Statement by the President Announcing Agreement To Arbitrate the Railway Labor Dispute.

I HAVE just received a telegram from the National Mediation Board, reporting on the conclusion of mediation proceedings in Chicago. A wage dispute between all the 134 principal railroads of the nation and the railroad labor unions had been in process of mediation for the past three weeks.

The telegram informs me that an agreement to submit the dispute to voluntary arbitration in accordance with the Railway Labor Act has just been concluded between the railroads and eighteen of the twenty railroad labor unions. About 1,300,000 employees are covered by the agreement. As the Mediation Board pointed out, "this is another demonstration that collective bargaining is still functioning in this industry that has operated under the Railway Labor Act for the past twenty years."

I am highly gratified at this report from the National Mediation Board and congratulate the Board and the parties concerned on their fine accomplishment.