The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-23
Penn. r. r. Firmly Tells En-
plOyes Slash Must Be Made.
Federal Board Is POwerIess to
Prevent Reduction.
BIG DEFICIT IS CLAIMED
Excess Pay Roll for Last Year
Was S3OO,OOO,OOO.
Are 177,sS2 unnecessary" EN-
ployes, Says w. w. Atterbury.

Chicago, March 23.-Employes of
the Pennsylvania lines today were
served notice that their wages must
be slashed.
While w. W. Atterbury, vice presi-
dent of the Pennsylvania, was urging
before the United States labor board
that national shop agreements be
abrogated, President Samuel Rea
| served the wage cut ultimatum on en-
ployes.
Rea's notice was conciliatory in tone
but expressed determination of the
| company to cut wages. The percent
age of decrease was named.
Claim Big Deficit.
| The notice said that 20 cents out of
every dollar taken in by the road was
| paid out in wages. which created a
deficit when other expenses were met.
| 1t is expected that other roads will
| follow the leadership of the PennsyI-
vania. Railroad unionists were not yet
prepared to state what action they will
take. Employees, however, are con-
| fronted with this situation:
| The United States railroad board
which was established during the war
to arbitrate differences between rail
| management and employees, is power
less to prevent wage reductions be-
| cause the law creating the board has
no teeth in it. All the board can do,
according to the transportation act, is
ito make public its findings"
Payrolls Padded.
! National agreements. between rail-
roads and their employees forced the
roads to carry 177,Ss2 UNNECESSARY
| employees in 1920, w. W. Atterbury
charged before the United States rail-
road labor board today.
! The roads IUpre fOrppd tO nav
over $30O,O00,O00 las year on an Tex
cess payroll" due Sto the national
agreements, Atterbury claimed.
Bert NJ. Jewell, president of the
American Federation of Labor, at
| tackled the accuracy of Atterbury's
| figures.
i Atterbury made a formal statement
/ to the board in which he quoted fed
eral statistics to show the total rail-
road payroll for 1920 was 100000
| 0Oc.
/ in classes of employment covered
| by the national agreement, 1,206,520
men were employed in 1917" he said.
| I'm 1920, there was an increase of
229,e6S men,
Blames Eight-Hour Day.
Atterbury said the increase was due
to the "eight-hour day, decrease in
production per man and increased
business
I'm 1917, the earnings Of employees
were $1,01O,956,751 or sS37.61 per
man." the witness continued. I'm
1920, earnings amounted to $2,444,-
74S,441 or s1,701.20 per man.
Increase in ton miles was "A per
cent in 1920 over 1917.
Assuming that the increase in num-
ber of employees is directly proper
tionate to the increase in business,
which is an assumption in employees
favor, it would require 53,0S6 addf-
tional men, leaving 1852 men in
excess in 1920 compared with 1917.
hese excess men at the average earn
ing of s1,701.20 per man show an ex-
cess expenditure of S300,911, ,65S.40.
''It is fair to state that in the ST.
701.20 are many payments due to ma
tional agreements rates and working
conditions, like checking in and out,
reclassification of employees and over
time rates. If these payments could
be segregated for the 1,206,520 en-
ployes, it would greatly increase the
00,000,000."
Atterbury Finishes Testimony.
$ Atterbury told the board of inter-
national arbitration committees made
binding decisions on the question of
distribution of car repair cost for the
different railroads of the United
States, Canada. and Mexico.
| Frank P. Walsh, labor attorney,
brought out this statement because of
previous claim by Atterbury that ma
, , | tional agreements cannot be made eco-
nomically applicable to all railroads
Walsh pointed out rule of general
application is applied by the railroads
. themselves.
!. Atterbury's testimony was concluded
: today. Jewell will make a formal
statement to the board tomorrow in
defense of the national agreements.
Jewell Is Optimistic.
Bert NJ. Jewell, president of the
railroad department of the American
Federation of Labor, said he did not
understand by the statement that the
= Pennsylvania contemplated ignoring
: the federal railroad board.
1.-The railroad, like otheaQ, is simply
filing notice of its cut 6f wages
n commented Jewell.
81 suppose they will call a confer.
: ence with employees. as is provided fol
= in the transportation act and after
e failure to agree on a wage schedule
j will go before the United States rail