El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-12

solely by the rule of seniority. or
whether fitness as well as length OF
service shall be taken into cOnsidera-
ton. Without looking at the matter
from the standpoint either of the rail-
road or its employees. desire to remind
you that this question is one which
vitality affects the people of MaSSachu-
sets and. indeed of all New England.
Promotion and the assignment Of
duties according to seniority. without
regard to fitness, lower the efficiency
of the labor force. make it impossible
for the railroad TO maintain discipline.
and impair the ability of the railroad
to serve the public
THE real issue is not between the
railroad and its employees, but between
the employees and the people of this
commonwealth; and the question is
whether the lives of people shall be
placed in Jeopardy by the maintenance
of the seniority rule, and whether, in
order to enforce this rule, our people
must submit to the evils incident to a
railroad strike.
IF this strike is declared It will be-
come my duty to take such mea Sures
as are within my power to protect the
people of this commonwealth. To that
end, if the strike is called. 1 shall ask
the council to ioin me in summoninG
a special session Of the legislature for
the purpose Of enacting laws which
after providing effective remedies for
all grievances of employees, shall abSO
lutely prohibit strikes of railroad Op
wealth.
'For such action the laws OF other
countries supply useful presidents. and
public sentiment in this commonwealth
will surely demand the enactment of
similar legislation"
s1Fitnesss misunderstood By FOss, Say
Engineers.
A reply to the above statement of
governor FOSs was made public by L.
L Griffing, assistant grand chief of
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi-
neers, and T. J. Mcnamara. vice presi-
dent of the Locomotive Firemen and
Enginemen. 1t said in part:
I'VE believe that, in justice to your
self, the public and all other parties
concerned, We should endeavOr to cor
rect the false impression, as indicated
by your letter. that you have formed
of the existing controversy.
I'VE do acknowledge that a strike
vote is now being taken, but not for
the purpose that you state, namely,
The strike is one of the forces of or
ganized labor that is exercised only as
a last resort, after all other legal and
legitimate efforts have been exhausted
This does not necessarily
mean that because it is authorized it
must be ordered.
you speak of a strike as being Of
grave concern to the people of MaSSa-
chusetts. Permit US to suggest that
such a strike is Of equally grave con-
Germ to those directly involved Many
of them are citizens of your common
wealth. and together with their fami-
lies, relatives. friends and coworkers
on the railroad. all of whom are deeply
concerned, while not being in a ma
iority, are of numbers sufficient to
have at least attracted your attention
to that extent that before indicating
your hostility to their interests. as
shown by your published letter. you
would have given their representatives
the opportunity to present their side of
this controversy to your excellency.
IF a public calamity-is threatened.
and your expressions would indicate
that such is your belief then we deeply
regret that as governor Of the COM
monwealth you have taken a stand with
the corporation against the employees
with threat to invoke the power Of
your office to prevent such public ca
lamity. Permit US to suggest that such
action on your part would invite
greater calamity to the workers of the
commonwealth than that which you
now say is threatened by strike
The principal issues of this present
controversy are of too serious a ma
ture to be treated lightly. Your infor-