The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-01-17
REGIONAL BOARDS WILL HANDLE RAIL
 ISSUES IN FUTURE
Tentative Agreement Reached by Brott .,oSxod Chiefs and
 scutives at x..ssee conference
By Associated Press

{ ashington. January 16.-A pro sisional agreement was reached today by railway executives and heads Of the four railway brotherhoods. meet ing at the instance of Secretary Hoover to submit wage and working questions affecting train service em- ployes to regional conferences for ad- Justment if possible. without contests before the railroad labor board. Rail road executives will meet in Chicago Saturday to consider the proposals while brotherhood chiefs will report back to their organizations and If the agreement is ratified, as all concerned expected today 1t would be, the re- gional gatherings will be summoned on or about February 10.
 The action was decided upon after an all-day session in which active heads of many of the larger railroad organizations of the country partici- pated. and which was called by a smaller preliminary meeting of rail road executives and labor leaders with Mir Hoover.
 Among those present were F. D. Un- Serwood. president of the Erie; Carl Gray. president of the Union Pacific; W. W. Atterbury, vice president of the Pennsylvania: c. H. Markham, preSi- dent of the Illinois Central; w. l.. Mapother. president Of the Louisville and Nashville; Daniel Willard, presi- dent of the Baltimore and Ohio; w. J. Hanrahan, president of the Chesa- peake and Ohio; A. H. Smith, presi- dent of the New York Central; J. H. Eustace, president of the Boston and Tai TaIa 1f &h. Chicago Burlington and Quincy, and E. F. Bush, president of the Missouri Pacific.
 Among the brotherhood officers were Warren g. Stone. chief of the engineers; W. G. Lee of the train men; L. E. Sheppard, for the con ductors, and Timothy Shea, for the enginemen.
 To Facilitate Boards Work
 The regional conferences, Mir. Hoover said, would facilitate the work of the railroad labor board, and above all tend to create a spirit of working good will and the settle- ment of differences by adjustment, not by methods of litigation"
 It was pointed out that the fixing of wage scales for train service em- ployes had been brought about through negotiations participated in by railroad officials and union repre- sentatives In districts where work was performed during all the period prior to the war. Further, 1t was said, that the method of reconciling differences by negotiation prior to appealing to the labor board had been specifically contemplated by the transportation act sections creating ithe board .-l,s,sa--,ss--s
 Mir. Hoover stated that the confer ence today did not discuss wages or working agreements in themselves, and added that he considered the rail- road labor situation as @ntirely dis connected from negotiations, over coal mining wages, which he has tenta- lively embarked upon as representa- tive of the administration.
 Railroads have formally given mo- tice to the railroad labor board and the organizations of their employees that they will ask general reductions in existing wage scales, but the pro- ceedings so instituted have not yet been brought to trial. It is antici- pated that new wage scale agree ments, if reached by negotiations be- tween the train service men and the roads In the regional conferences either for a part of the United States or for the entire country will be sub stituted for any decisions which might be reached through the formal proceedings. Appeal to the board would only be taken in such mat ters as were not decided at the con ference.