The Washington herald., 1922-08-09
HARDING MAY ASK
FOR AUTHORITY TO
SEIZE RAILROADS
Wants House Ready for
| ). Action in Strike
Emergency.
AWAITS ANS W ERs
Union Chiefs on Way to Cap
ital TO Discuss General
Tie-Up.
AWAITS A Ms w E R s
cort.naed From Pape one.

take no chances with defective
equipment. 1t was also stated that
the engineers are having thor
ough investigation made 81 the
Missouri wreck OF last Saturday to
ascertain whether defective equip
ment had anything to do with the
smash-up.
Mr.. Jewell said that every
agency at the command of the
unions had been put to work to
gather data as to the condition of
equipment SO that complete infor-
nation on the subject would be
available for the conference Friday.
From the information. already at
hand, he said, the number, OF cars
needing repairs was increasing at
the rate of 10000 a day. OF this
number, about 5000 were In need
of heavy" repairs and $4,000
needed light repairs"
n Per Cent Out Of Order.
As to locomotives, Jewell said.
the railroads would have to repair
1000 a day in order to keep pace
with the situation. He said that
11.315 locomotives were already out
Of service for repairs requiring
more than "a hours work and
about 5000 were out of service for
repairs requiring less than "a hours
work. In other words. he pointed
out. approximately 23 per cent OF
tie locomotives were already out
of commission at time when the
railroads were facing the peak of
demand for service.
B. NJ. Jewell said he has been
informed that certain railroads arc
importing strikebreakers from
England and shipping them from
New York to shops In the East
Central States. Many of these
men when interviewed by pickets,
Jewell said. admitted they were
hired abroad and some have de-
manded that they be shipped back
to New York because they refuse
to work as strikebreakers.
Through President william H.
Johnston Of the machinists. Jewell
has cabled the British labor unions
70 stop this practice. Meantime.
Johnston is taking the matter up
with the Labor Department. declar-
ing the practice to be in violation
of the alien contract labor law.
President Gompers of the A F. L.,
has forecasted as the probable rea-
son for a general rail strike-the
continually increasing breakdown
of locomotives and cars because OF
lack of repairs. and the conse-
quently growing risk to employees.
Points to Frequent Wrecks.
Reports OF railroad wrecks have
been frequent of late and in AT
least one such accident, on the Ais
souri, Pacific" Gompers said
"thirty-five persons were killed
and more than 100 injured.
There has been no statement as
to the cause of these frequent
wrecks other than the statements
by railroad managers which uni
formly ascribe the wrecks ta
causes other than faulty railroad
equipment. In the most serious OF
these recent wrecks the railroad
officials stated that the engineer
had run pas stop signals.
In view of the large number of
apparently authentic, statements
charging deplorable condition of
railroad equipment, the public
should-be furnished with a more
authoritative and unbiased state
ment than any which are furnished
by railroad officials where train ac-
cidents occur.
Constant reiteration. by persons
evidently in possession of accurate
Information. of charges that totally
unfit locomotives are being used
both in the freight and passenger
service of the various railroads JUS
titles the demand for some other
explanation for the increasing
number of wrecks than those
offered by railroad officials"
The conferences between officials
of the Southern Railway and the
striking shop workers on that road
have been called of. The employees
have notified the Southern that they
will settle only on a national basis
In their reply the strikers acknowl-
edged the willingness of the South
ern to restore full seniority.
This has provoked a notice by
Faiifax Harrison. president of the
Southern, warning all employees
that henceforth the road will oper-
ate even II 1t has to employ strike
breakers. p practice from which
heretofore IL had refrained