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Show NATION AWAITS I Hines Ready to Act When Striking Shop-; Shop-; men Return to Jobs. . 500 UNIONS NOTIFIED I! j To Settle Wage Con-' Con-' troversy On Its Merits, k 4. 4. 14 -f k RETURN TO WORK. i 3 KANSAS CITY, Aug. 8. Re- ?. spending lo the appeals of the I I heads of iheir national organiza I tion, striking railway shopmen of v the six federated crafts, at a I mas? meeting here today voted to -f- return to work immediately. - lxical l.ihor leaders said the men would resume work at once. jf WASHINGTON, August 8. Director ' I General Hines today awaited word from the union.-, that all ot the striking I 6bopmen had returned to work before undertaking to carry oul President Wilson's instrucUons to settle the I wage controversy on its merits. The ; ; tck-graph system of the railroad administration ad-ministration was put at the disposal h of the union officers and peremptory I orders thai the men should go back I to the job wont out to 500 local chair-1 I men As the shopmen's reasons for want-1 King a 25 per cent increase have been j considered ihon.u;hl by the board of railroad wages and working conditions, Hrhlch divided three to three, it was ! I believed possible that the evidence in I that case would be put immediately be. i J tore the director-general for a decision. Other Unions' Demands, if Other unions have demands pend-r pend-r ing, however, which will necessitate F the presentation ol evidence and to . near this, a new board may be consti-' tuted or the old board enlarged to 12 I I in accordance with the suggestions of I UDion men. Mr. Hines is understood to consid-1 II fr that two main points are involved i in iuc settlement of wage demands: First, comes the cost of living in-f in-f reaped beyond the increase in wages, Wnd second, what are the wages being paid in other industries for the .-.mo-classes of work. Any advances gran t-r t-r ed would be proportioned to enable the I employ, s in maintain their standard ol life and lo retain .impotent men. WASHINGTON, Auk. 7 President r Wilson tonight notified Director Gen- rul Hines that hi was authorized to I fake up the demands of railroad shop employ,..', for higher wages and decide them on their merits. The president said that the letter F tent him by Senator Cummins, chair- roan of the committee on Interstate commerce, "had set me free to deal H I think best with the difficult ques-i ques-i tion of the wages of certain classes of I the railroad employes," but added 'The rhiei ob.-tarle to a decision has been Te,M., by ihe men them-E them-E selves. They have gone out on a Mrlke ;in,j repudiated the authority of their officers at the very moment when F they were urging action in regard to I their interests " The president's decision was announced an-nounced tonight from Ihe White House hi the form of a letter sent by him to Mr Hinen. The pr sidenl said that f until the employes return to worh and I again recognize the authority ol their I organization tne v ,.,,,. ,ua(lf.r must be R t a standstill." p Id. m h iter follows : I .!, y ,Jfar -M:- Director General: . "I am just in receipt or Ihe letter E ll0m Senator Albert D. Cummins. k j chairman of the senate committee on I Interstate rorrfmcrcc. which set me free to deal as I think best with the difficult question of the wages of certain cer-tain classes of railway employes and I take advantage of the occasion to write you this letter, in order that ij may, both in the public interest and I in the interests of the -railroad employes, em-ployes, make the present situation as clear and definite as possible. "I thought it my duty to lay the question in its present pressing form before the committee of the senate, because I thought I should not act upon this matter within the brief in- terval of government control remaining, remain-ing, without their acquiescence and i approval. Senator Cummins' letter, which speaks the unanimous judgment of the committee leaves me free and indeed imposes upon me the dut to act, "The question of the wages of the railroad shopmen was submitted, you will remember, to the board of railroad wages and working' conditions of th-railroad th-railroad administration last February, but was not reported upon by the board until the sixteenth of July The delay was unavoidable because the board was continuously engaged in dealing with several wage matters af- ! fecting classes of employes who had not previously received consideration The board now having apprised us of I this inability, at any rate for the time being, io agree upon recommendation, recommen-dation, ii K clearly our duty to pro-ceed pro-ceed with the matter in the hope of, ! disposing of it. "You are, therefore, authorized to say to the railroad sbop employes that Ihe question of wages the) have raised rais-ed will be taken up and considered op. Its merits by the director general' I in conference with their duly accredited accred-ited representatives. I hope that you! wilj make it clear to the men concerned concern-ed that the railroad admiuisiraf ion cannot deal with problems of this snrt or with any problems affecting the men. except through the duly chosen international officers of the regularly constituted organization and their authorized au-thorized committees. "Matters of so various a nature and affecting so many men cannot be dealt with except in this way. Any action which brings the authority ot tbe au-: ithorized representatives of the organization organi-zation into question or discredits it, must interfere with, if not prevent, anion altnrailiAr Thr. hir.r nhti-.ni,, to a decision has been created by the !men themselves. They have gone out; on strike and repudiated the authority' of their officers at the very moment when they were urging action In regard re-gard lo various interests. "You will remember that a confer- ' ence between yourself and the authorized author-ized representatives of the men was arranged at the instance ol these rep I resentatives for July 28 to discuss the wage question and the question of B national agreement, but before this conference took place or could lake place, local bodies of railway shopmen took action looking toward B strike on i the first of August As a result of this action, various Btrlkes actually 'took place before there was an oppor- 1 tunity to act in a satisfactory or ron-1 ron-1 elusive way with respect to the wages.1 In the presence of these strikes and the repudiation of the authority of the Representatives of the organization i concerned there can be no consldera-tion consldera-tion of the matter in controversy. Until Un-til the employes return to work and again recognize the authority of their own organisation, the whole mattei jmust be at a standstill. ( ' When federal control of the railroads rail-roads began, the railroad administra-tion administra-tion accepted existing agreements be-'tween be-'tween the shopmen's organization and I the several railroad companies, and : by agreement machinery was created! for handling the grievances of the 'shopmen's organization of all the rail - ways, whether they had heretofore ,had the benefits of definite agreements agree-ments or not. There can be no ques tion, therefore, of (he readiness of the government to deal in a spirit of fair ncss and with regular methods with j any matters the men may bring to their attention. "Concerned and very careful consid eration Is being given by the entire government to the question of reducing reduc-ing the high coat of living I need hardly point out how intimately and directly this matter affects every' In j dividual in the nation, and if trans-; ' portatlon is interrupted. It will be im-possible im-possible to solve It. This is a time, when every employo of tbe railways should help to make the processes of transportation more easy and economical econom-ical rather than less, and employes irho are on strikes are deliberately j delaying a petdement of their wage problems and of their standard of liv- jing. Thov should promptly return to work, and I hope (hat you will urge upon their representatives the immediate immed-iate necessity for their doing so. "Cordially and sincerelv vours. "WOODROW WILSON," |