76 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WAGES 
world has some formidable aspects; but this is the way to 
meet all its dangers. 
DEFLATION PoLicy ADOPTED 
Altho the foregoing forms of admonition, as well as the 
contentions of industrial workers, were fundamentally 
sound, as later developments proved, they were practically 
unavailing. Extreme policies of wage deflation were fol- 
lowed. The Railroad Labor Board granted the request of 
railway managements for a reduction of rates of pay of 
employees on the ground of the current decline in living 
costs and the unprofitable condition of the transportation 
industry, and ignored all other factors affecting wages. 
Similar policies were adopted in many other branches of 
industry. 
These conditions added to the widespread industrial dis- 
satisfaction and conflict. In the summer of 1922, a strike 
of all railway employees, other than train and engine crews, 
was threatened, but was finally restricted to a nation-wide 
strike of the shop crafts, which, however, was disastrous 
to the transportation industry and to business in general. 
As the result, the Railroad Labor Board lost its prestige 
permanently, and was finally eliminated by special legis- 
lation. 
Despite these and other untoward conditions, the general 
policy of attempting to revive industry and trade by wage 
deflation, or, in other words, by reducing rates of pay in 
accordance with lower living costs, continued for more 
than a year. There was no encouraging change, however, 
in the existing condition of industrial depression. It was 
not until the beginning of 1923 that sound thinking and 
constructive action prevailed and the country was again 
started toward a period of unprecedented prosperity— 
both as to duration of time and as to the extent of its effect.