The Connecticut labor news., 1923-02-02
Need No More Laws.

In answering question from Speaker Nickerson, MT. Buckland said that he did not see the necessity for more sabotage laws, as the pres ent ones were adequate if the guilty men could be caught MT. Bardo ex- plained that the average pay was about the same as before the strikey
 some classes being paid more, and
 unskilled laborers less than was the case before the strike.
 Speaker Nickerson said that there was no cheap talk about the service north of Brookheld as he knew what Lit was from experience. Mir. Bardo
 said that the delays had been caused by trouble with locomotives and that line was the next one which would
 be brought up to the standard. He
 said that there were 10 delays on the
 road for other causes to one for me
 chanical defects.
 Public Utilities Heads Solution. Richard T. Higgins, chairman of
 the public utilities commission, said that the New Haven" road had done
 all In its power to raise efficiency
 and that what 1t most needed was CO., operation among it's employees and the spirit of an honest days work
 for an honest days pay"
 Public Utilities Comrnissioner.C. C.
 Elwell also spoke, saying he thought the present division layout of the road was all right.
 H. H Wills of Rockville pleaded with the road for coal for "our chil- dren, our wives and our mothers" who are freezing and asked that the road sidetrack perishable freight, which wouldn't be damaged in this cold weather, in order to rush through coal What we need IS coal" he said, "and we need 1t now" ; Senator Pierson asked if MT Bardo had ever refused permit to ship soft coal into New England. MT. Bardo said he could not recall refus- asked what good the soft coal em- bargo was, explained that it kept those who did not really need coal from asking for it. Senator Pierson asked why the Baltimore & Ohio refused to honor permits from the New Haven" and MT Bardo explain ed that 1t, was sounder business for the Baltimore & Ohio to keep 1t coal cars on the rail and water route than to allow them to get to New England on the all rail route. He admitted that the number of cars on the New Haven" system had increased.
 George Soule, economist and sta- tistician, director of the Labor Btu reau, Inc, of New York City, made the following interesting statement:
 There is no dispute about the fact that the N Y, N H & H. railroad has been givng bad service as re- suit of the shopmen's strike. The of the road, however, argues that 1t could not improve the service by settling with the shop men. Let us put this argument to the test of facts and figures supplied by the road of the country have now nerce Commission, and published by he commission.
 On September I5, 1922, a large and group of roads settled with -he shopmen on the terms of the Bal .imore agreement More than half settled on these terms. We can judge he effect of settlement by comparing he performance of one of the big oads which settled in September he Baltimore & Ohio, with the per ormance of the New Haven, which las not settled.
 In August, 1922, the New Haven lad an average of o8 unserviceable reight locomotives in its shops, or 84 per cent of the total In Sep ember 1t still had o8 locomotives out # order, or 28.6 per cent of the total t that time In October the number # hnserviceable locomotives had Iropped to 88, or 24.I per cent But n November the number of bad order freight locomotives was back t o5 again, or 25.2 per cent. Not -ery encouraging record of improve nent
 In passenger locomotives the story s even worse The percentages out # order were: August, 3o.5 per cent; September, 32.4 per cent; October,