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We enclose you a galley proof of an article on "Employee Representation" written by our Industrial Correspondent, Sherman Rogers. There are some pointed remarks in this article regarding the adoption of employee representation by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

While neither The Outlook nor Sherman Rogers would change the article in the slightest degree as set up in the enclosed proof, unless of course to correct any possible errors in grammar or typography, we would gladly print any criticism within reasonable limits which you may make of his remarks in the issue in which his article appears, which will be under date of August 31st.

Secretary, The Outlook Company. 381 Fourth Avenue, New York City. Dear Sir:

Thank you very much for your letter of August 15th, enclosing galley proof of an article entitled "Employee Representation" written by Mr. Sherman Rogers, which will appear in the August 31st issue of The Outlook.

In my judgment, this article is a very fair statement of the underlying principles and success of employe representation and covers in a general way what we are trying to accomplish on the Pennsylvania Railroad in our efforts to get together with our employes on a mutually satisfactory basis.

It may interest you to know, however, that we feel that the recent decision of the United States Railroad Labor Board in the case of the Shop Crafts Union if applied to any of the industries mentioned in this article would completely destroy real employe representation.

Employe representation on the Pennsylvania Railroad is now in effect.

A majority of our employes want to deal with the management through employe representatives.

About 175,000 employes on this railroad are interested in rules covering working conditions. About 117,000 of these employes have expressed a desire to negotiate rules through employe representatives.

The employe representatives who have been elected have acted in good faith with the management. The management has acted in good faith with them. Manifestly, the rights and interests of these representatives and the employes whom they represent must be recog nized and protected.

This decision of the Labor Board, however, would destroy real employe representation on this railroad.

Our objection to the decision is based on the grounds that:

1. It makes a national labor union, whose officers are not employes, eligible to represent our men.

2. It discriminates in favor of the union itself as a candidate and against the non-union candidate.

3. If the union as an organization were elected, the non-union man would have no voice in determining the conditions under which he must work.

4. It gives thousands of men who are no longer employes an opportunity to vote on equal terms with men who are employes.

5. The whole effect of the ballot required under the decision is to compel the non-union man to join the union in order to have a voice in matters affecting his welfare.

6. It violates a fundamental right of employer and employes to deal directly with each other in settling their own affairs.

7. It would destroy the validity of contracts freely entered into between the officers of this railroad and their employes although these contracts are mutually satisfactory.

8. It would not be fair to the employes or to the railroad, to say nothing about the public.

Briefly, the facts of this case are as follows:

The management is doing its utmost to carry out the provisions of the Transportation Act in getting together with its employes on a mutually satisfactory basis. At the same time we have consistently and earnestly tried to comply with previous decisions of the Labor Board.

Announcement was made by the Company on May 20, 1921, that all employes would be given an opportunity to have a voice in the management in matters affecting their welfare.

All were given an opportunity to vote for employe representatives, of their own selection, whether union or nonunion men. All were urged to exercise their right of franchise without interference on the part of officers or subordinate officials.

A fair, impartial and secret ballot was distributed to all employes. No candidates were mentioned and no names were printed on the ballot either of in

dividuals or of organizations. Employes were entirely free to vote for any employes whom they themselves selected. The ballot gave the union and non-union man equal rights to select union or nonunion men to represent them.

Representatives were elected. New schedules of working conditions that are mutually satisfactory have been agreed to and are in effect or are now being formulated for all classes of employes concerned.

Officers of the Shop Crafts Union instructed their membership not to vote. The balance of the employes did vote, however, and the Company recognized the representatives so elected.

The union officers, employed by the railroad, could have nominated themselves and instructed their membership to vote for them, if they so desired, and the management would have recognized them as representatives if they had been elected.

As a matter of fact, some classes of employes have already elected union men to represent them. The management has recognized these representatives and is now dealing with them.

It is contrary to custom in any city, state or national election to require a new election simply because some men refuse or fail to exercise their right to vote. Our Presidents are invariably elected by a minority of the eligible voters.

One of the most objectionable features of this decision is the requirement that men who are not now employes should be furnished a ballot and should be permitted to vote on equal terms with employes. The Labor Board says men "who have been laid off or furloughed and are entitled to return to the service under seniority rules ... if accessible shall be furnished a ballot and be permitted to vote." There is no sanction in law or otherwise for such a ruling. Many of these furloughed men are now working in outside industries. Under this ruling, employes of other industries would be negotiating working conditions for our employes.

Furthermore, the Labor Board in an Addendum to Decision No. 218, copy of which is enclosed, indicates very plainly that it is not infallible, and that its decisions are subject to change in vital particulars. In this Addendum the Labor Board changes its original decision to the extent of providing for a secret instead of an open ballot (the Pennsylvania Railroad ballot was a real, secret ballot). And the Labor Board says frankly that the open ballot originally proposed was "the established method of taking a ballot among railway labor organizations." It is evident that this form of ballot would be subversive of real democratic representation and would be in the interest of autocratic union domination.

I am very grateful for the opportunity presented in your letter of offering these suggestions in connection with Mr. Rogers' article, for we feel that the whole principle of employe representation is at stake in this issue. Very truly yours,

W. W. ATTERBURY,
Vice President.

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BY THE WAY

"RHYMING GEOGRAPHY," a subscriber writes in answer to an inquiry in our issue of August 10, was published about the year 1814 by Victorianus Clark, of Cornwall, Connecticut; it dealt only with the United States. Another rhyming geography was by George van Waters, and was published in 1852. Here is a sample of its "poetry:"

In New York State, where Hudson meets the brine,

New York and Brooklyn in their trade combine.

On the same side West Point and Newburg stay:

Poughkeepsie, Hudson, Troy, and Albany.

Schenectady, with Utica and Rome, Upon the Erie Channel find a home. "Dentists," says the "Service Magazine," "generally agree that an ingrowing toe-nail is one thing that cannot be cured by extracting all your teeth."

Curious advertisements sometimes appear in Irish local papers. An example:

Take Notice.-Any person or persons found taking or gathering Crabs on any of the Lands of which I am Caretaker, will be prosecuted, as I have found Stolen Potatoes in the Bags containing Crabs. (Signed)Michael Conroy.

Crabs in this case appears to mean crabapples. Evidently it has been the custom on large estates to allow this comparatively worthless fruit to be carried off without hindrance, but the privilege seems to have been abused.

"THE WOOD THAT ALL ITS USERS PRIZE THE WISE INVESTOR SAFELY BUYS."

A WORD

as to the

Reasons and Purposes

BEHIND THE INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS

Cypress Pocket Library

(43 volumes-43 subjects of economic interest to "home-hopers," home-builders, and home-owners. "The one you want, the one you get." FREE on request. Full list is in Volume 1 together with U. S. Gov't Report on "the wood eternal." Write today for it.)

Everybody likes to build, but nobody likes "repair jobs.”

Repair jobs inevitably represent an additional investment without any. addition to value.

That point is worth digesting.

When you build, whatever you build, you like to build "for keeps."

Some people change their minds about styles, in building the same as in wearables; our tastes develop and result in changes in our wants; but nobody changes his or her mind as to wishing to get the greatest possible endurance, or wear, out of the things they buy, and especially is this true of building investments.

Yet, singularly enough, as many people know so little about woods and their relative values and special utilities; so many people think that "lumber is lumber" and never attempt to specify the KIND of wood they wish used; so many people believe that repair bills are necessary evils," that we believe we shall be able to render a real public service by continuing the publication of THE CYPRESS POCKET LIBRARY, convenient in size, authoritative in character, of probable value as a technical guide, and careful and scrupulous in its every statement or inference.

We have not, and do not, by any means, recommend the use of Cypress without discrimination; Cypress is not the best wood for every use; but where it IS appropriate it is so emphatically (and demonstrably) the one best wood that the many should know about it instead of the comparatively few who formerly profited by their special knowledge.

WRITE FOR VOLUME I, with full text of U. S. Government Report on Cypress, and containing complete list of all the 43 volumes in the library. Then write us for the volumes that will best serve you.

It may be of interest that many of the volumes of The Cypress Pocket Library have become established as standard works of reference-text books -in a number of eminent educational institutions and Government Departments. This is a gratifying tribute to the broad and helpful spirit in which these booklets have been produced, and more than justifies the theories behind the original pioneer idea of such a Library for Lumber USERS.