The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-28
STRIKE SITUATION FEATURE OF. WEEK Intervention Has Prevented
 Untold Suffering A FINANCIER'S VIEW Stock Market Responded Quickly Upon Indications of Peaceful Set tlement-Improvement in Gen.
 eral Business
A FINANCIER'S VIEW
By ". c. NICHOLAS

By ". G. NICHOLAS
 New York April 27-(Special) )-By far the most important development Of the week was the action taken by rail- read managers on the one side and rep resentatives of locomotive engineers on the other to avert the threatened strike. The timely intervention of Judge Knapp and Labor Commissioner Neill saved the situation. The country was on the point of being involved in d iailroad blockade, which would have l ieopardized the health and lives of millions of people, and put every man, woman and child east of the Mississippi to needless discomfort and loss. Not until the very last minute did Wall street awake to the gravity of the case, and the crisis was over almost before l 1t took acute form. Now that the dis pute is in a fair way to be settled, 1 the stock market has gained enormous fly in underlying strength and in a lsense of stability which has been lack Ing for two or three weeks, in fact, i ever since inside financial interests bega to understand and appreciate the l the danger. The effect of the facor- able turn has been to restore conf- lccnce in quarters where the market attitude was unfriendly, and to give in- l vestors in general a clearer feeling of security. Prices have not advanced to any great extent, but growing ten- dency to liquidate securities has been. checked
 As the issues involved in the strike dispute are threshed out, the public is likely to hear good deal about the railroad side. and to be enlightened as to the injustices complained of by tho transportation interests. The perform ance is likely to be well staged, and as developments occur, popular inter- est may be expected to increase. The matters under discussion concern every body and there is a lack of apprecia tion of the facts excepting on one side-anti-railBad. The writer had a long interview a day or two ago with one of the leading financiers of the country, man of broad judgment, wide experience and impartial. He has l grown up from the farm to the rank of one of the foremost men of the day, and is active in the management oI corporations representing billions of dollars, and giving employment to many hundreds of thousands of men. He Is accustomed to looking on all sides of questions in which he Is in- terested. and by training and disposi- tion inclines strongly to the square teal The talk turned on railroads, their relations with the public, stock holders and employees.
 "RaiIroads," he said "by reason of the fact that they are public utilities eve certain duties and obligations to the public. It is from the public that they have received special privileges, such as eminent domain, by which they are able to secure the right of way and other facilities, which enable them 10 do business in a broad way that would be otherwise impossible. The right of the people in their organized form to liegulate railroads is established by law, and Is admitted by the transportation interests as being one of the issues that is settled for all time. The govern ment regulates rates and fixes a max l mum, above which charges must not be made. It has put limit on earnings | and has made ironclad requirements l governing the conduct of business. This | IS all right, but there Is one very inn portant point in the regulation of rail roads that has not yet been touched upon.
 The government has left the rail- pads and the public at the mercy of their employees. Railroads cannot be run without engineers and train crews and the multitude of otheTmen who go to make up the working organiza- ton. Locomotive engineers, conduc- tors, brakemen machinists, and each lcf the many specialties are as indis- pensable to the carrying oh of the busi- ness of railroads as rails locomotives, | freight and passenger cars. If the rail- roads are to be held to strict responsi- bility to the public. they should be pro- ltected against interference from any group of employees. The men on enter ing the service of railroad take upon themselves a degree of responsibility | to the public, and they should be held in a n a I1a ma l,e,f,. employers.
 "In my opinion, the time will come when the public for it's own protection will demand of railroad employees a pledge of duty and responsibility not unlike that imposed on men when they enlist in the army. believe the sense lof the people of the nation will sus- tain and demand such obligation and That when a citizen becomes part lcf machine under government reg ulation and control. he should be held 10 the same terms as the parent organ tzstfon. There is no reason or justice fin governmental control of the trans lportation business when any factor or part thereof is allowed the privilege of embarrassing or tying 1t up to the great loss and danger of the people. The Immense importance of this question was revealed this week, when a group | OF 25,000 locomotive engineers pro- lDosed to arbitrarily stop the transpor- tation of provisions and supplies to tens of millions of people who were in no manner whatsoever interested in tho Issue upon which the strike was to be based. The food of communities of 800 | 0o0 to 5,000,000 souls was to be shut off lnnd hundreds of thousands of babies and small children were to be deprived of their daily supply of milk and oth- CT sustenance-vand what for? Merely 10 gratify the tyrranous instinct of a small band of men bent on forcing lcompliance with demands which might or might not be grounded on justice The issue wbich has arisen is important in the highest degree, and will be one Inf the next things to command the action of the public. I would like to sec this phase of the question fully dis cussed by the commission which is to hear and act upon the engineers strike Controversy" .
 The ideas outlined in the foregoing | interview may be a conspicuous feature of the approaching inquiry. They are in sense a novelty. and the outgrowth of tho quietly sensational developments Of the past few days. It Is something | tfat will infallibly command wide spread attention and interest. The pub li:c was so dangerously near a starva- 1 tion calamity that the shock of reallza : tion has been keen. The possibility of a recurrence of the danger Is one easi-