and fourteen, for the necessary and proper expenses incurred in connection with any arbitration or with the carrying on of the work of mediation and conciliation, including per diem, traveling, and other necessary expenses of members or employees of boards of arbitration and rent in the District of Columbia, furniture, office fixtures and supplies, books, salaries, traveling expenses, and other necessary expenses of members or employees of the Board of Mediation and Conciliation, to be approved by the chairman of said board and audited by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury.

SEO. 11. There shall be a Commissioner of Mediation and Conciliation, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and whose salary shall be $7,500 per annum who shall hold his office for a term of seven years and until a successor qualifies, and who shall be removable by the President only for misconduct in office. The President shall also designate not more than two other officials of the Government who have been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and the officials thus designated, together with the Commissioner of Mediation and Conciliation, shall constitute a board to be known as the United States Board of Mediation and Conciliation.

There shall also be an Assistant Commissioner of Mediation and Conciliation, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and whose salary shall be $5,000 per annum. In the absence of the Commissioner of Mediation and Conciliation, or when that office shall become vacant, the assistant commissioner shall exercise the functions and perform the duties of that office. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Mediation and Conciliation, the assistant commissioner shall assist in the work of mediation and conciliation and when acting alone in any case he shall have the right to take acknowledgments, receive agreements of arbitration, and cause the notices in writing to be served upon the arbitrators chosen by the respective parties to the controversy, as provided for in section five of this Act.

The Act of June first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, relating to the mediation and arbitration of controversies between railway companies and certain classes of their employees is hereby repealed: Provided, That any agreement of arbitration which, at the time of the passage of this Act, shall have been executed in accordance with the provisions of said Act of June first, eighteen hundred and ninetyeight, shall be governed by the provisions of said Act of June first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and the proceedings thereunder shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of said Act. Approved, July 15, 1913.

ESCH-CUMMINS ACT.

[Extract from Public Law No. 152, Sixty-sixth Congress, second session. Relinquishment of Federal control of railroads.]

TITLE III.-DISPUTES BETWEEN CARRIERS AND THEIR EMPLOYEES AND SUBORDINATE OFFICIALS.

SEO. 300. When used in this title

(1) The term "carrier " includes any express company, sleeping car company, and any carrier by railroad, subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, except a street, interurban, or suburban electric railway not operating as a part of a general steam railroad system of transportation;

(2) The term "Adjustment Board" means any Railroad Board of Labor Adjustment established under section 302;

(3) The term "Labor Board " means the Railroad Labor Board; he term commerce means commerce among the several States or between any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia and any foreign nation, or between any Territory or the District of Columbia and any State, or between any Territory and any other Territory, or between any Territory and the District of Columbia, or within any Territory or the District of Columbia, or between points in the same State but through any other State or any Territory or the District of Columbia or any foreign nation; and

(5) The term "subordinate official "includes officials of carriers of such class or rank as the Commission shall designate by regulation

formulated and issued after such notice and hearing as the Commission may prescribe, to the carriers, and employees and subordinate officials of carriers, and organizations thereof, directly to be affected by such regulations.

SEC. 301. It shall be the duty of all carriers and their officers, employees, and agents to exert every reasonable effort and adopt every available means to avoid any interruption to the operation of any carrier growing out of any dispute between the carrier and the employees or subordinate officials thereof. All such disputes shall be considered and, if possible, decided in conference between representatives designated and authorized so to confer by the carriers, or the employees or subordinate officials thereof, directly interested in the dispute. If any dispute is not decided in such conference, it shall be referred by the parties thereto the board which under the provisions of this title is authorized to hear and decide such dispute. SEC. 302. Railroad Boards of Labor Adjustment may be established by agreement between any carrier, group of carriers, or the carriers as a whole, and any employees or subordinate officials of carriers, or organization or group of organizations thereof.

SEC. 303. Each such Adjustment Board shall, (1) upon the application of the chief executive of any carrier or organization of employees or subordinate officials whose members are directly interested in the dispute, (2) upon the written petition signed by not less than 100 unorganized employees or subordinate officials directly interested in the dispute, (3) upon the Adjustment Board's own motion, or (4) upon the request of the Labor Board whenever such board is of the opinion that the dispute is likely substantially to interrupt commerce, receive for hearing, and as soon as practicable and with due diligence decide, any dispute involving only grievances, rules, or working conditions, not decided as provided in section 301, between the carrier and its employees or subordinate officials, who are, or any organization thereof which is, in accordance with the provisions of section 302, represented upon any such Adjustment Board.

SEC. 304. There is hereby established a board to be known as the "Railroad Labor Board" and to be composed of nine members as follows:

(1) Three members constituting the labor group, representing the employees and subordinate officials of the carriers, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from not less than six nominees whose nominations shall be made and offered by such employees in such manner as the Commission shall by regulation prescribe;

(2) Three members, constituting the management group, representing the carriers, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from not less than six nominees whose nominations shall be made and offered by the carriers in such manner as the Commission shall by regulation prescribe; and

(3) Three members, constituting the public group, representing the public, to be appointed directly by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Any vacancy on the Labor Board shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment.

SEC. 805. If either the employees or the carriers fail to make nominations and offer nominees in accordance with the regulations of the Commission, as provided in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 304, within thirty days after the passage of this Act in case of any original appointment to the office of member of the Labor Board, or in case of a vacancy in any such office within fifteen days after such vacancy occurs, the President shall thereupon directly make the appointment, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. In making any such appointment the President shall, as far as he deems it practicable, select an individual associated in interest with the carriers or employees thereof, whichever he is to represent.

SEC. 306. (a) Any member of the Labor Board who during his term of office is an active member or in the employ of or holds any office in any organization of employees or subordinate officials, or any carrier, or owns any stock or bond thereof, or is pecuniarily interested therein, shall at once become ineligible for further membership upon the Labor Board; but no such member is required to relinquish honorary membership in, or his rights in any insurance or pension or other benefit fund maintained by, any organization of employees or subordinate officials or by a carrier.

(b) Of the original members of the Labor Board, one from each group shall be appointed for a term of three years, one for two years, and one for one year. Their successors shall hold office for terms of five years, except that any member appointed to fill a vacancy shall be appointed only for the unexpired term of the member whom he succeeds. Each member shall receive from the United States an annual salary of $10,000. A member may be removed by the President for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause.

SEC. 307. (a) The Labor Board shall hear, and as soon as practicable and with due diligence decide, any dispute involving grievances, rules, or working conditions, in respect to which any Adjustment Board certifies to the Labor Board that in its opinion the Adjustment Board has failed or will fail to reach a decision within a reasonable time, or in respect to which the Labor Board determines that any Adjustment Board has so failed or is not using due diligence in its consideration thereof. In case the appropriate Adjustment Board is not organized under the provisions of section 302, the Labor Board, (1) upon the application of the chief executive of any carrier or organization of employees or subordinate officials whose members are directly interested in the dispute, (2) upon a written petition signed by not less than 100 unorganized employees or subordinate officials directly interested in the dispute, or (3) upon the Labor Board's own motion if it is of the opinion that the dispute is likely substantially to interrupt commerce, shall receive for hearing, and as soon as practicable and with due diligence decide, any dispute involving grievances, rules, or working conditions which is not decided as provided in section 301 and which such Adjustment Board would be required to receive for hearing and decision under the provisions of section 303.

(b) The Labor Board, (1) upon the application of the chief executive of any carrier or organization of employees or subordinate officials whose members are directly interested in the dispute, (2)

upon a written petition signed by not less than 100 unorganized employees or subordinate officials directly interested in the dispute, or (3) upon the Labor Board's own motion if it is of the opinion that the dispute is likely substantially to interrupt commerce, shall receive for hearing, and as soon as practicable and with due diligence decide, all disputes with respect to the wages or salaries of employees or subordinate officials of carriers, not decided as provided in section 301. The Labor Board may upon its own motion within ten days after the decision, in accordance with the provisions of section 301, of any dispute with respect to wages or salaries of employees or subordinate officials of carriers, suspend the operation of such decision if the Labo" Board is of the opinion that the decision involves such an increase in wages or salaries as will be likely to necessitate a substantial readjustment of the rates of any carrier. The Labor Board shall hear any decision so suspended and as soon as practicable and with due diligence decide to affirm or modify such suspended decision. (c) A decision by the Labor Board under the provisions of paragraphs (a) or (b) of this section shall require the concurrence therein of at least 5 of the 9 members of the Labor Board: Provided, That in case of any decision under paragraph (b), at least one of the representatives of the public shall concur in such decision. All decisions of the Labor Board shall be entered upon the records of the board and copies thereof, together with such statement of facts bearing thereon as the board may deem proper, shall be immediately communicated to the parties to the dispute, the President, each Adjustment Board, and the Commission, and shall be given further publicity in such manner as the Labor Board may determine.

(d) All the decisions of the Labor Board in respect to wages or salaries and of the Labor Board or an Adjustment Board in respect to working conditions of employees or subordinate officials of carriers shall establish rates of wages and salaries and standards of working conditions which in the opinion of the board are just and reasonable. In determining the justness and reasonableness of such wages and salaries or working conditions the board shall, so far as applicable, take into consideration among other relevant circumstances: (1) The scales of wages paid for similar kinds of work in other industries;

(2) The relation between wages and the cost of living;

(3) The hazards of the employment;

4) The training and skill required;

(5) The degree of responsibility;

(6) The character and regularity of the employment; and

(7) Inequalities of increases in wages or of treatment, the result of previous wage orders or adjustments.

SEC. 308. The Labor Board

(1) Shall elect a chairman by majority vote of its members; (2) Shall maintain central offices in Chicago, Illinois, but the Labor Board may, whenever it deems it necessary, meet at such other place as it may determine;

(3) Shall investigate and study the relations between carriers and their employees, particularly questions relating to wages, hours of labor, and other conditions of employment and the respective privileges, rights, and duties of carriers and employees, and shall gather,