Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-14
At THE WHITE HOUSE
Representatives of Railroad
Labor Organizations
PROTEST TO PRESIDENT
AGAINST THE PROPOSED RAIL-
WAY RATE MEASURE.
Irrigation Plant of the Pecos River
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Coming
Tomorrow.
PROTEST TO PRESIDENT

| the country-engtneers, fremen, conductors,
switchmcn and brallemen-protested to Pres
ident Roosevelt today against the proposed
| railway rate measure They were headed
by W. NJ. Clark OF the Order of Railway
Conductors a conductor on the Lake Shore:
Z. Kiiduff, an engineer on the Rock Island;
Charles II. Warren. a conductor the Bal
timore and Ohio, and George Huntley, a
conductor on the Lake Shore.
The vigorous declaration of Mr. Clark.
chairman of the delegation was that rate
| regulation means rate reduction and rate
| duction means decrease In the salaries of
! railroad employees ana longer hours "
1t WIS declared that the men represented
| the five great organizations and spoke for
| those organizations, and that they were
| not individuals presenting their individual
| views. The President. after listening to the
| Views OF tie delegation. said that he did not
| desire to hurt the railroads. but he wanted
| to take care of the interests of tie roads
! and shippers alike. lie mainta ned however
| that rate regulation did not mean ia;e re-
/ duction and declared there would he no
sound reason for reduction Of wages as a
| result OF the Enactment OF the law proposed.
| He frankly told his hearers they were pro-
| ceeding upon the wong lines.
Mr. George Hunt,cE. a conductor on the
Lake Shore and II icaigan Southern rail-
| way. and a member of the order of Rail-
| way Conductors, who served as the smokes
| man for the delegation. told the President:
| we are of the classes which have most to
| do in the practical operation of the most
| important branch of the railway service
and that is the train department" lie told
| the President it was not necessary to urge
| him 10 consider the trials and RESPONSE
| bilities, the shadow of death that goes
with us step by step in our daily battle for
| bread in our profession" because every
| laboring man in the land knew the Presi-
dent Keen interest and sympathy with the
honest worker
Mr.. Huntley assured the President that
| no taint of partisanship political color
| ing existed IN any degree among the MEM
! bers of the delegation, this freedom from
political bias forming ''one of the funda-
4 mental principles in the railroad mems or
ganiZations represented" He did not
| mean, however, to convey the impression
| that the railroad men did not take keen
| interest in all matters affecting the social
economics of the country. ITO demon
| strate this he said, we will recall the
| campaign of 1896 which presented the issue
! of the maintenance or rejection of the prn-
| ciple of protection to American labor. Then
| the railroad men expressed their convic-
| tions to such an extent that IL was quite
| generally conceded that Mr.. Mckinley's
| election to the presidency was due to the
railroad vote of the country.
''One million and quarter railway en-
| ployes have noted with concern the ten
| dency toward federal legislation on rail-
Iroad rates As there has appeared no hint
| that any general increase in the prevailing
| rates was contemplated we are forced to
! believe that the other alternative must fol-
| low, and general reduction in the earn
ing power of our railway lines would re-
| suit"
| The speaker declared with emphasis that
railroad employees We're satisfied that any
| legislation tending TO reduce the earning
capacity of railroad lines will, in the same
| measure, interfere with the prosperity and
| generally satisfactory conditions of the
| railroad employees.
Mr. Huntley stated that it had come to
| be the attitude of the administration and
| of prominent republicans generally that
| when a revision of the tariff is made the
| changes should be by its friends and not
| by its enemies. we suggest" said Mr..
| Huntley that similar course be follow
| ed in railway rate legislation" The speaker
| then asked who would be beniited by pro-
posed rate reduction. He declared that the
! farmer would not benefit by increased
| price for his products, and it was doubted
| whether the consumer would receive any
| material benefit. He argued that there had
| been steady decrease in railway freight
| rates for many years, and that in spite OF
| this reduction the consumers of the coun-
| try were paying more for their bread and
| meat now than when the rate was twice
| as much per ton "a at present. He wound
| up by expressing the hope that there would
| be no national legislation that would inter
| fere with or interrupt the prosperous con-
| dition of the railroads and of their en-
| ployes.
| The Views of the Delegation.
| The delegation which called on the Presl-
| dent came from twelve different states and
| represented all of the larger systems of
| railroads. In a statement of the character
| of the organizations represented George
| Huntley of the conductors organization
| presented the following to the President:
THE railroad employees and those de-
| pendent upon them represent upward or
! six million of people In this country, ana
| whose earnings, approximately, amount 10
| one-haf billion dollars annually, and we
| believe that there is no other class or
American workmen who present "A higher
general standard of citizenship than the
| railroad employees, and also claim that
| we are entitled TO fair and impartial con-
sideration in the framing or adoption or
| any national legislation that threatens our
general prosperity. We take keen and
active interest in all matters that seem to
conduce TO a higher aud broader standard
| of conditions for the workinsmen of this
! country, and, therefore, it is not strange
| that since the inception of this movement
for national legislation upon railroad rates
| all railroad employees have from time to
| time and in various ways expressed their
| convictions.
| For example: The Brotherhood of Rail-
| road Trainmen, with a membership of $1,000,
| at their last annual meeting in Buffalo last
spring adopted resolutions of the most en-
| phatic nature against any reduction in rail-
| road rates. The Brotherhood OF Locomotive
Engineers and the brotherhood OF Loconio-
| tive Firemen have expressed similar views
| by official utteranees, and the same can be
| said of the Switchmens National Assocla-
| tion The Order of Railway Conductors, at
| their biennial convention in Portland, Ore,
| last May. indorsed resolutions or the same
| nature The membership OF these organiza-
tfons is now a little more than a quarter or
| a million end there are still behind us an
other full million of laborers in the railroad
| world who would be similarly affected by
any reductions in the earning capacity of
| the railroad Inns of this country, and what
| impresses us with more force than any side
of the issue is this: Why have the railroad
| interests in particular been selected for this
attack? Why is the interstate commerce
commission some similar commission not
to be clothed with the same absolute au-
thority to fix the maximum prices on beef
pork, oil. clothing. butter and eggs, etc.--in
fact. everything which one has to buy every
day? It seems to us that such a step would
be Infinitely more reasonable than this pro-
/ posed move on railroad rates. becauae all