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Show nines pun to CUTlfiES'lSClGE Timothy Shea Declares Companies Com-panies Intend Change When Lines are Returned ' NEW YORK, Jan. 30. Direct chargos that "certain railroads" were ' planning to reduce wages as soon as 1 the roads were returned to private' ownership, were made by Timothy Shea, acting president of the Brother-) hood of Locomotive Firemen and En-ginemen, En-ginemen, speaking at the twentieth annual an-nual meeting of the National Civic Association here Mr. Shea denounced tho Cummins bill, now before (he sen-' ate, nnd Joined with Samuel Gompers president of the American Federation' of Laboi. in an attack on compulsory! arbitration. Referring to tho Cummins Cum-mins bill, he said: "This bill is the outcome of a con-! spiracy lo reduce wages below their: present inadequate level when the roads are returned lo private ownership." owner-ship." The alleged conspirators, he' continued, proposed to make a cut in wages, and if a strike followed, at-! tempt its suppression by wholesale! prosecutions. ! "We have positive evidence furnish-' ed by our local agentr. of certain railroads rail-roads where managers have said that, they would only continue the present i wage schedules during federal con- trol," declared the speaker. Denying ihe statement of a speaker i at the opening session, that the rail-' road men were the highest paid class of workers in the country, and that one engineer had received $250 monthly, month-ly, Mr. Shea declared that the man might have received this amount, but that ho would have to work fourteen; hours a day, thirty days a month, to' get it. Wages have Increased approx-j imately forty-five per cent for thls! class of workers, he said, whereas ' the coRt of living has increased about 90 per cent. i "There Is no danger or a strike on American railroads unless it Is pro-, voked by such legislation as the Cum ! mins bill or such an attitude of the j government as in tho coal strike," the speaker said in conclusion. "X I r- r,r, .1 r 1 : . i I v.iuuijei5. ueienuing organized i labor, asserted that the unions had' done more to precent strikes than any other agency. "If absence of strikes me?nt commercial com-mercial prosperity," he added, "then China ought to stand at the head of civilization. "That which the employer concedes' is almost invariably that which the! employe presses home hardest. Only I ihose are heard who make themselves heard. This question of repressing i the aspirations of the workers will not succeed. The citizenship of our re- public will refuse to allow it. For It would be better to suffer the incon i veniences attending industrial strife,1 than uproot the principles of the re J public. Any attempt, particularly bv J legal means, will not only fall, but will be the cause of many disputes which! otherwise might be avoided." . Speaking of the proposal for a na-J tional board of adjustment, supple-' men ted by regional boards, as suggest-' ed al the president's second industrial ' conference in Washington, Mr. Com-1 pers said tht political changes would have so great an effect upon these boards that their worth would be destroyed. de-stroyed. nn |