of eco
Eomic forces iii making prices, but
enables the farmer to intelligently
compete with other producers in his
line. The open price men maintain that
their activities do exactly this for the
manufacturer.
Another point made by the open
price associations is that they furnish
much of the data that goes into trade
publications and governntent statistics
published for the benefit Of all bust
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24

wide variation in range. In one COM
modify at present an article manufac-
tured from iron or steel, according to
an official of an open-pricc association
IN that particular industry, quotations
show variation of 100 per cent.
THE principle of the open-price as
sociation,' said an official of one asso-
catlon, "is that Of intelligent competi-
ton. We merely collect all available
information about the industry and
present it to our members. They act
upon it as they see fit and according
to their best judgment. If production
exceeds consumption one man may de-
eide to limit production. Another NAV
figure that slump in prices will re-
duce his raw material costs when
others stop buying, and so will give
him an advantage if he speeds up pro-
duction at that particular time. We
find exactly that sort of reaction to
the information we send out Of
course, general trends are noticeable
as we'll, but there is wide variation
in the judgment of individual manu-
1acturers to any set of facts we pre-
sent to our members"
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24

down sixteen principles, the two most
important of which We're that labor
should give eight hours work for eight
hours pay, and that employers should
deal with representatives of labor in the
selection of the men, regardless Of
whether they were employees of the
road on which the dispute occurred.
bers of any class of workers, shopmen,
switchmen, clerks or any other group,
can be unionized, they can select a
representative from the American
Federation of Labor to deal with rail
road management. There is nothing to
prevent all Of the switchmen through
out the country from selecting the
same man to deal with all railroad
managements on questions affecting
switcnmen, and through some such ar
rangement as this some railroad ex
ecutives fear that it may be possible to
perpetuate the very national agree.
ments that are supposed to have been
abrogated by the decision of the board.
Some railroad managers fear that the
practical effect of this principle will be
to compel railroad managers to deal,
not with their own employees, but with
representatives of labor unions. 1t was
on this point that the first conference
committee of labor and capital, called
by former President Wilson, broke up,
and it was the point which was side
stepped by the Presidents ;econd con-
ference committee.
Without trying to analyze further
what will be the effect of the applica-
tion of the sixteen principles to the
present railroad situation. it is worth
while describing what will presumably
be the method of procedure toward a
settlement of the dispute. The Labor
Board has asked each individual man
agement to call conference with its
various classes of employees and to
attempt to arrive at an amicable ad-
justment Railroad managers are now
working on the preliminaries of such
conferences. Each road is pursuing its
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
Consolidation of
National Debt

One of the most important measures
to be undertaken, in Mr.. Tornquist's
tional debt within the country. by in
direct issue if necessary, the capital
set free to be used for making loans to
foreign buyers of such national prod
ucts as woods, hides, meats, and cereals.
Such consolidation would not be desir-
able, however, unless the funds de-
rived therefrom were employed in
financing the national production.
The expectation of gold, according to
Mr.. Tornquist, is question of onlv
relative urgency. While not advocat-
ing. complete freedom of withdrawing
it from the Conversion Office and Of
exporting it. he believes that authori-
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
Flood Of Gold to U. S.
Continues Unabated

The flood of gold that recently
has been pouring into this country
was augmented yesterday by the ar
rival of several shipments of the
metal valued at nearly $12,00O000
from Colombia, India, Sweden and
other points.
The steamship Drottingholm, from
Sweden, brought the largest ship
ment, consisting of 800 boxes of
bullion, valued at $7,400,O00. The
steamship Nieuw Amsterdam, which
sailed from Holland and stopped at
British ports, brought in another
bulk valued at $4,00000O, and $780,
600 worth of gold bars arrived from
Calcutta on the Trafford
All the gold was consigned to
New York banks, including the Ma
tional City Bank, the Guaranty
Trust Company and Kuhn, Loeb
& Co.
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
Civil Service Change Urged
Chamber. of Commerce Sends
Out Proposal for Vote

WASHINGTON, April 2s.-Compless,
reorganization of the Federal eivh
service, including adequate and equ''
table pay for the half million or NOR
government employees, is urged by 'ns
committee on budget and efficiency :.
the Chamber of Commerce o. sn'
United States.
The report Of the committee W
sent out to-day to a referendum vo.g
of the l,400 industrial and commsren.
organizations within the CHAMBER
membership. 1t presents nine recon
tion Of personal and related problems,
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24

There are nine members of the board.
The board has been in existence for a
year now and three members, whose
terms of Office were for one year only.
have just retired, and President Har-
ding has announced the names of the
three appointees to act as successors
Of the nine members of the board,
three represent the public and are ap-
pointed by the President at his own
discretion; three represent the railroad
arrangements and are selected from six
nominations made to the President by
the Railway Executives Association,
and three represent railroad labor, and
the President appoints them from ten
nominations made to him by the prin-
cipal railroad labor organizations. The
original board, which has just handed
down the important decision abrogat-
ing the national agreements and substi-
tuting therefor set of sixteen prin-
ciples, elected as It's chairman Judge
r. NJ. Barton, Of Tennessee. Judge
Barton was formerly a member of the
Court of Appeals of Tennessee. His
thorough legal training and judicial ex
perience fit him to pass on the prin-
ciples involved in labor disputes, but
he has had no opportunity to acquire
a detailed, first hand knowledge of the
relations between railroad labor and
railroad management. He rules his
board in an easy, informal manner, per-
mitting members to carry on discus
sions, prolong or cut short testimony
without much interference from the
chair.
Another representative of the public
on the board was Henry Hunt, formerly
Mayor of Cincinnati, who has just re-
tired from the board, having served the
one year term. J. J. Forester, repre-
senting labor, and w. L. Park, repre-
senting management, also withdrew
from the board on April Is, when their
terms expired. Benjamin W. Hooper,
former Republican Governor of Ten
nessee, has been appointed to succeed
Mr.. Hunt; Walter L. McMenimen,
deputy president Of the Brotherhood of
Railway Trainmen, will take Mr.. For
rester's place; and Samuel Higgins,
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24

If the fears of the managers are
borne out by the facts these repre-
sentatives will be representatives both
of the roads own employees and of the
American Federation. If we may judge
by past experience, the proposals of
the managers, even if in accordance
with the sixteen points laid down by
the Labor Board, will not be accept
able to the representatives of the men,
Each of the sixteen principles is sus-
ceptible of various interpret tations; both
labor and management is going to put
the most favorable Interpretation pos
sible on each principle for itself, and
it would seem almost inevitable that
each railroad will come back and have
to fight out before the Labor Board the
moro important principles which each
road establishes in place of the national
agreements.
Some few roads, it is true, may be
able to put set of conditions before
their own employees that will be ac-
ceptable, but the consensus of opinion
of railroad managers and railroad
labor men, so far as one is able to
judge it by talking with various indi-
viduals here. is that the vital ques-
tions covered in the national agree
ments will have to be passed on by the
board
The board has no spower of legally
enforcing it's decisions. but it is the
opinion of railroad men that the
boards power through publicity was
ample to form so strong 2 public opin-
ion that the railroad managements. at
least, would abide by its decisions
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24

AS rule the open price associa-
ticns cover about SO per cent of a
gwen industry. One association covers
so per cent of its industry and includes
the four leading firms who turn out 90
per cent of a particular product. This
is cited as an exception to the general
rule. The point that open price de-
PENDANTS make of this is that the in
ability to completely organize any
single industry makes anything like
price fixing absolutely impossible, by
virtue of the competition outside the
association.
But they 60 further than this and
insist that their records will show that
competition is just as keen inside the
association; in fact, more keen. The
recent price decline in many lines, saw
open-price men, has been hastened by
the interchange of new prices among
members and the rapidity with which
competitors within the organization
have reduced prices to fall in line with
the initial price cutter. The price re-
ports for the last few months in most
lines Of industry in which pen-price
associations are operative, according to
a prominent opcn-price man, show
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
Deny Salvador Moratorium
Government Refuses Request of
Banks; Decision Final

SAN SALVADOR, Republic of Sail
vador, April 23.-Proclamation of
moratorium in Salvador, which has
neen requested by banking institu-
tions, Will not be issued, according to
I, decision reached by the Council of
Ministers last night. The Council is
sued statement declaring that it
would stand on this decision in all
circumstances, as it was believed a
@ moIa:otium would not be to the gem
Provincial governors and rent .a
ministrators have been authorized y,
convert into specie any banknotes
presented to them in accordance with
the national banking law. 80
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
Defective Financial System
Blamed for Argentine Crisis
Leading Banker Urges Changes, Saying That
Too Much Attention Is Paid to Economic
and Not Enough to Money Conditions
.HEspresent economic crisis in
Argentina is due as much to
dafacts II, tho rnan4;ao

\HEspresent economic crisis in
Argentina is due as much to
defects in the Argentine
financial system as to disorganized
business conditions in other parts of
the world, according to Carlos AL
fredo Tornquist, head of the bank
ing house of Ernesto Tornquist y
Compagnia, Limitada.
In recent interview in La Razon
he said that too much attention had
been given in Argentina to business
conditions and not enough to the ne
cessiry of reforming the Argentine
banking and currency system, which.
as organized at present, is not cal
culated to diminish the effects on
Argentine industry and trade of a
severe financial crisis in foreign coun-
tries.
Mr.. Tornquist believes that the two
evils requiring immediate attention are
the insufficiency Of credits extended to
the producer and the scarcity of the
circulating medium. To remedy the
credit situation he suggests (1) that
the Bank of the Nation modify its COM
merclal policy; CD that Central Fed
erai Bank be created; (3) that the
on small scale be allowed; (4) that
the floating debt of the nation be con-
solldated within the country and
credits granted to foreign buyers of
national products; CD that long time
credits be granted to producers.
/. Some of the changes he recommends
in the policy of the Bank of the Nation
arc the reduction of interest on time
deposits and the restriction of it's ac-
tivltles, so far as foreign exchange
is concerned, to fscalization. These
measures would obviate the present
competition with other banks in Ar
gentina, which, according to Mr.. Torn
qulst, has resulted in almost half of
all the deposits of the country being
concentrated in the Bank of the Ma,
ton, where they are not readily acces-
slble for promoting Argentine industry
and trade. Another reform he sug-
gests is the reorganization of the re-
discount so that it will function as in
tended and produce results parallel to
certain extent to those attained by
the establishment of the Federal Re
serve Board in the United States. In
his recommendation that a central
state bank of issue and rediscount be
created Mr.. Tornquist expresses the
belief that if such is done the Bank of
the Nation should be converted gradu-
ally into an agricultural and livestock
bank, which would be in losition to
grant longtime loans to these indus
tries, on which the prosperity of Ar
gentina is founded.
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
Defenders Of ssOpen Price,
Groups Deny Price FIXING:
Insist Competition Outside of Association Controls
the Situation; Trade Bodies Are Again in
Public Notice; How They Are Organized

bers concerning the amount of pro-
duction in given period, the stocks
OF manufactured goods and raw mate
rails on hand, the quantity of sales made
during the period, the prices quoted
for the period and obtaining in actual
sales, etc. In addition to this many Of
the associations support credit bureaus,
traffic bureaus, uniform cost account
ing bureaus, tariff and other legislative
committees, etc.
The point made by the Federal Trade
Commission in its report to President
Harding and by the Department of
Justice in its arraignment of the hard
wood association in case now before
the Supreme Court, hinges on the in
terchange of price data, production,
stock and price information, which,
these bodies feel, in some cases have
been used for the purpose of arbitra-
rily fixing price levels in certain COM
modities.
Defenders of the open price plan do
not maintain that all associations have
kept within the strict letter and spirit
of the law. Some of them, it is ad-
mitted, may have stepped over the fine
line that separates legality from Grim
inality, but they insist that the open
price plan, as generally practiced, is
trary fixing of price levels. Many of
the open price people are now lining
up statistics tending to prove that
competition within open price associa-
tions is just as keen as outside. To
be criminal, they add, the open price
principle must be violated.
No accurate estimate can be made of
tho number of open price associations
now operating in the country. Accord
ing to one authority on the subject,
there were about two hundred trade
bodies in 1917 which subscribed to
some of the open price principles.
Only one out Of about every five, how
ever, he added, was in reality strict
open price association.
The first open price association was
formed in 1911, following the ten-year
period from 1900 to 1910, during which
the trusts and combines in American
industry were the subject of constant
attacks. Many of the trusts were dis
solved. Individual manufacturers, feel
ing that some cooperation among men
in the same line of endeavor was neces-
sary, began the formation of groups
which later developed into the host
o. trade associations that we have to-
day. Not all of them, however, are
omen price associations
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24

OO-CALLED "open price" asso-
Citations among various manu-
~ featuring industries again ap-
peared large in the public eye last
week, when they were made the sub
ject of an attack by the Federal
Trade Commission in report to
President Harding, in which it was
implied that such associations were
factors in halting the process of de-
flation. In other words, the rather
broad assertion was made that GER
tain Of the open price organizations
had in reality fixed prices on COM
modities produced by their members.
To many, even in the business
world, the open price association is
a mystery. The question frequently
has been asked: "What is an open
price association"
The answer is contained in part in
the following, copied verbatim from
the constitution of one we'll known or
same principles underlie all open
price associations operating on the So
called Eddy plan, devised by the late
Arthur J. Eddy, prominent Chicago
attorney who died last year.
"The objects of the association are
as follows:
"To promote publicity in the trans
action of business and to promote
cordial and friendly relations among
members, by mears of monthly and
other stated meetings, thereby re-
moving, so far as possible, misunder-
standings and i'll feelings due to the
spreading of false reports and base
less charges and to ignorance or con-
ditions prevailing in the industry.
"To collect and disseminate accurate
information relating to the industry.
to the end that each manufacturer,
however small his output, may be
telligent conduct of his business goes,
on a footing of equality with other
manufacturers.
"The bringing out in the open of all
competitive conditions and the intro
duction of the open price policy, to the
end that whatever price information is
distributed to producers and customers
will be absolutely accurate. There
are no penalties of any kind of char
acter connected with the operation of
the association. Members may or may
not file information called for by the
reporting plan; if they do not file they
get no information; if they do file they
get like information in return. There
ia nothing secret about either the
meetings or the operations Of the as
sociation. Customers may attend
meetings and become familiar with the
operations of the organization. Mem
bers are free to invite competitors who
are not members to attend meetings. Of
the association. Nothing in the plan
or operation of the association shall
be understood or construed as directly
or indirectly restraining the freedom
of any member to at all times quote
such prices and terms as he pleases,
each member being free to compete for
business as he would if the association
did not exist"
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
Stronger Banking Position

Perhaps it was this proof of a strong
banking and money position that heart.
ened the stock market. Anyway there
arose fair demand for investment Sc
curitles. Exchequer bonds sold as high
as $3.50 yen, when the very top of the
previous week was $3.50 ven. New
shares of the Toxic Exchange rose to
8l.50 yen on January %. They had sold
at 1880 on the cath. And the old shares
OF the Kanegafuchi Spinning Company.
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
How Rail Labor Board
Acts on Wage Disputes
Personnel of Group Chosen to Decide
National Problem ms, and Effect of
Recent Pro mitigation

TIME Railroad
portaton 1t has the
gard and working conditions of railroad either
complaint the of the employers
has the duty watching
road employees and railroad calling
traffic or danger to the public interest
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
American Capital in Mines

There are a number of smaller Chi
nese coal mines operating in tha .- ~
unity of the Shantung Railway which
are actively soliciting markets for
their. coal at Shanghai. The desire
for American capital in the deyelon-
ment Of these mines 10 frequently ex-
New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
Sees Financial Japan
Emerging from Woods
Recovery of Stock Market Considered
Favorable Sign; U. S. Buying of
Raw Silk Helps
By Adachi Kinnosuke
american correspondent of the Toxic

american correspondent of the Toxic Jyi
a of financial n,o,
which
his old ark Japan had just passed through fart
oodshe flood of prosperity and then another somewhat
followed her boom
1919
bloom n the early months Of 1920