New-York tribune., 1922-07-01

Try. and that is that the tread = IT,
ing costs has been upward tor The las'
two or three months. I know that
may say persor4lls-lrd 10 noi know
whose else opinion ] mar tc cchoine
in the mat-cr-it was somewhat o; .
surprise 20 ne Not t-a. tnc urw-fd
tercercy hos been O. the extreme
rapidity that was character.stic hnck
during the war period and fhe period
irnmed gflor % ard Sub e1.er' 20
the war. but there has beer lls'.nc.
and noticeable inl.catlo. o. an upward
trend Of living costs.
The point an driving a. is this;
You say that there b. such 'rlrE 60
ing on. The board would IKE tor your
ORGANIZATION % understand fra' ~ ~at
future time. whenever conditions o.
that SOFT become o. sufficient importance
ard Of such an appiec.able c"sraciei'
you can predicate request ior a. m
crease In wages on them and come WIN
reasonable plea o. That SOFT % ta4s
board and you should know and your
organizaticn should know that tais
board Will as cordially give you az in-
crease. as ~ gave YOU frc deere e.
just a. cordially 10 that, and Go - be-
causs' u would be is sworn duty 20 co
.t ueder the transportation act.
"Of course. am rot undf.tazing 20
indicate what the iutlro action o. the
board would be about this ol any other
matter. arr only undertaking 90 an
twer your suggestion. stating tH4t
there Is no feeling In this board and
no sentiment existing m it tAat Pre-
vents the board from considering
things Of that sort when tfcy occrr n
the nature o. changes ia conditions
since previous action taken by inc
board
Later or. s',l addressing Nj Cradle,
Mr Hooper continued:
The labor organizations. have no
ticed. complain "a great deal about me
unfairrCss o. tho press.
Il notice IN your rapcr-l tninE your
organization "a ore of the supporting
organizations Of tho paper Labor'-a
statement accompanied by cartoon.
70 the effect that there were more than
100000 men of che common labor class
put on the 23-c,rt minimum wage ~
decision 1928 Then that same state
mert was rcne1ted p tho issue % The
following week, and yesterday a Con
gresham Of the United States made
that same statement. repeating u on
the Aoor Of Congress and putting u $50
The Congrcs Record
Only 5000 Men Affected
"such a very absurd ard prejud!ciai
statement as that does an injustice 20
everybody concerned. mlsleads mon. in
flames the minds q wcn wro are con-
ccrncd directly. and of men who are
only indirectly affected. TIE truth
about that matter is that there were
about z. 1000 tho cyac' number ] 10 not
recall ofhard although have tnc
statement o. ~ right here .n my POCKET
who were pvt on n minimum wage OF
% cents an hour And that was all in
q certain section a. The country where
labor was cheap in an industries, on'-
side Of railroad labor.
so instead % there being over
100000, there were less than 1000,
which was only about 90 pcr cent o.
the total of that class of employee.
In dealing with The executives Of
the railroads which have been con-
tracing out work. and getting their
promises 20 abandon the practice. Nr.
Hooper was equally forcoful and d.
rect Altogether. his was the domirat-
ing personality of tho conference.
Il am not asking you 20 say your
action has been illegal he said be
cause we differ about that. But we
are not asking YOU 20 concede you
have violated the laW.
"What 7 want you 20 do Is simply
20 say that YOU will withdraw from
the contract policy upon your road.
will cut out the contracts that arc
now outstanding, and that You have
no present intention of gong bach
into II.
THAT you don't do IN the face Of o
threat 20 strike. |ou are NOT dong
anything when YOU say t5a'; that is.
showing any lack If manhood or cour-
age. or moral courage. bat you sro
simply expressing desire % put your
self in line and I'M couormify with the
decisions 70 thi. board. which L.
government tribunal.
III there should be 2 strike on the
railroads q this country and any riots
or disorder grow out ~ -. probably
the ssme men who are attempting 20
put IN this contract sysfcw now would
be the FIRST men 20 boiler. end boiler
louder than ANYBODY else for help from
the Federal government for protection
Of their property. What position would
they be in. in view % the fact that
they are in violation % decision o.
a Federal tribunal 80
y. Y. Central Lines Offer Pledge
Jacob Aronsor. counsel for the New
York Central lines. was tho frs' 30 re-
spord 10 NJ. Hooper, invitation.
While asserting that 10 believed his
clients 20 have acted within their legal
rights in contracting, and that this had
been done as q matter o. economy. he
promised. IN the following language.
that the New York Central would &C.
cede 20 the boards request.
Notwithstanding these circuw
stances. in the interest % harmony
and with definite view of removing
every last vestige oven of colorado
cause of complaint, these carriers are
prepared now 70 say 20 'ho board with
out prejudice 10 their legal right. that
II. and only r.. such action v;ii avoid
a strike they viii undertake as soon
az they legally may DO 30 under The
provisions Of the several agreements
10 terminate the agreement, of these
carriers which have been involved m
the hearings this week thaf cover re-
pair Of equipment.
Then. one By one. tho executives of
the other railroads concerned arose