The Connecticut labor news., 1923-01-26
Shopmen Present Their Side of Controversy

work upon the people dependent on this railroad for. freight or travel. The strike involved issues national in scope, and as for the shopmen of the New Haven having no grievances, banish the thought, they had grievances enough as can be proven by the numerous joint submissions that were to be sent to the Railroad Labor Board, but withheld by the company officials, and in addition the wage reductions which had been made effective but a short month pre- vious.
 Mr. Buck1and falls far short of pre- senting the necessary evidence or proof that the railroad managers did not pro- yoke the strike Jet him but recall the on his and other railroads for wage decreases and rate increases, let him present the volume of data prepared by the railroads as evidence of the necessity or wage reductions to enable them to secure their income. The argu- ment so frequently resorted to that the leader of the shopmen refused to ap- pear before the Labor Board needs but this explenation. Ben Hooper, the Chairman of the Board, did not call upon MT. Bert M. Jewell, the leader of the shop craftsmen, to discuss the possibility of averting the strike until
  strike becoming effective, no effort was made by MT. Hooper at any time during the taking of the strike ballots to avert trouble, but he waited until the last day and then made an eleventh hiur re- quest, and 1t IS doubtful if he made a request for this conference in good faith as 1t is generally conceded that it was nothing else but an attempt to confuse the planned methods of send ing out the strike call and there by cause confusion in the ranks of the men and thereby give the railroads an advantage over the men.
 The statements of the Chairman of the Railway Labor Board as to the status of the strikers have long since been laid aside as empty, worthless phrases even bring about adjustments by the Chief Executive of this nation have likewise recognized the standing of the strikers as being entitled to full consideration of their demands. More than 60 per cent. of the railroad executives have to date recognized the demands of their shop craftsmen and 1t is interesting to note that each of these are considered to be of the up-todate class III the managing of their properties and obtaining results for their railroads both in earnings and transportation.
 The Readvil1e shops incident is given much consideration at this time, yet you will be surprised to hear that at the time of this mythical occurrence not one word was said by the officials in charge of that particular shop or were any re- ports submitted officially by the New Haven officials They had during this period recourse to the representatives of the men in question to call upon them to overcome such evils, but at no time was any such request made upon them. The minutes of the meetings of the System Federation make no mention of any conferences with officials on this matter, we of necessity must therefore put this yard down as a "red herring" and the report of the government repre- sentative made III August, 1918, IS simply refuted by such statements as these:
 At the time of the assertion of Fed eral control we were all impressed with the fact that there was very decided impairment III the morale of the e1n- ployees at the time, due to the long con- tinued neglect of the executives of the railroads to readjust conditions and pay higher wages"
 That from the report of the Interstate Commerce Commission as are also the 1 following. MT. A. H. Smith, Regional l Director of the Eastern railroads dur l ing government operation:
 "In closing l wish to particularly men tion and commend the employees of these railroads for their tireless efforts and 1 extreme loyalty during year of unusual and tense situations"
 MT. L. w. Baldwin another of the Regional Directors in his report says: l
 Am pleased to report that the CO., operation of officers and employees of the railroads contributed to the success in handling the business and accom- plishing the results obtained during the year,
 But let's conclude the argument on this Readville matter with this taken from the Interstate Commerce Commission investigations