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Show WOULD Ml THE PUBlinO DECIDE Julius Kruttschnitt Offers a Plan for Solution of Labor Troubles PRECEDENT IN CANADA Head of Southern Pacific Tells of the Federation Trouble of 1911 CHIC4GO Aprl 10 Julius Krutt ' schnitt f rst assistant to the late E H Harr man and himself one of the leading railroad authorities of the conn try today expressed to the United States comm ss on on ndustrial rela tions the opinion that the only solution of the labor troubles is the designing of a vehicle thro gh which the publ c which s almost always right shall t dec de the mer ts of the controvers es One of the dut es of thi3 comirns on said Commissioner James O Con nell to Mr Kruttschn tt who was the f rst witness at today s sess on s to ascerta n the causes of mdustr al un rest and to recommend a remea if pos s file What is your opin on I have obborved a great many strikes and n the end the publ c de j cides 3ustly as a lule replied the w ' ness No str ke that I re a 1 ever s cceeded with pub e op n oc against , it The great Amer can publ settlos j them all The older I gro v the more I I am convinced hat the tast of settl ng labor troubles is the task ot 1 eej ug the public informed Canadian Precedent The estab hment of a ma hine for the purpose should be comparative! s mple There is a publ c ty clause n the Canad an irb tration law and the Canadians have a machine for nform ing the public impart ally of the merits ot labor dispute The Canad an publ c hus off ciall becomes a board of ar b trat on n all 6u h cases I do not favor compulsory arbitrat on it ha been a falure m New Zealand where it was tried out for some years It was public opinion wh ch decid ed the str ke of 1911 in favor of the ja lroads The board of med at on and oncil ation at Wash ngtor seems a move ia the right direct on but teb n Lry for gett ng correet and mparaal n format on to the great arb .rating pub lie s needed The government now controls the railroads the r earnings and even their expenses It is only r ght that labor deputes wh ch may involve the rail roads in additional expense shall be referred -to it so that among other things it may po nt out where money fo increased wages is to come from 'Stnke of 1911 I i Pr or to the strike of 1911 sa d t 4ftlr Kruttschn tt our relat ons w th our workmen were pleasant In Ma f 1911 however we heard that the shop "(frafts meeting at Salt Lake C ty had decided to federate We were informed & 'of this later and federation officials asked for a conference We replied that we had contracts with the Indus tr al crafts and were prepared to deal with them as we always had done This was not sat sfactory to the f ederat on I saw Mr Kline and Mr FranLl n of j the men I told them that if the men felt that thev must have the federation or trouble 1 did not see how the Ham man lines could avoid the trouble I sa d that if we accepted the r plan we would ha e entered into an agreement with so strong a body that the com pan es would be helpless We would be tuiable to res st any demands of the men The grievance of a t nsm th in New Orleans m ght be enough to t e up everv m le of our 1 nes Leaders Obdurate They disagreed with this view and asked us to compel our men, with n thirty days to join the federation The federation was to govern apprent ce ships and physical exammat ons and the looking up of records of applicants for work was to be ehm nated Some of our older man said the federation was the plan of young hotheads but that f there were a str ke the old conservative men would have to join it The str ke cont nued Mr Krutt schnitt arose from a total disregard of the rights of the employees I sa 1 that they would not try to carry the r plan nto the r own homes to f orb d their wives for instance to d sm ss an unsatisfactory cook I have done hard physical work myselfe and I sympathize with the men For thirty three ears I got along nicely with my fellow workmen b t the demands of 1911 were too unjust to be tolerated Walsh Asks Question Frank P Walsh cha rman of the commission asked f the witness re called that in 190V when Un on Pac fie crafts struck in opposition to the p ece work system, E H Harnman met with the federated crafts of that road I was general manager of the Southern Pacific at the time and hau no connect on with the Union Pacific replied Mr Kruttschnitt He d d not recollect that the Southern Pacif c shop men took a vote on a sympathetic strike My elose association with Mr liar nman began in 1904 after this trou ble sa a the witness I was thor oughly acqua nted and harmony w th his v ews on the labor question He never questioned my views and he was not backward about criticising Mr Walsh referred to trouble with the firemen and eng neers of the At lantic system of the Southern Pacif c about two j ears ago That trouble was largely among the men tl emsel es expla ned Mr Kruttschn tt However T was n formed through Tu Ige ( ha nbers of the board of men at on and cone 1 at on that the trouble was embarrassing the movement of Un te 1 States troops to the Mexican bor ler The pres dent asked if the company as a matter of fatriot sm, wo Id not re m t tho set lement of the tro lie Vie mmed ate Iv acq esced Mr Walsh aske 1 if Mr Harr man ha 1 l t nugt,ested that the n en fedpratc I wan vnry nt mato w th Mr Har r man a 1 th s the f rst I cv r I arl ot t said Mr Kr ttschn tt |