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Show fill Hi SPEED TO pi Vn Possessing e Limit of Authority legated by the Rail-: Rail-: Workers to Con-,r Con-,r With President Wil-, Wil-, cn in the White House Today. ' ILL DECIDE THE STRIKE QUESTION pagers and Labor leaders Marking Time! zl Refuse to Discuss zt Executive's Plan to Settle the Tr ouble That ; Ireatens the Country. ---irc-il News Service. ".NTON", Aug. 16. Six huc-f huc-f 2 of railway employees' : to the full limit of r railroad workers of the -' r.r.ts. arrived in Washington , : r-.Z trills at 5:40 and 6:'2j to-: to-: ! .. :; :ir:i-:ira:e tomorrow in the : " i-z--:izs meeting in a'! the hi?-' hi?-' . - T ! labor, i I -.:-:t Wilson" wiil receive these .--:"-- east room o: the V'hite , -J i: I : '.-iocs tomorrow aftemoDU. ' rZ iaj before them the presiden-: presiden-: . :n :':r settiin their differences lilroa:? and thereby avoid "ci."zizz revolt which tonight - i:;::tI5 :he country . : '.'nil acceptance or declination ; rest? war or peace. I -' ' Summon Presidents. ' r.rcigy hinted at the White ; :::i;it t-2t in the event of the ' " -ir..2ers? re fusing to accept whi:h he may be able to get uiic-as President "Wion will -- "e:fTita of the railroads in-v in-v to V'a-h:cton for a mass meet-to meet-to his conference with the ''- c: tee cbairiLen who arrived :t an informal conference ; ':t:i Gompers, president of the Federation of Labor. "While . '' no ofScial connection with : itte brctherhoods not beirg Ktta the - rderation, hi3 ap---- as an adviser of the men is ; 15 a ftrjd aug-ary for a settle-a;.:o-;nt of his strong support : tonight engaged a local ( :h?y will hold a meeting at ,.- " Umorrow afternoon prior to Vhite house. ... -J of both" sides still keep ,.: - -.; inviolate the silence im-': im-': ' ' '' item by the president, but ".; j ' toniaht to indicate v. hat the workers will agree .; I- th?ir share toward avoiding it ; :ions Necessary. ,'.'-3--ions will be asked there The first and great con- 15 u'ierstood tonight, will y-i'A-ay employees abandon their ... asain the princij-Ie of '- in the matter of time and :7 for overtime. -..'oa-j managers have agreed to ' : . "ie,.fjf a shorter work-day. :. Tillir;g to institute an eight - ..";. 0'Jt in the meantime, a'-'-ord-..." tCr:r,s of this concef-sion, a .".,iaa "iaiUHion irt to investi-:a-tif:ahiUty of the plan and : .:;ne in addition whr-thr time' - a a er an it-'ht-hour .lav. 'ron-fnl inflation upon the J' a burden which thpv ;:; Programme. ,'r"w- which the union" must " tt"?retor,! is sai.J to "Lr,lin'le work on an eiht- -C't ' 10 a Mral lnvtiga- ' . , 'lm of l,i,,,r and .av, ,. : '0;r ,an'1 1 hlf overtime ! . ' inviiKation lo (. mnt wiil b r-lro- '- ' ' 'r,i"':ri wi" b" '"'''I f"r t:iir - tlm an.l a liaif -pif-oii' azr-rn-i!t. (C:tlnued on Two.) IllElOFifiS SPEED 10 CAPITAL (Continued from Page One.) If the time and a half Is found not to he practicable, the men agree to arbitrate arbi-trate the matter of a just overtime wage. Thus, in effect, the president's position Is this: "I have wrested a sreat concession from the railroads, now what are you goinff to do? I have Kone as far as I can. If you refuse to arbitrate the remaining points at issue, you must stand responsible responsi-ble to the country for the consequences. Both Sides Figuring. Poth sides, sweltering In the humidity behind locked and guarded doors, spent today feverishly at work, compiling their estimates of the cost to the railroads ot lime and a. half overtime. Late today (J. P. Neill, P. E. Crowley and lillsha 1 ,ee, representing the railroads, rail-roads, went to the White House and lett data to prove that an eight-hour day and the time and a half would cost the railroad companies 3100,1)00, "00 a year. This estimate the managers obtained from the oftlcial report of the auditors of all railroads for the year 1015. The managers had-prevlously made public pub-lic this estimate, but their action today was taken to refute with evidence the claims of the railroad brotherhoods, also made previously, that the wage increase would only cost the railroads $20,000,000. between these two figures experts have Interposed an estimate understood tonight to be 5:50,000,000. . This estimate has been formally placed in the hands of the president by Judge William I,. Chambers of the federal board of mediation, who continues to be the president's chief adviser. Going a slep beyond their formal representations rep-resentations to Die president, many of the railroad managers agreed tonight that should the employees agree to a fltw eight-hour day without time and a half foV overtime they would still gain $50,-000,000 $50,-000,000 a vear in wages. It was not possible lo find any chairman among the contingents arriving tonight who would admit that such a settlement was possible, though there was a noticeable notice-able absence of the vindictive attitude which the brotherhood leaders have displayed dis-played here during the past few days. The chairmen declared they had no intention in-tention of receding from tiie position laid down bv the unions early in the controversy. contro-versy. 'Thev admitted they were eager to bear the details of the scheme which they knew the president would lay before thetn tomorrow morning. Thev declared they had no Idea as to how long they would stay, but thes' have enough luggage, say, for at least four days. Keeps in Touch. President Yyilson suspended his services as mediator today, only keeping in touch generally with the situation through judge Chambers. Ho met none of the leaders on either side, not seeing the managers when they left their wage estimate es-timate ami data at the While house. The only word from the White house during the entire day was the following statement, authorized bv the president: "There has been no break. Both sides are honestly discussing a way out." Later in Die day Elislia Lee, representing represent-ing the Pennsylvania railroad, said: "We have not leached any definite con clusion. We are still working on tne problem." : Coincident with the calling of the brotherhood chairmen to Washington, the president thought it might also be necessary nec-essary to meet Die railroad presidents in Die same manner. Judge Chambers was told by Die managers, however, that this would not be necessary, as the managers had full powers to act. Judge Chambers took this message to the White house. Legislative Club. Meantime congress developed a mild nervous attack when talk spread that the present crisis might make new and drastic dras-tic labor legislation imperative before adjournment ad-journment in September. It Is recognized that the president, possesses a powerful club which, in extremity, he could use on either side, and Dial is the fact that he could force legislation making arbitration imperative In such disputes as the present pres-ent one. However much the Democrats may favor such legislation, they do not want to face the problem with election so close at hand. It is believed altogether probable prob-able that the present crisis will bring on legislation providing for adjudication of all questions of labor and hours by a federal fed-eral board, modeled somewhat afier the suggested tariff committee. Congress feared today that in the event of only a temporary settlement being readied, the president might deem it necessary to use legislative force lo compel the railroads rail-roads and men to arbitrate when the time comes for a permanent agreement. Sentiment t hroughout Die country in favor of such legislation Is rapidly increasing. in-creasing. More than 25,000 employees on a large number of railway systems have signed petitions which have been sent to lle White house urging compulsory arbitration arbi-tration of all labor disputes. |