The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-06-17
SAY MINORITY
is TRYING TO
INCITE STRIKE
Majority Members of Rail
Labor Board Who Yester-
day Ordered Wage Cut, To-
day Flay Dissenters.
CLAIM CUTS ARE FAIR
fRy Associated Press.l

tBy Associated Press.)
CHICAGO, June 17.-Majority mem
bers of the United States railroad lab
or board who yesterday ordered an
other $27, ,000, 900 slash from wages of
the nations railway workers. today re-
piled to criticisms o. minority mem
bers of the board with the charge that
the dissenting members presented Sin
cendary arguments in strained and
exaggerated effort to enfame the en-
ployes to strike against the decisions
of the board"
The minority constituting two of
three labor members were accused OF
Sowing some of the tiny SEEDS; that
have terminated and blossomed into
Industrial anarchy in Russia"
Yesterdays decision which affected
wages of 325, 900 railway clerks, signal
men and stationary firemen. brought
total reductions effective July l under
the boards orders to S135, 100000 Ap-
proximately 1,200,0 railway en-
ployes are affected by the orders.
Opinions Set Forth
Accompanying yesterdays order car.
rying reductions ranging from two 10
six cents an hour was a lengthy sup
porting opinion from the members rep
resenting the railroads and the public
and the dissenting opinion by the lab
or members condemning the order.
In their prompt rejoinder today the
majority members said in part:
1T is not incumbent upon the six
members of the board concurring in
this decision to follow the minority
into partisan controversy which par
takes more of the characteristics of
impassioned advocacy than of calm
adjudication.
I'm so far as the dissenting opinion
distorts the sentiments of the majority
misquotes their language and r~fle-'r
upon their desire and disposition to
do justice, we will refrain from coni-
| ment.
FIay Minority.
We prefer to believe that these i'm
! lproprieties crept into that part of the
document which was drafted by the
employees in the headquarters of the
railway department of the American
Federation of Labor and that they
were overlooked by the dissenting
members. -.
There is one feature of the dis.
senting argument, however, which is
SO unusual that it should not be
passed over without notice and that is
the portion wherein the two dissent.
/ ing members advise the employees to
strike against the decision of the
board. -
| ut is something new for labor mem
bers of the board to issue incendiary
arguments to employees in favor OF
/ striking against a decision of the
board. The giving of advices of this
kind has heretofore been left to out
siders, who were not under the off
cial obligations imposed by the Trans
portation Act, the main purpose of
which is to prevent railway strikes
and protect the public from their dire
! effects.
Passage Referred To.
"One of the passages referred to is
as follows:
The transportation Act aimed to
substitute for the strike such just and
reasonable wages as would render re-
sort to a strike unnecessary If this
tribunal created 10 determine such
wages admits that under existing cir
cumstances it cannot fulfil this func-
ton, obviously the employees must use
such power as they have to influence
the labor market which is henceforth
to be the determining factor in their
wages.
That Is to say, If the board makes
such admission, the employees must
strike.
Then the dissenting members pro-
ceed to remove the if and to assert
that the board has made the admis-
sion which renders a strike neces-
sary.
mot only do the minority step down
from the judicial position, which they
occupy to advise a strike, but they OBJ
viously distort and misconstrue the
language of the majority in order to
provide the condition which they pro-
lnounce a justification.
This is not the only place in the dis
senting opinion where the suggestion
is made to the employees to strike AS
a matter of fact the entire dissenting
opinion constitutes a strained and ex-
aggerated effort to infiame the en-
ployes by the belief that they have
been grossly outraged by this decision
Say Cut Conservative
"A fair statement of the facts will
convince any disinterested man that
no injustice has been done to the en-
ployes by the present decision and that
the decrease in their wages is CON
servative and is based upon the law
and the evidence"
Declaring that the minority savageiy
attacked statements quoted from for
mer decisions by the board, in which
relevant circumstances referred TO
in the transportation act were consid-
! cred in wage increases. the majority
members asserted that cit would ap-
! pear that the relevant circumstances
j were TO be considered by the present
. dissenting members in relation only to
wage increases, but not decreases"
The statement then went into the
controversy over theoretical living
? standards and the minority's charges
! that the year 1917 was an unfair year
, TO adopt as basis or starting point
!. in the consideration of wages Of rail-
! way labor.
The dissenters are well aware that
the wage reports of this board have
begun with the year 1917 and both of
them have twice concurred in this ar
= rangement," the statement continued.
= Statistics from the Bureau of Labor
; and the Interstate Commerce Commits.
sion on living costs and standards In
:. l1o1S war which fha dissouforo a~-