Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1918 — Railroad Employes To Ask For. Higher Wages Soon [ARTICLE]

Railroad Employes To Ask For. Higher Wages Soon

Washington, Jan. 9. Higher wages will be asked of the railroad administration soon by nearly all glasses of railroad labor. It was learned today that ' many pending wage disputes will be transferred to the government from railroad executive boards and in other cases new demands will be formulated fdr presentation to Director General McAdoo who deal with them through investigation boards. Strikes are not contemplated by any organization, it i 3 said, and wage Suestions will not be put up to the irector general as demands. Railroad labor leaders are represented as not seeking to take advantage of government operation to press for more pay,, but rather as pointing out the necessity of wage increases to keep employes from being attracted to other industries.* 1

Up to the present the only general demands for wage increases considered by Director General McAdoo. are those presented by the four railway brotherhoods and the Switchmen’s union whose president, S. E. Heberfinge, conferred with Mr. McAdoo today. The brotherhood’s case will be investigated by a board of four to be named by the director general tomorrow and he also may ask this body to inquire into the switchmen’s demand which now, is being considered by a committee of railway executives representing all roads. The director general announced tonight that he expected to name railroad directors for certain sections of the country to assist him in administering government operation, but said he had not determined how many would be appointed nor what territory each director would supervise. - It is considered probable, however, that not more than Six or seven will be named. Mr. McAdoo said specifically that he did not plan to name state directors. Thousands of applicants for positions as state railroad supervisors have been received within the past few days. The senate and house interstate commerce committees today continued their hearings on the railroad bill. «Before the house committee, Interstate Commerce Commissioner* Anderson reiterated that it seemed impracticable to change the bill to provide for termination of government control at a specific time after the war. This would create chaos in railroad affairs, he said, and the proper procedure should be to have the questions of return of the roads to private control to future determination by congress. Representative Moore, of Pennsylvania, asked the committee to amend the bill to provide specifically for government control of canal transportation facilities. Members of the United States employes’ compensation committee advocated that railroad men should* be regarded as government employes.