Evening star., 1938-10-11
BANKERS BLAMED
FOR RAIL PAY CUT
Labor Witness Says House
Of Morgan Inspired
Demand for Slash.
By the Associated Press.

by inc hSsOCleIed fTebs.
A railroad labor witness charged to-
day that the demand for a IS per cent
wage reduction came from "a small
inner group Of so-called investment
bankers symbolized and dominated by
the private banking house Of J. P.
Morgan & Co."
w. Jett Lauck, economist for rail-
road brotherhoods. urged President
Roosevelt's emergency fact-finding
board to look into the financial history
of railroads before deciding on the
wage reduction against which 100000
workers have voted protest strike.
There is an emergency, but not
from the public or employees stand
point" Mr.. Lauck said. 1T is an
emergency for the private banking
houses which have controlled the rail-
roads and which do not wish to be
ousted from such control in the
future"
]. Carter Fort, chief railroad coun-
sci, strenuously objected to the con-
tents of Mr. Lauck's statement, on the
ground he was making an argument
unsupported by any facts
Mr. Lauck. carrying a foot-high pile
of documents and papers, said he was
merely summarizing in advance data
which would prove his contentious.
New Deal Measures Lauded.
TYoJ u ~
North Carolina State Supreme Court.
chairman of the board, allowed the
labor witness to continue his state
ment, saying it would be accepted for
what it was worth.
Earlier, another labor witness had
credited two administration measures
with causing IAN upsurge in wages" in
the last two years.
David Kaplan testified that the
National Labor Relations Act and the
Walsh Healy Act had boosted wages
for millions Of workers. He cited these
increases as an argument against the
is per cent wage reduction.
There has always been an at
tempt to keep railroad wages on
parity with other industries Mr..
Kaplan said.
Contention Criticized.
Counsel for railroads criticized this
contention. They said railroad workers
had been strongly organized for mapy
years and, therefore. able to obtain
relatively high wages.
The Labor Relations Act encourages
collective bargaining; the Walsh-Healy
Act has provisions for certain wage
scales on work done under Government
contracts.
Dean James M. Lands of Harvard
Law School, board member, asked
Mr.. Kaplan if he thought ability to
pay" should be factor in determining
wage rates.
Mr.. Kaplan replied that If this had
been a factor. 1.-The rate would have
been very much higher in 1914 and
1929"
A proffer of support for railroad la
Dor was extended yesterday by William
! Green, president Of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor, in a telegram sent
from the A. F. of L. convention in
Houston 1t was made public here
/ by George M. Harrison, chairman of
the Railway Labor Executives Asse-
ciation. $50
Cites Objections.
The proposed Is per cent reduction
in wages, Mr. Green said, would
greatly injure business, labor and
agriculture reduce purchasing
power and thus add to our Nations
economic distress"
Principal testimony yesterday was
offred by Mr. Kaplan, who is statisti-
clan of the International Association
of Machinists He claimed the 3 per
cent increase granted by the roads in
1887 was only about half as much as
increases obtained by $500, 900 work.
ers in manufacturing industries.
Under cross-examination by w. T.
Farley. counsel for the roads, Mr. Kap-
Ian conceded his figures represented
hourly rather than weekly or annual
wages and did not reflect the amount
of employment.