The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-09-11
OPPOSED TO A STRIKE.

western railroads should make the
| leaders of the labor unions think
very carefully before they take the
final plunge into strike. The press
as whole, Is a pretty good baromet
er of public opinion. Nobody would
say that it's attitude toward the rail.
ways In recent years has been very
| friendly Whether the issue has
been one between the roads and
shippers, or between the roads and
their employees, large majority OF
| the newspapers have taken the side
of the railways opponents. There.
| fore, the fact that the attitude of the
| press in general toward the demands
of the western shop employees is hos
tile is significant. We have not seen
a single newspaper editorial which de-
| Tended them. We have seen many in
| which the demands and the threats
| to strike are condemned, or even
roundly denounced. The Chicago
Tribune is regarded by railway men
as distinctly hostile to the railways.
Yet the Tribune said editorially on
August 80:
1T cannot be unknown to railway
employees that, while the wages of
men in many industries were reduced
after the panic of 1907 theirs were
not. Since then there have been gen.
eral increases. The roads have not
Jared SO we'll They have not been
allowed to raise rates and have had
to submit to cuts. So this is hardly
the time for employees to insist per-
emptorily on material concessions. If
they were working for a manufacture
ing company they would not"
The Kansas City Journal said on
the same day:
Conditions are rapidly growing
1 from bad to worse and it must be
settled sooner or later whether the
owners of railways, bound by string
ent laws to give the public maxi
mum efficiency of service at mini
mum rates, shall be permitted to man
age their property and give that ser
vice in conformity to the law; wheth-
er. in short, the peoples and the
owners interests should be regarded
as subordinate to the interests of en-
ployes"
On September 2 the Chicago Record
Herald said. after reviewing the de-
mands of the shop employees:
| "If, as we are often told, strikes
are symptom of increased business
and an upward trend, railway strikes
at this conjuncture would puzzle,
offend and ALLEVIATE the third party,
! the general public. Strikes for high
er pay, or shorter hours, or redress of
| wrongs may at times be unavoidable,
! in the superficial sense of the term
But when business is not normal,
when men are dismissed and forced
to live on their savings, even strikes
for material, direct, palpable benefits
are extremely i'll advised. What
will the general public think of
strike over recognition of a new
federation at such time? Finally,
as the last evident proposition, strikes
like lockouts-condemne by the
public are foredoomed to failure
/ The New York Tribune on August
30 also analysed the demands Of the
shop employees, and after condemning
them seriatim added:
Railways are public utilities. oper-
ated for the convenience and use OF
the people, and the people are direct.
ly interested in the manner in which
they are managed. 1t would be a
monstrous injustice to hold respon.
sible for their management corpora
lions or individuals who had no real
authority over it, and it would be
absurd to try to hold responsible an
organization which expressly dis
claims responsibility, or to invest such
an organization with authority II Is
not by the making of such Illogical
and extravagant demands as these
that labor organizations will win
public sympathy in whatever Iegiti
mate and reasonable demands they
may also make"
! The Denver Republican also on the
same day used the following vigorous
4 language.
Demands made by the leaders Of
the federation of shop employees or
the Hartman lines are the reductic
/ ad absurdum of pinhead unionism
AS well turn the management of the
4 properties over to the walking dele
gate junta and reverse at one stroke
/ the regular order of business. If the
/ demands made upon the manage ment
| were granted the union bosses would
4 be running all the roads. The Harri
man lines would be conducted for the
4 advantage of the union bosses, not
| for the good of the public"
More significant, perhaps, than any
of these utterances is the following
from the Railroad Employe. of New
ark. N. j., for August, 1911:
THE railway owners, directors and
managers of America are at presen,
standing with their backs against The
wall, and while the industry remains
In its present unsatisfactory state
conciliatory and reciprocal. rathe,
than radical and red-fag, means and
methods on the part of its servants
will unquestionably be productive O
the more satisfactory and lastine
benefits to every one concerned"
These utterances are typical Of
what is being generally said. There
are no particular demands of the EN-
ployes that are disapproved All Of
them are condemned There can be