Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-25

contract was virtually entered into py
| the owners of these properties and the
state whereby the former bound them
| selves to perform the duties of common
| carriers for the public, and the latter
bound herself to protect them In the
peaceable performance Of those duties.
| Not one word was said in those char
ters giving the owners the right to sus-
| pend operation of the roads TO the detri-
| ment of public convenience, or giving
| the employees the same right. So long,
| therefore, as either of those companies
| attempts to perform the duty II as
| sumed the State is under obligation to
use extreme force, IT, necessary to pro-
| tect 1t In thus serving the public.
Labor Trust" Scored.
Furthermore, in the amended Railroad
| Commission law, as embodied in Sec
| tons 1853 and 1854 Of the Code Of Geor-
| gia, the Railroad Commission is author
i, lied to require all common carriers and
| other public service companies under
its supervision ITO establish and main
tain such public service and facilities as
| may be reasonable and just" Also, to
| order and compel the operation of suf-
| fcient and proper passenger service
when in It's Judgment inefficient or in
sufficient service is being rendered the
public or any community"
Again, 1t has been very aptly said by
| one writing on the status OF the State
| in relationship to the common carriers:
| THE power to fix rates and charges
| for transportation is an attribute of SOW
ereignty because in operating public
! highway a transportation corporation
| exercises the power Of sovereign. This
! power over public highways constructed
| for public use to accommodate public
! travel and secure public convenience is
| a matter Of public concern and is alb
/ solutely essential to government"
! Hence, IL necessarily follows that any
] person or combination of persons who
| obstructs, intimidates or otherwise pre-
vents the operation OF the common car
| "a hInuT a of
| the public and puts his or their will in
conflict with the mandate Of the SOW
| ereign.
Augusta Strike Rebellion.
There is no escape, therefore, from
/ the conclusion that those employees of
! the street car company in Augusta and
/ Of the Georgia Railroad put themselves
| in state Of opeL rebellion to the laws
| Of Georgia. They ignored the cardinal
| tenet of republican government viz. !:
| There shall be equal rights to all, spe-
| 'ial privileges to none," and arrogated
! to themselves the exercise of special
! privileges for settling their quarrels with
/ their respective Arrangements at the eX-
! pense and serious inconvenience of the
| public, and in manner which embodied
! defiance of the law which requires all
/ dwellers in the State having differences
which they can not peaceably adjust
/ to submit them to the States courts.
| Again, their acts in leaving the ser
| vice of the employing companies, and
! II formation
/ OF mobs to intimidate and personally as
| sault those citizens whom these COM
| mon carriers Induced to take the places
/ they had vacated, that the carriers
| might obey the law which created them,
/ was logically claim which can be ex-
pressed in these words: This is your
property, but II is my job on it, l ana
| my partners, the union, win defend our
| MUTUAL rights to exclusive ownership
! Il the position which we hold on your
! property. We win determine for you
| whom you shall hire and whom you shall
| not hire, and what wages you shall pay
/ While 1t is true that we have not in
| vested a dollar in this public service
| tiltty and you have invested millions
| in II, yet we have vested rights in these
| positions rights which we have acquired
| by usurpation, and we will hold them
| while defying the laws of the State and
! subtecting the public to serious incon-
! Nemence and loss even against YOU On
| your property chartered to serve the
| pubic we are supreme over YOU SUI
| preme over. the public, supreme over
| the law. The union label carries more
authority, than does your Great Seal
Labor Exacts Tax"
! In considering the status of the public
! service corporations and their employees.
! there is one factor which can not be
! ignored. This is embodied in the follow
| ing words found In the last annual re-
! 1ort of the Railroad Commission of
| Georgia:
In 1908. the railroads operating in
| Georgia employed in Georgia "a sos per
| sons; in 1912, they employed 1851
! The wages paid these 80 691 EMPLOY
| ees IN 1912 exceeded the wages paid the
| S4SOS employees in 1908, $5.77l 1O4 90
more than in 1908. This. however, was
| TO larger number of employees The
! individual wage scales show that had
/ the number Of employees for 1912 been
/ kept the same as in 1908, they are being
paid $3.66S,725.H more than in 1908
Il
ees in 1908 received So Sos. .21 more in
/ 1912. which is an average increase to
| each railroad employee in Georgia in
| 1879 over 1908 Of more than sos fer
The Commission has taken ten trunk
| line roads in the State, to dit: the
! southern, the Seaboard the Atlantic
/ Coast Line, the Louisville and Nash
| VILE the Georgia, Southern and Florida,
! the Georgia Railroad, the Atlanta and
/ West Point, the Atlanta, Birmingham
| and Atlantic, the Central of Georgia
and the Western and Atlantic and their
/ 1912 to the same number of employees
| than in 1908.
| THE individual wage scale further
shows that by far the largest increase in
! wages has been paid to employees be-
! longing to labor unions such as engf-
| neers, hremen, conductors, train hands.
| etc"
In other words, while the average in
| crease to each OF the "a, 500 employees in
| 1912 over 1908 was sos. 90 per annum
| the average increase to each member of
/ a labor union was larger by far, in some
! instances, doubtless approximating $500
/ or more
Holds Unions Menace.
| Hence, we are brought race to face
/ with the fact that these unions. or COM
| binauons Of employees. not only on pub
| lie service corporations but, as is gen
orally known on practically all other
| corporations have forced their wages UP
| aoove those received by workmen in all
4 other departments of life who have not
| formed these aggressively militant COM
/ binations. Tens OF thousands of other
| citizens who are not in these unions
! therefore, are confronted by the fact
/ that the unions are levying a tax upon
| them to the extent that they are forcing
| from the employers an inequitable pro-
/ portion Of the wages paid to thu general
| classes in the State.
| II the State not only authorizes these
unions, or combinations. to exact higher
wages than others receive, but also per
mits them by authority of law or by
winking at their violations Of 1t to hold
up the general public and rob it of the
facilities for transportation, then she can