Evening star., 1922-02-15

their retirement they should be re-
Quired to accept such employment on
the pain of forfeiting their pension
privileges"
by present these suggestions and
recommendations to President Hard
ing, and through him or with him to
Congress, 80 that whatever admins
trative or congressional action may
be necessary in carrying them into
effect may be brought about with the
least possible delay.
Objects to summary Action.
Speaking for the workers of the
navy yards. Mr.. Gompers emphasized
that organized labor supported fully
the purposes and results Of the arms
limitation conference and declared
that labor looked with pride on the
ment" in calling the parley
But 1t hurt me to think" he said
to Secretary DENLY, "that 1t (the re-
duction Of navy yard labor) was done
1t was pointed, out BY President
Gompers that the suspension order
came from a clear sky" and that
men who had worked continuously in
the yards for nearly thirty years were
furloughed with no more than seven
VI SlSut mlnuSe6 notice.
1t must be remembered, however.
that the dismissals which have 80
seriously S1ied to an already acute
condition Of unemployment are pred
icattd' upon the ratification Of the
treaties which have been written.
We feel that it was not a consid-
crate and sympathetic act to so sum =
marily and in such sweeping manner
cut thousands from their means OF
livelihood. seemingly without any ef-
fort to modify the action or to lessen
convinced that the readjustment
could have been made in such a
manner as not to anticipate the ac-
tion OF the Senate and at the same
time not to add to the volume of
work that must be undone when
ratification Of the five-power treaty
takes place.
I'VE believe that i more thorough
ly considered judgment will right
this wrong which has been done and.
in order to assist to that end, we
offer this program. which, IL adopted.
An orderly and just readjnstment in
the navy yards"
Tells Of Hardship&
Robert johnson. president of the
local Machinists' Union. described to
secretary DenDy the n2f06hlpS lm
posed upon the Washington navy yard
employees by the abrupt order Of dis
missaL He said that he had been
constantly hesieged since the order
was issued by union members, and SC
great had been, their distress that he
had lost much sleep every night In
his effort to alleviate his fellow mem.
bers 1t had been said outside of the
union, he said, that navy yard work
ers were In the '.weil-to-do- class >
Mr. johnson insisted that ne could
testify from his own personal knowl.
edge of the circuns hlnces Of the yard
men that this was not the case. and
that very brief period of unernploy.
ment would bring upon the Non an6
their families great suffering ane
hardship.
n. p. Alifas, president of District
Ia, International ASo0,iat{cn Of
Machinists, made a stFNnG"1lea fol
the maintenance of thr navy yards
pointing out that eSs people of thu
! country have invested large sums il
! them. He emphasized that the nav.
yards can produce work at st LITTLE
or less cost than private concerns
Among other members of the dele
cation who conferred with Secretar.
DENLY were Frank Morrison, secre
tary OF the American Federation o
Labor: William H. Johnston, presiden
| of the International Association o
! Machinists; A. J. Berries secretar.
of the Metal Trades Union; J. +
Anderson, vice president of tn
Machinists Union: Charles Rosemun'
of the Draftsmen's Union. Mr.. Davi
Of the Boilermakers' Union, A. e. Lin
ten and Frank Lee.