New Britain herald., 1922-08-10
R.R. MEN POINT OUT LABOR NEWS JOKER
Claim There Is "String'. Tied to
 Their Letter Of Acceptance

Chicago, Aug. 10.-An explanation by S. NJ. Felton, chairman of tbe western committee on public relations CT the association of railway execu- tives, of the railroads view of Presi- dent Harding's proposal and the posi- ton Of leaders of the shopmen's strike was made public today Mir Felton said that large majority of the public has been misled regarding the stand of union leaders and that there IS considerable confusion over the presidents proposal with respect to the seniority question.
 End of Strike Desirable.
 There cannot be any difference of opinion" Mir Fetons said, among reasonable men regarding the desira- hility of terminating this strike at an early date, providing this can be done in way that would do approximate justice to those who are directly con- cerned and that will not make rail- way strikes more likely in the future
 Unions Did Not Agree
 "The labor leaders in their letter to the president did not agree to accept the rulings of the labor board in the future.
 There is only one way in which employees can possibly refuse to recognize the validity of and carry out decision of the labor board. That Is by striking rather than ac- cepting 1t. Therefore this proposal of the president could not possibly have meant anything with respect to the future conduct of the striking em- that in the future they could not strike rather than accept and carry out decisions of the board.
 "The labor leaders concede it Is the duty of the employees to abide by the decisions of the board only as long as they continue to render service, that is until they strike.
 Since Is is absolutely impossible for the employees to violate a decision of the board except by striking the labor leaders necessarily reach the astonishing conclusion that while the railways can violate the decisions of the board 1t is impossible for the ern- ployes to do so.
 The Seniority Issue.
 With respect to seniority there still seems to be confusion in many peoples minds as to exactly what the president originally proposed, He proposed simply that the employees who struck be taken hack with the same seniority rights that they had before they struck.
 This meant that strikers who for merly had seniority over employees who stayed at work would recover their seniority over these men and that they would be given seniority over all new men who have been em- ployed since the strike began. This would mean that practically every new man the railways have employed would have to be discharged.
 "The tendency that this would have in future both to encourage strikes and to make 1t more difficult in case of strikes for the railways to get men to stay at work or to enter their service as new men Is too obvious to require mention.
 Under the second plan proposed by the president the entire question of seniority would be submitted to the railroad labor board for settle ment, The labor leaders have prompt ly rejected this plan, The railway executives are to meet Friday to con sider it.
 "Cleariy however the proposal to give men who stayed at WoriS or have gone to work during the strike an opportunity to have their rights de- termined by the board is a very diff ferent thing from the proposition that regardless of all the promises that have been held out to them in order to keep the railways running their rights shall be arbitrarily set aside without any hearing whatever"