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Show I Anti-Strike Clause I1 Cut Ffom Cummins li Bill Ends Deadlock I' WASHINGTON, Fob. 5. -Casting . nsido tho anti-strUe provision of ihc Cummins bill, against wblUi labor has leveled protests and threats, and modi-,j modi-,j fving the rale-making clauses of the j'l same measure, senate and house rep- ! I resentatives late yesterday reached : virtually a complete agreement on log- 1 islation" designed to meet conditions growing out of the return or the railroads rail-roads on March 1 to private control. For the anti-strike provision, the committee com-mittee agrees to substitute -what in ef- I feet amounts to compulsory subniis-! sion of wage disputes to a federal; i,J board appointed by the president, i A number of minor differences re main to be composed, but these will be i worked out by Senator Cummins ofj lowa, chairman of the senate manag-j , ors, and Chairman Ksch ot the house; conferees. A rinal report on the leg-; isl-ilion is anticipated' late this week; and efforts will be made to expedite; ' consideration of the report in order to i 1 insure the bill's passage before March j 1 . ' Ij i Deadlock Is Broken. II Reaching of an agreement on the i Esch bill, passed by the house and the ij. Cummins bill, enacted by the senate, I ' broke a deadlock that has existed sev-' sev-' cral weeks, due principally io the 1 house conferees' rerusal to accept the I, anti-strike provision of the latter J measure. House members also have 1 1 opposed the senate rate-making sec-Ill sec-Ill tion. I,1 in agreeing on labor provisions, the conferees struck out the clause of the ! i senate bill which would virtually make j strikes illegal by penalizing railroad I employes or employers for entering I into conspiracies for the' purpose of l interfering with interstate commerce " , and provided In lieu of settlement of j 1 , labor disputes by boards composed i equally of employes and employers, j The findings of thesn boards must be ' approved by a federal 1)oard appointed if b ;he president with the senate's ap-I' ap-I' proval to which appeals must be raken j in cases in which agreements are not L reached by the other boards. While Hp the size of the latter board has not ," been definitely fixed Senator Cummins ! (1 said it would probably be of five mem-i mem-i i' hers. Ij Representation for All Clasces. All classes of railroad employes, ' Senator Cummins said, are to have i i representation upon iho lower wage I ' boards. Since the government will not i be represented upon these boards, the . senator explained, settlement of labor disputes cannot be made compulsory! I , by them but It is compulsory that in1 Ij,1 event of disagreement the dispute be ',' referred to the federal board for set-! (j tlement. I j Under the agreement on the rate-. rate-. making section, a return of five and ' one-half per cent upon the net railway i operating income is guaranteed for a i period from IS months to two years after the bill becomes a law. The ex-! act period will be fixed later by thoj i1 conferees. The senate bill prescribed i a five-year period. ; I Use of Earnings. Provision is also made in the com-1 ! j promise that with the interstate com-1 inerce commission's approvai, one-half of one per cent of the earnings may : i bo given to the railroads responsible : I for the earnings and used for suchi unproductive improvements as erec- tion of terminals or elimination of grade crossings. i , Fifty per cent of the earnings in ex-' ; j cess of iho six per cent will go to the , 1 railroads producing the excess return while the other half goes to a rail-i road contingent fund administered by1 the commission and ueed for the pur- chase of rolling stock and other equip-, ! nient to be rented to the weaker roads ' to whom loans from this fund alsot j 1 may be made. j j I 1 1 m 1 1 nil mm in i , The bill as compared further authorizes author-izes the interstate commerce commission commis-sion to prescribe rates which will yield? revenue by which this fixed return re-turn may be guaranteed and after the terminal ibn of the period during which this return is effective, the commission is ."uthorized to agree upon the percentage per-centage of return and fix rates accordingly accord-ingly in order to insure Its continuation. continua-tion. The Cuin'mins bill provides that one-half one-half of earnings in excess of six per cent and not exceeding seven per cent would have been placed in a reserve fund and the remaining one-half would havo gone into a general railroad contingent con-tingent fund. Important Agreement. Another important scclio;i 1 agreed upon by the conferees and which is expected to prevent much state litigation litiga-tion provides that the interstate commerce com-merce commission may suspend or change rates during the six months period after the roads are released by the government. T'ic conferees also agreed w'ih a! slight modification on the Poinriextorj long and short haul amendment. |