The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-17
RAILROAD WORKERS IMPORTANT FACTOR interest Aroused by Speech to
 President MAY AROUSE SYMPATHY It Is Pointed Out That the Railroad Men of~the Country Have Mll-
 lion and a Quarter of
 Voters.

Washington, November 16.-The &C., ton of the railway employees or the country in making united stand against the fixing of rates by the gov ernment authority and in presenting their case directly to the President. through the committee which waited on him on Tuesday,, added a highly important fac tor to the many previously bearing upon the question of rate legislation It l. factor the importance of which cannot be gainsaid. Although 1t has not re celved much attention heretofore, 1t may prove of decided weight in settling the question of whether congress shall give the interstate commerce commission power over rates.
 Politicians have a healthy respect for the power represented by the million and quarter votes of the railroad work men and the members of congress have found food for thought in that part of the statement of the labor representa- lives in which they referred to the part played by labor in the election of William Nc cKinley. It Is suggested that their in terest in the present question, with it's possibilities of direct injury to railroad employees through reduced earnings, on the part of the roads, is much greater and more direct than 1t was in the issue of 1896. While the million and quarter votes represented by the railroad work men would probably be sufficient to decide a presidential or congressional election, there is small doubt, in the light of past experiences that if the mat ter became a political issue the railroad men would have the support of other branches of labor. While a resolution opposing rate legislation was laid on the table in the convention of the American Federation of Labor in Pittsburg yester- day, 1t is pointed out that this indicates merely that the labor leaders believe that the time has not come when their assistance is needed.
 On the other hand. the railroad unions are the most prosperous and powerful labor organizations in the country and undoubtedly could carry the great ma jority of other labor representatives with them in any strong fight. While the labor men on the delegation that has been in Washington this week have been em- phatic in their declaration that there Is no political bias in their attitude on this question, they have made 1t clear that
 
 interests If they find 1t necessary AL though little attention has been given to the matter heretofore, the visit of this representative labor delegation has called attention to the fact that the five great railway labor organizations, comprising the engineers. the f1remen, the conduc- tors. the trainmesran the switchmen, are on record through the action of their ma. tional councils against government rate fixing. Tn addition, local divisions all over the country have been passing sim liar resolutions of opposition. With the power and votes represented by the rail- way employees and the strong opposition that has developed among commercial or ure providing for governmeM rate fixing along the lines of the Townsend bill would have hard row to hoe in con- gres this winter.
 Although the rate question, like the tariff question, is primarily a matter of economics, 1t has become fraught with the most momentpus political possibili- ties of any measure before congress to- day. More and more of the political leaders here are drawing a parallel be- tween President Roosevelt's position to- day and that of Grover Cleveland at the beginning of his second administration Predictions are freely made that upon the Presidents course hangs possibility of a repetition In the republican party of the disastrous history that followed the split between President Cleveland and the democratic leaders dozen years ago.