Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1905-12-01
RAILROAD EMPLOYEES ALERT.
Are Making strong Fight Against
Adoption Of Esoh. Townsend BIll.

w 4DA1<1bt SAt &*&fs ~ Ats"r e<*~ : -
road employees of.the country mean
TO throw their whole weight against
the adoption by congress of the Esch-
Townsend bill or similar rate-tixin5
legislation is indicated by the great
number of protests that have been
coming to the senate committee on
interstate commerce recently and that
still continue to flow in by every mali.
W'han the committee meets on Tues
day 1t will be confronted by q formid-
able array of these protests in the
form Of resolutions by local divisions
Of the railway labor organizations III
ell parts Of the country and letters
frem local officers and division chiefs.
Not only have the national organ
nations of the leading orders, such as
hrotherhoods of engineers, firemen
and trainmen and the order of con
ductors, taken action which has been
placed before the senate committee.
but hundreds Of local divisions have
REINFORCED this action by resolutions
Of their own While the expressions
OF sentiment that have reached the
senate committee have not yet been
tabulatea, there are some five or six
hundred local divisions of railway
worlxnen represented in this way,
and all the expressions that have
been received strongly oppose any leg
islation giving to any governmental
body the power to name rates. In
some states nearly all the local lodges
have taken such action. In New
York. for example, thirty-seven of the
forty divisions of the brotherhood OF
locomotive engineers have protested
against the proposed legislation.
The other psctests received include
many from divisions of the engineers.
firemen, conductors, trainmen, teleg-
raphers, baggagemen and trackmen
in different parts of the country. The
railroad wcrkmen claim that with
those dependent upon them they rep.
resent six million persons who are
vitality concerned in opposing the pass
age OF any such measure as the Esch
Townsend BILL
Although the movement has only
been called to public attention during
the past week by the visit of the com
nnittee Of railway employees at the
white house, opposition to the Esch-
Townsend bill apparently has been
gathering force among the working
men ever since the measure was
framed.
The initial action was taken at the
convention of the brotherhood of To-
connective engineers at Los Angeles,
California. in May, 1904, even before
the Esch-Townsend bill had become
a fact. AT this time this body voted
that government interference with
the railroads would be detrimentaL
in their opinion, to the interests of
the railroad companies, the railroad
employees and the country at large.
At a special meeting of the division
chiefs of this order at Cleveland. Ohio,
January 81 and 20 of the present year.
a resolution was passed to the effect
that this representative body is OPP
posed to placing the power in the
hands of the interstate commerce
commission, regulating the rates for
transportation on railways" Twenty
eight division chiefs of the order at
tested the minutes of the meeting con-
tanning this expression of opinion and
their statement is now before the
senate committee
The brotherhood of locomotive fire
men,. at the meeting of it's executive
committee at Peoria, H., last Febru-
airy, following the example of the en-
gineers, took similar action. They
were followed by the order of rail-
way conductors assembled at Port
land. Oregon, and the brotherhood of
railway trainmen who met at Buffalo
last May. The Representatives of the
order of railroad telegraphers in the
east have also committed themselves
in condemnation of the bill.
Typical of the stand taken by these
various organizations are the resolu-
tutiens adopted by the order of rail
way traiRmen. with membership OF
$4,000. at their national convention at
Buffalo last spring. In this memorial
the trainmen said:
THE usual acceptance of the term
rate regulation Is rate reduction. The
real issue, then, Of rate regulation is
one of rate reduction, which means
loss of revenue to the railway com
panies, and just how far-reaching this
loss would be IL q matter OF coniec.
ture. This organization does not
stand as an hpologist for railway
wrong doing. nor as a champion OF
railway corporations as against the
rights and interests of the general
RA0tASs 4 aCtAkOS Va Of1lAl&&ldllOu art,
not oondoned, but there is q remedy
for them within the present law. We
believe the laws should be forced
against discrimination, rebates and
preferentials, thus ensuring fair treat
ment to all concerned. but we do not
believe In empowering any commits
sion with the power to make a rate.
As railway employees, we feel that the
railway companies must be protected
from oppression, and unfair legislation
and be allowed to manage their bust
ness 10 the end that good service and
wages be maintained, and fair profit
on railway investments be assured 2
In the majority of these resolutions
from labor organizations stress is laid
on the point that they express the
Independent opinion of the men them
selves, that they are subject to no
coercion and that their action is taken
because they believe it to be for their
own good, and that of those depend
ant rnon them and the nrblic at