Paragould soliphone., 1921-10-21
HARDING WILL SUPPORT THE
 LABOR BOARD
To Demand Respect for Its Decisions from Both Sides -Wants Rates Cut-Un- ion Leaders Called.


 Washington, Oct. 19.---In his en- deavor to. avert the impending na- tional strike, President Harding has adopted a policy providing for the following two lines of procedure: l l. To support tho Railway Labor l Board with a view to enforcing re- spect for its decisions by both the
 employes and employers.
 2. To bring about q lowering of transportation rates to offset reduc- Itions in wages decreed by the Labor Board.
 1 It was in conformity with this policy that tho Labor Board has
 summoned the chiefs of the railway
 brotherboods to Chicago for con- ference on the situation produced
 by their vote to strike as q protest against the July wage reduction 1 This will be an informal confer
 ence, according to the administra-
 tion viewpoint, which will endeavor Ito effect cancellation of the strike call through persuasion of the union leaders. If the representatives or }the brotherhoods cannot be induced
 Ito withdraw the strike order. the Labor Board, 1t is reported here, will cite the unions formally to
 show cause for flouting the wage reduction decision made iD accord with the provisions of the Cummin- lEsch transportation act.
 1 Under the law, the board has no power to enforce it's decisions nor
 are it's decisions binding upon either party. Public opinion is relied upon
 to prevent either party from ignor- | ing a decision.
 1 A formal citation to show cause flor defying the board would be for
 the purpose of putting the unions
 on record and of reporting their de- fense tos the president. the Inter
 state Commerce Commission and the
 public as the law provides. ] If, on formal citation, the unions were unable to Justify their action in ignoring the wage reduction de-
 cision, they would forfeit any sup
 port they might expect to receive from the public, it is believed. and tany strike thereafter would be doom- ed to failure.
 I 2 The president is determined to l put theVdispute adjusting provisions l of the transportation to the test.
 He conceives that this test will dem onstrate whether the Labor Board | is impotent to effect compliance with l it's decisions, whether the plan for preventing railroad strikes embodied
 in the transportation act is alto gether futile.
 MT. Harding believes that the La ] bor Board should cite any individual or organization ignoring Its deci- sions. He. approves the recent ac-
 tion of the board in citing the Penn, Isylvania railroad to show cause for
 it's refusal to comply with a deciG
 sion on walkout rules Involving the lrefusal of the road to recognize
 certain representatives of It's organ
 ized employees. lie regards the
 summons to the brotherhood chiefs
 as in tho same category
 l The presidents attitude is unani-
 mously supported by the members of
 the cabinet, which met yesterday
 and discussed the strike situation
 only informally and briefly The question was deemed oue that is
 being dealt with by the authorities constituted by the transportation act
 md therefore not one requiring as
 7et the formal attention of the cab Iinet.
 The president takes the position
 hat there is no occasion for undue teXeitement over the situation, which was foreseen possible, if not prob
 ablc, contingency by congress when 1 it passed the Cummins- Esch bill and (which is being dealt with in the
 manner prescribed by that law. If
 he law fails 10 prevent strikes in ] the manner contemplated it will
 be time to adopt other measures and 1 possibly to propose additional legis- lation. That time has not come, in the opinion of the president, and in
 he meantime the public should re-
 main calm and lend it's support to a
 tull and fair trial of the law. I It is recalled that the leaders of
 organized labor served notice on
 congress before the bill was passed
 that it would not serve 10 avert
 strikes and that labor would not l hesitate to strike in defense of any
 order of the Labor Board deemed unacceptable. Originally there were 1 provisions in the bill prohibiting Istrikes in defense of decisions of the
 Labor Borad and prescribing penal
 ties, but they were eliminated at the
 behest of organized labor.
 i While eXerting his influence to procure obedience of the decisions
 of the Labor Board, the president is
 also endeavoring to bring about a general reduction in freight rates.