The Connecticut labor news., 1923-05-11

An lnVeSt19at1On III which practically al! the larger railroads of the country which have refused to settle the strike ot the shopmen will be ordered to spread out their reports for the microscopic examination of experts, Is now being conducted by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The investigation is made under the Transportation Act on petition of William ii. Johnston, president of the International Association of Machinists Appearing for the interested shOpmen IS Henry T. Hunt, formerly mayor of Cincinnati, and representative of the public on the Railroad Labor Board, as counsel for the Railway Employees De parhnent of the American Federation of Labor.
 The first road to be singled out for the investigation is the hard boiled'' Lehigh Valley, and sworn figures sub mitted by inspectors of the l. C. (. dis closed the damaging charge that during the months ending February, 1923, with strike-breakers substituting for union employees the proportion of hard boiled" Lehigh Valley had jumped from 82.3 per cent for the cor responding 1922 period to the tell-tale figure of 1929 per cent. During Feb, 1925, the showing was even worse. The ratio had climbed to the perllOuS summit of 113.5 per cent.
 Under the reckless miSmanagemen of the road a net return of $4,6l0,57O for the eight months period of 1922 had been wiped out by an ever-rising tide of costs. leaving a deficit on the com pany's books of $l,l99,l45.
 JUNGLE OF BAD EQUIPMENT.
 Merely scratching the surface of the illuminating reports on the first day of the inquiry into the Lehigh Valley, the commissions experts disclosed a con- dition of crippled railroad equipment and disrupted finances since the strike that stand out like sore finger when com pared with previous, conditions, despite the fact that railroad business was never better than now.
 Prodding with irritating fingers into all the sore spots of the railroads af fairs, the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion singled out the Lehigh Valley as the initial victim at the opening Ot its first official public investigator of con- ditions growing out of the strike,
 Reduced to its simplest terms, the inquiry is a part of the commissions determination to find out whether the railroads are at present maintaining "an efficient and economical management that would entitle them, under the trans 1
 
 yn their properties.
 With this aim in view. the commits | sion put the Lehigh Valley on the wit l ness stand first because of the progress of inquiries made by its inspectors, since last January covering nine months period ending July, 1922, when the shop mems strike began, compared with the corresponding period of 1922-23.
 No attempt was made by the commits 1 sion's counsel to enter into an eXplana- | ton of figures at this stage of the in vestigation, though later during the hearing the Lehigh counsel sought to explain demoralized conditions on the road as due to acts of sabotage and dynamiting"
 Mr. Hunt objected that no evidence of this character had been inserted into the record and that the statement under those circumstances was unprecedented i'll a hearing of this kind.
 Delving into the conditions of locomo i tives, cars and other equipment the commissions experts continued to de- l velop damaging statistics. The average cost of locomotive repairs per freight train mile for the eight months ending Februory, 1923, had increased approxl- mately 500 per cent, showing the de- 1 plorable condition of equipment and i 
 service. The cost was $1,372 for the 1923 period, compared with SO.509 tor the 1922 period ]
 Eighty-three per cent of total engines i on the line during the nine months ending March 31, 1922, period, were serviceable, compared with only 67 per cent. at the end of the 1923 period The number of serviceable engines reached 1 its low mark in January, 1923, with only G. ar cent of the freight engines were ser viceable for the 1923 period compared with 80 per cent. previously.
 HIGH COST OF OPERATING.
 During the eight months ending Feb ruary 1923, the cost of operating loco motives was 252.3 per cent more than for the corresponding period ot l921 and PA per cent more than Ill l9ll, per train mile The cost of englnemen was 177.9 per cent of the cost in the 1921 per cent more and the cost of fuel had mounted to 146.7 per cent. more than Tn 1922, and 1901 per cent. more than III the 1921 period
 One of the interesting points brought out in statistics showed that force ot 1ieutenants, sergeants and patrolmen used in cOercing union men had been , doubled while in every division the mum Der of employees had been considerably reduced. The police force numbered 372 men after the strike commenced, 1 compared with 167 before, and the cost had doubded correspOndingly. Carmen had been reduced from 1857 to I,I3o; maintenance of equipment and store employees 5,84o to 5.3o3; train and en- ginemen, APIS to 4O1O; blacl1smiths, 105 to o3; boilermakers, 254 to 215; ma chinists, 938 to 902. These figures bear testimony to the difficulty of the road in securing strike-breakers. FREIGHT CAR PERFORMANCES.
 The extent to which the road IS a!-