The Winslow mail., 1922-06-30
SHOP CRAFTS TAKE EXCEPTIONS TO
RULING Of UNITED STATES LABOR
BOARD; CHAIRMAN HOOPER ANSWERS

ter does manifest strikingly dis
torted conception of what the Board
has done and why it did it.
In the most concise manner possi-
bic and without repetition Of much
detail, let me call attention to a
few statements in your letter.
L. Your statement that the Boards
last decision states openly that
pressure of circumstances was such
| that the Board was unable to deter
mine Just and reasonable wages is
not correct. The decision contains
no such statement and none that
! can fairly be SO construed.
The decision recites at length the
] abnormal economic and industrial
conditions of the postwar period,
and then says:
Surrounded by such abnormal
! conditions, the Labor Board has not
been permitted to deal with the
question of what constitutes Just and
reasonable wages and working CON
ditions in the same undistu bed and
uncOmplcated manner as would
have been possible in normal times"
This simple recognition of diff
culties experienced by the whole
world should not be twisted into
an Interpretation designed to mis-
lead the men whose interests are
most directly involved
g Your statement that this Board
says that "the establishment of just
wages for railway workers must
await the complete satisfaction of
ownership in the matter of re-habil-
itation and profits" is an inexcusa-
bic perversion of both the language
and meaning of what the Board in
fact said. A strike of railway en-
ployes, involving their wages, their
employment and their welfare, bas-
ed upon such misleading statements
of this Boards sentiments and de-
clarations would be unjust to the
men and to the public.
8. The statement in the Boards
decision that labor cannot be COM
pletely freed from the conomic laws
which likewise affect the earnings
Of capital" is so obviously unsound
that it will not be questioned any
where this side of the kingdom of
the Bolsheviki And yet, you men
ton this as an occasion of offense.
Your construction of this as mean
ing "the treatment of labor as
commodity" is strained, especially
SO, in view of the fact that the
Board in the same paragraph said:
1T should he said that the Labor
Board has never adopted the theory
that human labor is a commodity, to
be bought and sold upon the market,
and. consequently, to be reduced to
starvation wages during periods of
depression and unemployment
4. Your statement that the Board
failed to take into consideration the
principle that even the lowest paid
railway employees, such as section
men and laborers, should receive at
least a living wage, is utterly base
less.
Your continual isolation and ac-
centuation of the fact that mini
mum rate of 23c. per hour, $1S4 a
day, was established for section
men, is entirely misleading, because
it overlooks or suppresses 50 many
facts, among which are the follow
ing:
l. The rate for section men ranges
from 23 to 35c per hour
&. comparatively small number
oe them received 23c. per hour. A
YdSl lndiOllly VI tueil ieo0iFOu thO
higher rates. This is shown by the
fact that the average rate per hour
is 1927 cents.
3. The % cent rate is found on a
comparatively small number of divi-
sions on few roads in the south
and southwest. 1t is not even found
On the Southern and Illinois Central
which cuts completely through the
South
Continued on page 6)