Machinery

By a smothering mesh of legal machinery in the United States, the workmen's voice is stifled--as Labor sees it. Hence the rejoicing of Labor, when a decision is handed down like the one that came last week from the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Some 40,000 firemen and "engine hostlers" (men who wash and oil locomotives) employed by 55 class one railroads of the west, were awarded a pay-raise, aggregating $3,600,000 per annum.

The Transportation Act of 1920 provided a Labor board to discuss disputes between operators and workmen, but its findings were not made mandatory. The Watson-Parker Bill of 1926 amended the Labor board's functions to include arbitration. The Board's name became "Mediation Board"; its findings were made "final and conclusive" if upheld by a United States District Court. Federal District Judge George A. Carpenter of Chicago dismissed an operators' petition against a finding of the Mediation Board last December. Last week's Circuit Court decision upheld Judge Carpenter and notified the workmen not only that they would get 30 to 50 cents per day more pay on basic rates, but that railroad legislation was currently less obscure than formerly. It was the first test case.