Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-27
TRIcKsTERs IN DANGER

employ several thousand additiona
telegraphers Immediately. The con.
tingency has not been rudely Sprung
upon the corporations. 1t does moi
come as a surprise. They have had g
year in which to prepare themselves
for the salutary change; yet it is re-
ported that various railroads through
out the United States are finding diff
ficrlty in hiring telegraphers to fill the
positions created by the new shifts OF
turns of duty" What is the meaning
of this procrastination? What is the
true explanation of the failure to find
applicants to fill the new billets, in
face of the fact that there are plenty
of operators who would be willing and
eager to go to work? 1t is singularly
unfortunate for its originators that
what seems to be another carefully
planned campaign "to put the presi-
dent in a hole" and to make govern
mental, congressional and local au-
thorities believe that it is impossible
to comply with the nine-hour law
should have to be conducted soon after
financial depression which has left
plenty of skilled telegraphers out of
employment and eager for work. Here
is an obvious case of mismanagement!
With the public keenly aware of con-
ditions in the labor market, skilled and
unskilled. will it listen placidly to bab-
blings about 1.-The unfortunate neces-
cit Of ri cts md
along the line?" The shortage of ex-
pert or competent telegraphers claimed
by the law-dodgers does not exist.
Men are accessible. Their services
may be obtained in return for a living
wage. Todays Associated Press dis
ficlals are threatening to reduce the
wages of telegraphers $5 a month.
Those who are in a position to speak
authoritatively say there are several
thousand unemployed telegraphers
readily available. Many of these men
were strikers or were forced out of
their positions by the strike, which was
followed Immediately by the depression
in business, with the consequence that
there has been no opportunity for re-
adjustment of strike created conditions
When the strike was declared off only
small percentage of the men went
back to work. A large number had
betaken themselves to other avocations
and occupations in order to keep the
wolf from the door. These strays are
|
and would return willingly if the rail-
roads were to offer them profitable
employment.
The blunt truth Is that the owners
of the railway systems of the east
have made up their minds to admin
lister what they call "a salutary les
son to meddlers," the meddlers being
no other and no less than the presi-
dent and the congress of the United
States and the labor unions. The ag-
| grieved and pouting railroad magnates
are letting it be known that much to
| their regret they will have to remove
| telegraphers from small stations in or
| der that the force at more important
| stations may be doubled, to meet the
requirement of the time limit law"
| The inconvenience caused to the pub
| lie by the abandonment of minor tele-
| graphic railroad posts seems to be
part of the plan to discredit President
Roosevelt and punish him for his out
| spoken utterances. To close railway
stations looks like paltry, puerile and
| inconsequential revenge which will re-
act upon its contrivers. The financial
| depression went too far. The schem-
ers who deliberately set in motion the
| agencies which produced it did not
| take into account that a panic, like
| a dynamite bomb, after a certain stage
| of fostering and coaxing. becomes un-
| controllable. The movement of plotted
disaster had for its objects the chas-
| tisement of the president and the over
throw of the power of union labor. 1t
| failed in both, in despite of the fact
! that considerable genius in details was
evinced, underconsumption, for in
stance, being labeled "overproduction, -
| ligent scrutiny
The railway trust has taken advan-
tage of every opportunity that it could
| snatch out of the financial confusion
to accentuate the situation, with the
object of making President Roosevelt
as unpopular as possible, and inciden-
tally to attempt to cripple or break
the unions. From this malignant mental
attitude springs the attempt to discredit
the nine-hour railroad telegraph oper-
| ator law, and to discourage and dis
credit it's trainers and supporters. An
attempt to thwart beneficent and pro-
gressive legislation, adopted for the
best interests of the public. will not
meet with approval in any intel
| ligent, unbiased or unbought quarter
No one is fooled by the whine of an
| eastern road that is bewailing it's in
ability to secure go operators "neces-
sary for complete working force un-
der the new regulation" This road
with large crocodile tears, sobs that
1t will be necessary to close stations
The fact is that it could get from
Chicago tomorrow it's needed telegra-
piers if it took the trouble to hire
them and was upright enough to guar.
antee them a living wage.
The nine-hour law for railroad op.
orators marks step in the right 'di-
rection for the better protection Of