Mediation of the Railroad Labor Dispute, 1933

by Franklin Roosevelt

WHEREAS the President, having been duly notified by the Board of Mediation that disputes between the Kansas City Southern Railway Company, the Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway Company and the Arkansas Western Railway Company, carriers, and certain of their employees represented by

Order of Railway Conductors; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers; Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen; Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen;

which disputes have not been heretofore adjusted under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, now threaten substantially to interrupt interstate commerce within the States of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, to a degree such as to deprive that section of the country of essential transportation service;

Now, THEREFORE, I, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and by virtue of and under the authority in me vested by Section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, do hereby create a board to be composed of Three (3) persons not pecuniarily or Otherwise interested in any organization of railway employees or any carrier, to investigate and report their findings to me within 30 days from this date.

The members of this board shall be compensated for and on account of such duties in the sum of Fifty Dollars ($50) for every day actually employed with or upon account of travel and duties incident to such board, from which will be deducted fifteen percent (15%) as provided in Public No. 2, 73d Congress, approved March 20, 1933. The members will be reimbursed for and they are hereby authorized to make expenditures for expenses of themselves and of the board, including traveling expenses and in conformity with Public No. 212, 72d Congress, approved June 30, 1932, 11:30 a.m., not to exceed five dollars ($5.00) per diem for expenses incurred for subsistence.

All expenditures of the board shall be allowed and paid for out of the appropriation "emergency Boards, Railway Labor Act, May 20, 1926, 1933 and 1934" on the presentation of itemized vouchers properly approved by the chairman of the board hereby created.