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Show I NEWS REVIEW OF i CURRENT EVENTS Wagjjof Rail Employees Are Reduced Re-duced by Board and Big ; Strike May Result. .. HOOVER SETS GOAL PRICES Germany Yields to Allied Ultimatum and International Bankers Plan Rep. t aratlon Payments and Loans War Fraud Investigation BeglnaW British Warn Ireland. By EDWARD W. PICKARD. ANOTHER great strike Is threat, ened, this time of the railroad .workers whose wagea have been or are to be reduced by the United , States railway labor board. Already the board has made public one decision deci-sion cutting nearly $50,000,000 from the annual wages of the maintenance of way men, -and before this reaches j the reader It Is almost certain another flecislon will have been published i slashing between $50,000,000 and $75,. 000,000 from the yearly pay of the shopmen. Either ruling Is sufficient l to bring on a walkout If the men re- main, In their present state of mind, I and "still others may follow soon. . The first decision announced ordera ' a reduction of 13.2 per cent in the prevailing pay of maintenance of way , men, effective July J. It affects about 400,000 workers, and their new wages Will range from 23 to 35 cents an hour. It was signed by the three public ' members and the three railway members mem-bers of the board. The three labor members signed a dissenting opinion, holding that the new pay does not constitute the "Just and reasonable" wages guaranteed under the transportation transpor-tation act, and that In fact It does not would assume personal responsibility for fixing minimum prices at the mine, In order to prevent profiteering. He asked, however, that the ; operators agree among themselves on fair prices In order that the anti-trust taws might not be Infringed. Mr. Hoover then announced what lie considered fair prices in three districts. These ranged from $2.20 to $2.00 a ton for the Alabama Ala-bama district; $3.50 a ton for the smokeless coal districts of West Virginia, Vir-ginia, and $3.50 a ton for the Harlan nud Hazard fields of Kentucky and the southern Appalachian fields of Tennessee and Kentucky. The maximum maxi-mum for the Alabama district Is 25 censt a ton below the final Garfield war-time scale, while the maximums proposed for the other districts are somewhat above the Garfield prices. The prices are to apply only to spot coal. GERMANY'S reply to the ultima-turn ultima-turn of the allied reparation commission com-mission was near enough to complete acceptance to satisfy that body, which, after a day's Intensive study of the rote, telegraphed to Berlin Its approval approv-al of the German promises to balance bal-ance the budget and to stop the Issue of paper money. The commission then turned over to the committee of International Inter-national bankers In session In Paris the entire question of German finances ; and payment of reparations. Those ! bankers, among whom Is J. Plerpont Morgan of the United States, are now studying the questions of Germany's capacity to pay, the guarantees he can give for the series of huge loans that will be necessary, and. In connection connec-tion with the latter, the possibilities Involved In the Russo-German pact The German proposals were drawn up by Finance Minister Hermes and are not at all liked by some other members of the Wlrth cabinet and many members of the relchstag, The Stlnnes group especially attacked them as a surrender of sovereignty that will bring on catastrophe. The reichstag refused to pass a vote of, lack of confidence In the government, but the cabinet Is believed to be in a S.I...I. Jill ' k. TpHE delectable Senator Tom Wat- son of Georgia Indulged in another outburst in the senate because Senator Sena-tor Lenroot intimated the Georgian had made an untrue statement concerning con-cerning the Hoover relief fund accounts. ac-counts. Watson yelled that be was not afraid of "the insolent junior senator sen-ator from Wisconsin" on the floor of the senate or anywhere else, and that he defied hlra. Some day one of the husky senators will take Tom Watson at his word and "knock his block off." OVER In England short shrift Is usually given criminals. Horatio Bottomley, member of parliament, editor edi-tor of John Bull and professional hater of America, has been found guilty of fraudulent conversion of $600,000 In connection with the victory vic-tory bond clubs he organized among poor people, and was promptly sentenced sen-tenced to seven years' Imprisonment He announced he would appeal but was denied bail and locked up In Brixton prison. Bottomley will lose his seat In parliament If the conviction convic-tion stands. IRELAND has about two weeks In which to establish a government in accordance with the treaty creating the Free State and to restore order to a measurable degree. If she fails the British troops now In Ulster and others oth-ers to be sent over will be used to suppress the republicans and the Sinn Feiners and put an end to the border warfare. Such Is the warning given In the house of commons by Vln3ton Churchill, who added that the British cabinet still has faith In Michael Col-' lins and Arthur Griffith. TheYlrish elections are to be held on June 18 and Churchill said that If De Valera and others who have rejected the treaty are elected to the Irish parliament parlia-ment they must publicly announce that they are bound by the treaty, otherwise the pact will become worthless worth-less and will be automatically violated. vio-lated. Collins and Griffith heard Churchill's statement and afterward said they believed they could work out the affair If they had time. Sir I.uinlngton Evans, minister for war, una complete piHiis reaaj ror military operations for the reduction of Ireland, Ire-land, one of the preliminaries being the full occupation of Dublin. Along the Ulster border the fighting fight-ing goes on merrily and every day a number of persons are murdered. In many localities the Free Staters and republicans are making common cause against the Protestants of Ulster. Woody conflicts between the military and constables and gunmen take place daily in Belfast OnSEUVANCEof Memorial day was made especially notable by the dedication of the beautiful Lincoln Lin-coln Memorial In Washington, now vlrtunlly completed. It was turned ever to the nation by Justice Taft as head of the memorial commission and was accepted by President Harding la nn eioqueut adores. la the great throng that witnessed the ceremonies was Robert Todd Lincoln, son of the (ireut Emancipator. biiusv rouuiuuu, Lloyd George made a statement on reparations In the house of commons In which he strongly Intimated that Germany would be granted reductions, postponements and revisions when these appeared necessary, and this was greeted with cheers. France, naturally. Is not pleased with developments, develop-ments, but Is not in position to object strenuously. SENATOR M'CUMRER'S bill for a soldier bonus was approved by the senate finance committee by a vote of 0 to 4, and he announced he would be ready to make a favorable report on the measure to the senate within a few days. He hopes to Induce the senate to sidetrack the tariff debate long enough to pass the bonus bill, but as the latter does not go into erti until January 1 next, many of the Republican Re-publican lenders are opposed to this Idea. The Democrats will support McCitfnber's plan for Imr.redlate consideration con-sideration of the bonus. The bill as approved by the finance committee is almost Identical with the bill passed by (he house. The Democrats sre not satisfied with It. and Senator Smnot will try to have his Insurance measure adopted as a subxtitute, ho the debate In the senate Is likely to be a long ono represent a living wage. The majority major-ity report, however, points out that common labor on railways, even after the reduction, will be better paid than similar labor In most other Industries. Edward H. Fitrgernld, president of the railway clerks' organization, took the lead In planning for the prospective prospec-tive strike, Inviting sixteen chiefs of rail unions to meet this week In Cincinnati. Cin-cinnati. He was forestalling an expected ex-pected decision by the federal board cutting the pay of the clerks, '(elegra-pliers '(elegra-pliers and other smaller classes. There Is a possibility that this conference will result In a defensive alliance between be-tween the railway workers and the miners. Such a compact really. was formed several months sgo, but failed to provide for aggressive action unless un-less each step was approved by refer-endums refer-endums of the various organizations Involved. This lack msy be supplied at the Cincinnati meeting. The six federated shop crafts are concerned not only In wage reduction. They accuse twenty-two ronds of violating vio-lating the transportation act by letting let-ting out shop work to contractors not within the board's Jurisdiction, and their president, D. M. Jewefl, has demanded de-manded that the board assume Jurisdiction Juris-diction In these chscs and compel the railroads to restore conditions In effect ef-fect previous to the alleged violations. He said that unless this were done strike ballots would be sent out, regardless re-gardless of (lie wage issue. Tim bonrd already has shown that It sympathizes with the attitude of the shopmen fn this matter. ' Wages of train service mn are not Involved In the present and Irnmedl-ulely Irnmedl-ulely prospective rulings of the labor board. ONE of the pledges of the nardlng administration and a prediction made early In the year by treasury officials was fulfilled last week. All Issues of Liberty bonds sold at par or better, for the first time. The trading In them on Wall street was very heavy. At the low quotations of last year most of these bonds were yleld-hg yleld-hg from 5 to almost 6 per cent. On the present basis of values the net exactly 3'i per cent and the 4s and 4 Us from 4 to 4V4 per cent TWELVE balloons started from 5111-wutikee 5111-wutikee Wednesday In the national nation-al nice, and at this writing six have landed, In Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Missouri. The others probably were traveling northeast. One of the great ling, belonging to the navy and thert?-fore thert?-fore a non-contestnut, la filled with helium and carries a new secret radio device from which much Is expected. The three bullous that travel the greatest distances will be America's entries In the International race In France later In the year. ni.ANS for the unification of Ciilns ' are moving forward. Uuon tlx meeting of the old Hepubllcan parliu-iiient, parliu-iiient, backed by General Wu, the President, Hsu Chlh Chang, resigned and was succeeded by Former I're.sr lent LI Yuan Hung. Overtures hav, been iiiaj't to Sun Vat tieu. INVESTIGATION of war frauds now Is under way In Washington, the first of the government's series of cases, dealing with contracts for disposal dis-posal of surplus lumber, having been presented to the special federal grand Jury by United States Attorney Peyton Pey-ton Gordon. Attorney General Iniugh-eity Iniugh-eity Issued n statement suylng that at no time during the grand Jury Investigation Investi-gation would an; Information be given out us to Us iirlvltlc or t.k.e names of the cases presented. Mennw'.ila Senator Caraway and others c;nSiiUe their attack on the attorney general unllns-glngly, with the avowed Intention of driving him out of I lie cabinet because of bis connection con-nection with the release of Charles W. Morse from the federal penitentiary. It Is stated In Washington thut President Presi-dent Harding has full confidence In Mr. fiaugherfy's honesty and 'Integrity, 'Integ-rity, which f nurse meens that be will not ask him to retire from the cabinet. I JNOFFICIALLY but authoritatively It Is announced that the t'o'ej-rn-nient Is taking no net Ion to t-l the Mrlke of coal miners and that it does not Iok for Hny .decisive turn I affairs af-fairs before the middle of Jam or the first of July, when the shorth In coal may begin to be felt. Secret try of Commerce Hoover, however, does not propose that the consumer shall ftiTer unjustly If he can 'prevent It. He held a conference last week with the rt,ircseiitiiilves of more than ,r producers of bituminous cor. I whose mine are In ox'ratUn (n Iho non-fn'.o non-fn'.o f.:a and lolj them thut be |