Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1921-12-30
WorkFarlnedOut.
EVASION OF FEDERAL TRANS
PORTATION ACT
Frank p. Walsh Exposes the Tactics
Pursued in Sidestepping the
Provisions of the Law
(By Federated Press)

Chicago-The illegal fraud" of the
railroads in farming out their repair
work to companies in which they are
interested and thereby evading those
parts of the Federal Transportation
Act which demand decent conditions
for employees was exposed by Frank
P. Walsh, attorney for the Railway
Employees Department of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, who appear
ed before the United States Railway
Labor Board in the case against the
Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad.
Walsh handled the situation without
gloves from the first. He took the.
position that the small road is but
fragrant example of the way in which
the roads of the nation are schemlng
to make huge profits at the expense
of their employees and the public and
charged that the hold-up game is dl-
rected by Wall Street through the
Association of Railway Executives.
Developing his case by cross-exami-
nation of George Harnauer, vice-pres-
ident and general manager OF the In
diana Harbor Road, line only 12O
miles long but very sympathetic to the
policies of the larger roads, Walsh
showed that there is nationwide
conspiracy to avoid the provisions OF
the Transportation Act by contracting
and leasing out to sub-contractors
and padrones the most important
functions of the railroads.
"The so-called private contrac-
tors'," said Walsh, "are pretetding
not only to actually maintain the
rights of way of the railroads but, in
dependent of railroad control, to have
charge of the repair devices upon
which the lives and limbs of the
travelling public must depend for
safety"
C. j. MCGOWAN, vice-president of
the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen,
told the board that the road had re-
fused to negotiate with the unions as
prescribed by law; had let the car
repair work out to companies which
| had not previously been engaged in the
railroad business.
Walsh then quizzed Hannauer. The
latter admitted that he received and
asked for no competitive bids in
awarding the repair work of his road
and that he had taken this step with
out consulting the directors or other
officers of the road.
Hannauer had a most uncomfort-
able day His memory as to how he
got the idea of farming out his repair
work, the manner in which the con-
tract for this work was negotiated
and the way in which the repair work
is done at present, proved very weak
and his power of recollection dimmed,
as Walsh probed into the deals with
sub-contractors.
Walsh invited Hannauer to admit
that his road retains absolute control
over all work done by these contrac-
tors, having it's own employees in
charge of the operations with abso-
lutte power to modify them in any
way the road desires. "You're simply
paying these contractors 5 per cent
for their work while you evade the
rules of the United States Railway La
Dor Board" Walsh challenged. Asked
about individual foremen, Hannauer
was unable to say whether they are
now on the pay roll of the contractors
CT of the railroad, so involved are the
relations of the two.
Attorney Murray told the board it
had no jurisdiction in such case and
introduced figures to demonstrate
that by farming out its work it saved
40 per cent on car repairing and At
per cent on maintenance of way eX-
penses. Board Member Wharton
challenged the method by which those
figures were obtained and Walsh said
he would prove that the contractor
system was more costly than work
done in the railroad shops.