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Show 1 1 LABOR fASKS DELAY OFMONTH I " ' Spokesman Says Lines I Have Kept Employes i in Dark as to Nature fo f J Cam p 1 ai rrt CHICAGO, Feb. 17. A recess , of one month in the hearing I Jefore the railroad labor board sn the application of railways for Abrogation of the national ap;ree-fn.nt. ap;ree-fn.nt. was asked today by H. M. 3ewell. president of the railway employes em-ployes department of the American federation of Labor. Mr. Jewell said th. unions needed until March 14 to JkEPT IN DARK. According to Mr. Jewell's contention. conten-tion. It waa not until E. T. Whiter. Jrhalrtnan of the carriers' committee before the board, had completed the Toads' evidence on January 37 that h brotherhood representatives knew 3ust what the real objections to the Rational agreements were, j Immediate application of the principle prin-ciple of collective bargaining to the allrond labor situstlon was advocated y Jewell. He said that only by such Tneana could the present controversy oe settled and a national crisis In -transportation avoided. SUGGESTED COURSES. I Suggesting thst tha roads' fight nn 4ha present national agreements is wierely smoke screen, Mr. Jewell proposed three steps for the board to ' .take as follows: First Refer the national agreements agree-ments to a Joint conference of representatives repre-sentatives of the railroads and the brotherhoods, the hoard agreeing to Jiass Immediately upon any differences Jihlch may aria from such negotia-'tiona. negotia-'tiona. ; Second That the board confer with he employers snd employes on establishment estab-lishment of boards of adjustment as Contemplated by the transportation ACt. - Third That Instead of filing a flood of Individual complaints on Wages of unskilled employes, the American Association of Railway Executives Ex-ecutives through W. W. Atterburr. propaganda waa being directed at the board at the behest of the road and added: "W have been astounded that your honorable body has not taken Judicial Judi-cial notice of this propaganda. The chairman referred last Wednesday to resolutions received from chambers of commerce and other commercial organisations. or-ganisations. "We consider such efforts as gross and Inconceivable Improprieties. The position of this board is analogous to that of the supreme court of the I'nited States. Any such attempts to affect its decisions would be treated as contempt of court and incur draa-. draa-. lie- penalties " Mr. Jewell said that In showing unwillingness to negotiate on a national na-tional scale, the roads were "centralising" "cen-tralising" their own bargaining power pow-er and decentralising that of the unions, and that the employers were trying to crush the local organisations, organisa-tions, especially those recently formed, and thus weaken the untnnw. Chairman of Its committee on labor, ronfer with representatives of ths employee affected. CRUX OF PROBLEM. T TJ stressed his argument that ths real Issue before the board was whether ths fundamental principle of Collective bargaining waa to stand or la II and aaserted that all delay in adjusting ad-justing pending questions could have been avoided If the employers had .either met the union representatives In conference or Joined with them In establishing es-tablishing boards of adjustment. He asserted that this procedure was embodied em-bodied In the transportation act, and accused the roads of violating iht taw by their alleged failure to adopt the methods he advocated. - "We are not fighting for perpetuation perpetua-tion of any unreasonable rules or Vorklng conditions," he said. "W slo not wish to cause the roads unreasonable unrea-sonable expense and never have supported sup-ported any rules that do this." yfr -eweM rhargej that organised |