The St. Johns herald., 1922-08-17
ROADS REJECT
 HARDING'S PLAN NO INDICATION AT WHITE HOUSE AS TO WHAT MOVE GoVERN-
 MENT WILL TAKE.
SHOPS WILL OPERATE
SENIORITY ISSUE BLOCKS PEACE AND SHOPS WILL OPERATE
 WITH NEW MEN.

ashingtOn.-Presiden Harding has
 he rail strike problem back on his
 hands as a result of the refusal of the
 railway executives, at their meeting in
 New York, to accept the administra- | tiOn settlement plan so far as the sen
 iOrity issue is concerned. There was no
 indication at the White House as to
 what move, if any, the government
 planned to make in the situation. It
 was considered probable that Mir.
 Harding would study carefully the text
 of the executives reply and that ex-
 pected from the labor leaders meeting
 in Chicago before reaching a decision.
 The tone of the replies and the cir cumstances under which they were made, it was indicated at the White House, undoubtedly would guide Mir. Harding to some extent and there was another intimation that publicity could not always be helpful in the difficult and delicate negotiations into which the administration has been drawn by thei industrial situation.
 From the government viewpoint, the railroad strike is regarded as imme- diately serious only because of the ex- isting stOppage of coal production. There have been constant intimations that the administration would be dis posed to force a quick settlement of the railroad difficulties in order to cope with the coal situation, even at the cost of some re-establiShment of the former control of railroads.
 Cabinet members and associates of the President have sharply empha- sized the contrast between their view of the seniority issue" and that talk en by the railroad executives as ex- pressed in public statements Public statements of railroad heads that the granting of the strikers demands for a return to full seniority rights would necessitate the discharge of scores of thousands of efficient workers hired to take their places have been flatly denied in informal discussions with newspaper correspondents, said to be exaggerated and otherwise stamped | as unreliable.
 That this was the Presidents view was further indicated by the pro- pOsals transmitted to the union and | the executives meeting, in that on the crucial point of seniority rights, the proposals would give the strikers a more complete rehabilitation in the service than was suggested in any of | the unofficial summaries made public in advance. The Presidents view of the situation, it was said, was that the acknowledgment by. the railroad world of the supremacy of the railroad labor board was the chief object of the government at the moment.
 The possibility that new legislation would be sought in Congress as a re suit of the strike test of the trans portation act, which would make the labor boards decisions binding and penalize violations of them by either employees or employers was again sug- gested in official circles.
 Chairman Hooper of the railroad la- Dor board was expected to argue for increases of the boards power before committees when the is- sue came up
 The Interstate Commerce Commis- sion has been constantly in touch with he actual status of the strike through ts safety inspection division which checks up on the sufficiency of re- pairs given to locomotives and rolling stock and through the continuous re- ports made to the commission by a lumber of men at work in all depart nents of class one roads.