The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-08-14

NCl Vic hhliIOdu DEOtHcfuOOU Ct1&cfn
? pressed by union members, now adj
NIT, as did President A F. Whitney Of
the Trainmen, that the railroads are
continuing to throw employees oat of
work, thereby increasing unemploy-
ment at an alarming rate.
Ro0sevelts Law
Current headlines feature an
nouncements by rail coordinator
Eastman alleging advice TO railroads
that more workers be employed. Yet
! this same man, several weeks ago, adj
mitted that railroads themselves
might cut down on the number Of
workers and that the Roosevelt law
calling for not less than were en-
ployed in May of this year, applied
( only to coordinator's edicts. East
man had this to say in order TO
correct a common impression" he
said, among railroad workers that
the emergency Rail Act protects them
absolutely from dismissals or fur
loughs after the effective date Of the
law" (Our emphasis)
And so Eastman'e latest blast that
rail repairs will be speeded up in
Back to-work Drive" can likewise
be taken with a grain Of salt. For
while the New York Times reported
! pledges from rail employers and
that employment might be stimu-
lated with loans for maintenance
work authorized by the Public
| Works Act" and that upwards of
81 100000 900 could be spent now" for
such work, Wall Street tells a differ
ent story.
Inquiry in railroad circles here
developed that railroads are not dis
| playing much interest in the gov
eminent loans which will be made
available under the public works pro-
gram for repairs and deferred main
tenance work" admits the Wall
Street Journal. This pricks one
ballyhoo bubble foisted on the work
ers in this country by the Roosevelt
! government. And rail workers with
Illusions about the Roosevelt regime
might consider the following from
the mouth Of Big Business paper.
The Transport Act, remarks the
Wall Street Journal (Aug. Z. 1885,
was passed 'in the hope Of meeting
railroad financial emergency, not
Of sol'slg the national unempIoy-
ment problem" 1t was prepared to-
wards protection of some billions Of
thrift accumulations," (read capital
lists nvestments-LRA) and must
not be converted into an instrument
! Of carfo1 o14OraE
| phasis)
Only the rail owners, continues
| the financiers' mouthpiece, can de
terrnine the priority relation between
/ railrcsd job making and the individ-
usl carriers safety margin of current
/ earnings over fixed charges" Thus
an authoritative voice of the o. S.
rulers flaunts Eastmahis high-sound-
| ing words.
Fights for Compensation
Although the Rail Act clearly pro-
/ vides that workers, transferred be-
cause Of mergers or poolings, must
be compensated for any additional
expense they incur, Boston and Maine
and Maine Cgatral workers are fight
ing to collect. Some 233 are affected
and have scored their first victory
as board was established to deter
mine amount due them. Seventy
workers will lose jobs in merger OF
accounting departments Of the two
reads.
Canadian engineers, firemen, con-
! ductors, trainmen and railroad tele-
graphers, of the Canadian Pacific
/ and Canadian National RAILWAYS
aroused over the owners attempts To
put over 20 per cent wage cut, ara
ready for strike vote. The ma
| jority of the board of Cancellation
! cr37eG,r9 under the Industrial Dis
rrtcs re- (Which had in fact beer
in7c--'ir,c ed only to investigated went
| CIT O. is way to recommend the cut,
! Alreadv thu comoany union on the
Canadian Pacific Express has "ac-
cepted' the Slash This will maks
rates OF workers on this road 17I1
Fer cent less than the low wages paid
in the United States and by Canadian
lines operating here.
Precs and Raj Employment ON New
New York Central
IN Y. Central Will Take On f475
Men In August" headlined the capt.
talist press the other day. When
en- Oct. 16, 1880, the same road laid
CT 5000 men, however, latter report
was not quite so prominently dis.
played.
government, Wage Cut Helps Road.
Up to July 90 some 1881. 0oo, 900 OF
l31a per cent of the total. had beer
paid out to railroads by the Recon.
Struction Finance Corp, in its ef-
forts to aid the capitalist class. And
now writes Revert E. Edmondson
investment Economist for the Daily
news Record 1913 l33), THE general
financial position is materially aided
~ tne rsneal of the recapture clause
oeoau7e the $3.50 100000 involved is
lust that much more credit for the
TRANSPORTATION companies. Listing
i've items that make for more and
mere favorable prospects for own
ers Edmondson places as No. q,
Continuance of the reduced wage
scale by which new employees being
taken en-, must abide"
PennroHd Official, Foe Of
Labor, Dead
Workers on the Pennsylvania Rail-
road will scarcely lose any sleep over
the death of one of the roads vice
presidents Elisha Lee, who was on
$4,000 annual salary in 1882, fourth,
year Of the crisis. Lee, a company
union advocate, had long opposed
the efforts Of labor and after pass
age of the Adainson 8-hour law for