The Carlisle independent., 1921-02-17
LABOR RULES BURDEN COSTS
 OF B. R. SERVICE U. s. Railroad Labor Board Asked to Stop Payments for
 Work Not Done. WOULD SAVE S3OO,OOO,OO0 Lower Cost of Service Can Be Secured Only by Cutting Expense,
 Atterbury Says.
WOULD SAVE s30o,o0o,ooO

to end gross waste and inefficiency" prevailing under present working rules and conditions General ". W. Alter bury, vice president of the Pennsyl- vania railroad, in a statement to the board in session at Chicago said In part:
 Many railroads are not now earning, and with present operating costs and traffic have no prospect of earning, even their bare operating expenses, leaving them without any net return and unable 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 soivency of the rall- roads must be assured by a reduction In operating expenses, and not by further advance of rates.
 The National Agreements, rules and working conditions forced on the rail- roads as war measures cause gross waste and inefficiency.
 Would Save $500, 100000
 I estimate that the elimination of this waste would reduce railway op- erating expenses at least S300000. 900. It would be far better to save this sum by restoring conditions of efficient and economical operation than to reduce wages.
 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 ann pie wage an honest days work shall be given. The public has the right to insist that this must be obtained.
 The public has also the right to ex- peet that the railway executives, with the cooperation of the regulatory bodies and the employees. will as rap- idly as possible reduce the cost of rail- way operation so as to insure eventual ly reduction in rates. Ultimately a readiustment of basic wages will be required Meantime it Is to the inter- ests of all concerned 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 retroac- tive increases. Losses of railway net operating income are irreparable You cannot make retroactive tomorrow the savings that should lave been made today
 The board cannot possibly write the rules and working conditions of every railroad Tn 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- tfon 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 this catastrophe by declaring that the Ma tlonaI 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- ployees: and that as the basis for such 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 cision No 2, that no proposal for 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 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. pl0yee 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 of all promises. The war has now been over more than two years. The time has come when, if the raiIways are to be efficiently and economically operated, in accordance with the pro-. visions of the Transportation act, nor nal conditions of employment and es working condltions must be restored and increased sfficIsncy of labor bs