The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-09-16

are mysterious. The ramifica tions OF
it's subtle influence are innumerab'e.
The object in view is to create false
public sentiment on the rate" ques-
tion Or the semblance Of one, as a
founda ton for suggested senatorial
conspiracy against the real interests
of the people.
One of the later productions in this
line, that is apparently waited over to
the general public through the medium
of the press dispatches, halls from
Chicago and quotes from an alleged
"open letter" of one M. S. Mayse to
railroad employees in general and those
Of the Santa Fe" road (of recent
questionable prominence) in particular.
This gentleman, it appears. occu-
pies the responsible position of Chair
man Of the General Grievance Commit
tee of the Brotherhood of Railway
Trainmen That he holds this posi-
ton presupposes that he enjoys but
not necessarily that he deserves the
confidence Of the humber members Of
the Order. This fact has, no doubt,
prompted the railroad oligarchy to use
him as an instrument through which
to convey to their employees the spec
ious arguments and Misrepresentation
by which they hope to once more de-
feat the will of the people, to wit:
that there shall be at least one tri-
bunal in the country with more ultimate
power than the railroads themselves
exercise and possess.
Mr.. Mayse most Zealously re-iterates
that old and ridiculous canard that ef-
fective rate regulation implies In It's
firality reduction in wages. He is.
of course, not even the re-discoverer
of this specious bit of misrepresenta-
tion and false reasoning. It has been
duly presented to congressional and
senatorial committees by most solici-
tous railroad attorneys whose eyes were
dimmed in tears as they pleaded the
cause Of the railroad employee CD. 1t
has been scattered broadcast in PAM
phlet form by the railroad press bureau.
1t formed the burden Of the argument
Of President Elliot of the Northern
Pacific. the operators on which were
against beggarly wage and were
crushed into submission by the arrogant
and ruthless power of aggregated
wealth; the Northern Pacific, by the
way, being one of the merger" roads
that in the few short years since it's
reorganization has piled up surplus
running into the tens of millions and
the stock of which is quoted In the mar
kets at more than double its already
three-fold inflated par value.
In thus allowing himself to be utiliz-
ed as the distributor Of one Of the stock
arguments of the railroad special
pleaders, Mr.: Mayse has therefore mer-
cord uittss sSthe sewer ~
II were. BY which the railroad mag
nate and his instruments and hirelings
hope to reach, or for the benefit of
weak brothers in public life to pretend
to reach, the railroad employee and
poison both his mind and his soul and,
on the great question at issue. make
him the slave of privilege and a
traitor to the best interests Of all the
people of the United States, himself
included.
For, after all, what is this question
of effective rate-regulation and, to
that end, of granting to the Interstate
Commerce Commission the very mod
crate enlargement of it's powers pro-
vided in theEsch- Townsend bill, name
ly: Upon hearing to name the reason
able rate? Nothing, absolutely notf-
ing further but the question Of the
shipper (producers and consumers) get
ting from under the autocratio and
tyrannical thumb Of the railway
oligarchy and having a tribunal to
which he may appeal, in case Of dis
pute, with some hope of ultimate and
effective relief.
It is simply a question whether the
people, through their lawfully organiz-
ed tribunals, shall have the last say or
whether, as now, they shall remain at
the tender mercies of the railway mag
nate; whether the people Of this
country are to be freemen or serfs.
For almost ten years after the pas
sage of the interstate commerce law
and unit! an adverse judicial con-
struction restricted it's usefulness, the
Interstate Commerce Commission ex-
ercised the powers that Mr.. Mayse Qet
us hope, ignorantly) inveighs against.
During this entire time the railroads,
in the main, acquiesced in it's rulings
and there was not one jot or little of
disturbance either In railroad values or
III the mdtleT OF the wages OI Td1lrOdU
employees that could, in the remotest
degree, be charged to railroad SUPER
vision and control by governmental
authority. Experience has therefore
demonstrated that the present claim
of the railroads, that effective regula-
| ton will injuriously affect the wages
Of the railroad employee, Is the veriest
| "moonshine".
! Not from a patriotic and expert In
terstate Commerce Commission, with
! enlarged powers, but from the uncon-
trolled fiat Of the grasping transporta
! ton interests need we fear menace
| to the general welfare and the special
welfare Of the railroad employees. The
comparative pittance which the aver
age railroad employee now enjoys (of-
ficials with princely salaries, Of course
! excluded) is not theirs by favor-it
is the product of the might Of organized
demand. Little confidence have they
in human nature or themselves if they
can be made to believe the day will
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