The Connecticut labor news., 1922-12-29
STRIKERS DECL LARE RAIL MANAGERS
 CAUSED STRIKE OF SHOP CRAFTS Want Railroads to Be Made Public Utility and
 Pawn for Favored Few.

Claiming that the strike of the shop crafts, which has left the railroads in such deplorable condition through neglect in making repairs and caused
 untold suffering in the homes of the people because of the inability of the
 roads to supply sufficient number
 locomotives to carry the loaded
 <ars of coal which lay on sidings at the mines to be deliberately called by the rail managers under tute1age | and direction of their banker bosses
 the strikers yesterday issued state l ment in which an appeal Is made to 1 the American public to insist that the railroads especially the New Haven road be made pubic utility and not a means to an end for a favored few
 The statement follows: Managers and strikers are smelling each other by newspaper barrages with charges of loahng, mendacity, stupidity, dishonesty, intimidation, sa- i botage and other epithets too harsh for the ears or newspaper columns. If words were all we might ignore them, but facts we cannot, so the game of charges and counter charges must go rnerrily on Public opinion,
 if the dear public be really interested,
 will perhaps get true opinions in place of the many imaginary ones doled out in the past as facts N1nety-hve per cent of the rail- roading is human said one railroad president not long ago, and once the people get this firmly fixed in their
 minds 1t will be far easier for them to understand the present railroad difficulties, especially the strike situa- ton. A<
 Since the termination of federal control the Bourbons among the
 homogeneous have gained power and they stand committed to strong policy to which labor, the human eIe-
 ment of railroading, have reacted and apparently the rift Is still widening Where will Ii end2 No one knows definitely, but predictions are being
 made by men who have for years
 been closely associated with the op- eration of railroads
 Recently before a joint commis- 1 sion of the six New England gover-
 nors meeting to investigate the rail- road situation in New England, ap- peared Judge Geo w. Anderson of 1 the United States Circuit court for l Massachusetts, and for I5 years | member of the United States Inter state Commerce Commission Judge Anderson is an authority on
 railroading and he charges the rail- road managers, under the tute1age and 1 direction of their banker bosses, with deliberately causing the shopmen's strike which has put railroad equip i ment in such terrible condition that trains cannot keep their time schedule
 and freight>cannot be transported ac-
 cording to the needs of the commun-
 ity.
 "It IS the bad condition of our lo-
 comotIves and our cars caused by the
 shopmen's strike that leaves, New
 England shivering without coal The
 miners are producing the coal. The
 banker railroad bosses and those
 newspapers under their control would ,
 like to have you believe that it is the
 miners strike which is causing the
 dearth of coal in New England But 1t IS not true If we hsd an efficient railroad system, or If the government were running the railroads, we would have plenty of coal in New England in week
 "He accused our New England rail- roads particularly of mismanagement and extravaganza and the worst offender at the present time Is the New Haven, the management of which Is exceedingly, inefficient and the dec1ar- ation that they hope to continue until the end under that guiding philosophy of making themselves so valuable to the boss that he Cor they) cannot get along without me is suffiiient evidence to substantiate the charges of Judge Anderson that 1t IS the Morgan bank CT management which controls his at tItude of belligerency toward the Shopcen.
 "The New Haven road is well viewpoint of salaries paid to managers and officials as the payroll of 46 officials totals annually. to $477,8o6.7o of whom 10 are lawyers receiving an- nua1ly totals of $84,27I.7o, this latter sum probably goes a long way to- ward buying immunity for some of their many corrupt practices and of law. The actual manage ment is in the hands of man draw ing a salary of S2I,ooo.o8, lucky for him that it's railroad, as private i'm dustry or any other nature would de mand better services in return for such rennunerative salary, also the head of the concern would strive for greater efficiency to earn his annual reward of S43,4II.6o in salary.
 eff paying high salaries to other wise inefficient officials of railroads is all that we would have to make com Dlaint of we would no doubt receive put scant attention from those closely associated with railroading, but this question of salaries is highly inn oortant one and deserves more atten- ton than it has heretofore received
 For instance, in the hearings Of Mr. Mellen, late president of the New Haven system, he was not only presi- lent of the N Y, N H. & H R R, put also president of the New Ha- ven's subsidiary companies from some of which he drew separate salary f~~~,, |, <,f