Evening star., 1922-11-28
LABOR men APPEAL
TO THE PRESIDENT
Urge Railroads Be Compelled
To Abide by Labor Board
Ruling.

Believing that railroads are seek
of the responsibilities imposed on
them by the transportation act. or
Ganized shopworkers. it was revealed
yesterday. have appealed to President
Harding to have the roads live up to
the spirit and letter of a recent order
OF the Railroad Labor Board regard
ing the non-assignment of repair jobs
to contractors
\ committee. headed by Bert Jew
ell. spokesnan for the shopmen. and
President William II. Johnston of the
International Association of Machin-
lists. presented the case to President
Harding last Saturday. during an in
tcrriew at the White House. They
cited four instances of violation of
the order to the President. wherein
railroads allegedly were operating in
violation of this order. One was de-
clared to be an Erie railroad shop in
Marion, Ohio. home town of the Pres
ident. Other instances cited were
two Eric shops in other towns and
one Western Mary land railroad shop.
Contractors Open Shops.
According to the labor leaders.
shops on the roads have been turned
over to contractors in order that en-
pioSes OF these shops might be placed
outside the jurisdiction Of the Rail-
| road Labor BOARD. although conttn-
! ulnS to do the same practical work
after transfer of the management as
nc1ore In the case of the Marion
snop. II was learned. the labor lead
ers presented figures showing that i.
mas been taken over by a construc-
tion company whose charter showed
cspltalization at $1,000. The pay roll
! o. that company. it was averred.
100 times its capitalization.
PRESIDENT johnson of the machin-
ISIS todaS declared the consensus of
i opinion among organized labor on
railroads. I" be that such transfer of
management of shops amounts to an
nulment of the protective features of
the transportation act. so far as e,n-
pioEes are concerned. whereas rail-
road companies are reapinE substaa-
tial benefits continually from the
same act.
President Scored Practice.
Last July. hen labor men called
on President Harding to present to
him similar situation. it was said
he came out positively with the state
ment that such practices must go by
the hoard. He is quoted by one labor
: leader as. in substance. saying:
Reear6lesS of whether this shop
mems strike is settled or NOT. the CON
tractInS of shops must go. This prac-
tice led to the trouble we are having.
1t must be abandoned"
; y: the last visit from the labor
leaders. he is declared to have re-
terated his position on this subject
q
as in July.
There was another item placed be-
i"re the President. 1t regards the
subject of defective equipment on the
roads: Lax Inspection methods.
service are allowed to be placed in
operation. was one of the points that
the labor leaders called to the atten-
tion of the chief executive. 1t was
pointed out to him that for two
months nothing has been done along
this line. Two months ago. 1t was
declared. engineers and fremen on
the roads sent representatives to
Washington with an appeal for great
er vigilance in the inspection of loco
motives.
Taken Before I. E. G..
The matter was placed before the
Interstate Commerce Commission,
which has jurisdiction in this matter
The routine of such 4 complaint, iS
1nVeStlgatlon by the commission and
presentation Of the case TO :he At
torney General of the United States
for prosecution.
Nothing has been done in this
case" the shopmen told President
Harding. We wish to have some
notice taken. Of it, if possible They
further averred that engineers and
f1remeu had been in some cases forced
to take out defective equipment
which resulted in explosion Of loco
motive boilers and subsequent death
and injuries to the transportation
workers.
According to Mr. Johnston. on many
roads only so per cent of the avail
able equipment is in operation and
large percentage of that in operation
is not in flrst-c!ass serviceab!e con-
dition. "lts hazardous condition"
was Mr.. Johnston's commentary