People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1894 — TO PREVENT STRIKES. [ARTICLE]

TO PREVENT STRIKES.

Important Labor Measure to Be Presented to Congress. It Is Prepared by Carroll D. Wright and Embodies Recommendations of tile Recent Pullman Strike Commission. Washington, Dec. 19.—Labor Commissioner Wright has sent to Mr. Erdman (Pa) the draft of a bill for the national arbitration of strikes. The bill was prepared by Mr. Wright and his associates on the strike commission appointed by President Cleveland to investigate the great Chicago strike. Such arbitration was recommended in the commission’s report and the bill now gives the practical details of their plan. It differs entirely from the arbitration bill heretofore introduced by Mr. Springer, being more elaborate and precise in its details. Mr. Erdman will introduce it in the house to day. The title of the bill is “A ‘Bill Concerning Carriers Engaged in Interstate Commerce and Their Employes.” It is modeled after the interstate commerce act. A synopsis is as follows: It provides for the appointment by the president. with the advice and consent of the senate. of a commission consisting of five persons, to be known as ‘the United States board of conciliation and arbitration.” Not more than three of the commissioners shall be appointed from the same political party. One of them shall have had experience in the management of railroads, and the other is to be selected from some incorporated association of railway employes. The commission shall have authority to inquire into the conditions of all employes subject to the act, and shall have the right to obtain from common carriers all neccessary information. The provisions of the interstate commerce act are closely followed In this respect. The commission has the power to make all necessary rules and regulations and may administer oaths. The salray of each commissioner shall be $7,500 per annum: the secretary to be appointed shall have a salary ol $3,500. The principal offices of the commission shall be in the city of Washington, where its general sessions shall be held, but special sessions may be held anywhere in the United States. An annual report shall be submitted, and publication of the reports and decisions may be authorized and shall be competent evidence in all courts of the United States.

The bill provides that the system of arbitration and conciliation shall apply to common carriers engaged in the transportation between the states of passengers and property by railroad and by water, and to all persons and corporations leasing cars used for such transportation and all their employes; that the wage* paid in such transportation and handling, and the rules and regulations shall be reasonable and just, not, however, taking away the right to make contracts. Whenever it shall come to the knowledge of the commission that a strike or controversy between those subject to the act is threatened or has occurred it shall be its duty as soon as practicable to put itself in communication with both parties and endeavor by mediation and conciliation to effect a settlement. Likewise upon the request of employes or corporations, as well as of its own volition, it may make an investigation. All reports of investigations and mediations and the findings of facts therein shall be prima facie evidence as to each and every fact and be given due weight in all judical proceedings, and the attorney general of the United States, to whom the same shall be transmitted, shall take such action as is necessary. During the pendency of an arbitration it is not lawful for an employer to discharge an employe, nor for such employe to aid or abet strikes, nor to quit employment without thirty days’ notice. The violation of this provision is made a misdemeanor. In section 13 the incorporation of employes is encouraged and chapter 567, United States statutes, 1885-1885, is enlarged so as to provide that the constitution and by-laws of such association shall contain a provision that membership shall cease by participating in schemes of violations, strikes, etc., and that the members shall not be personally liable for any acts, debts or obligations of the organization. Whenever receivers appointed by the federal courts are in control of a railroad the employes shall have the right to be heard in the court upon all questions affecting the terms of their employment, and no reduction of wages shall be made by the receivers without the authority of the court after due notice. It is further made a misdemeanor for any officer or employer to require employes to enter into an agreement not to become a member of a labor organization, or to threaten an employe with loss of employment or discrimination because of such membership, or to require such employe to become a member of a beneficial organization.