The Johnson City comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1916-1917, 1916-08-17
WILL WILSON SEIZE ALI
ROADS If STRIKE CONES!

| washington, August l6.--lr go efn-
ment operation OF railroads results
from the pending strike Of 100000
railway men, it will come in spite OF
the fact there is no existing legal
means by which it can he brought
about. 1t may come Just as govern
ment operation came in England, ov-
ern Sht at the outbreak of the Euro
peln war. 1t p7.2 come just as the
shc, lion of slayar Without any leg
al as:hority
VIII Woodrow Wilson do with the
railroad strike what Theodore Roose-
welt was prepared to do . th the
great coal strike?
On the answer to this and some
other contingencies tn quas-
tion of whether government opera
tion of railroads may become an ac-
complished fact.
Without any legal sanction, Roose-
welt was prepared to intervene in the
great antracite coal strike and oper-
ate the mines under a receivership,
using the regular army as the instru-
mentl
When Roosevelt called George f
Baer and John Mitchell and their as
sociates, representing the mine oper-
ators and mine workers, into confer
ence October $, 1902, the coal strike
had paralyzed industry, caused clos
ing of schools and public buildings
and threatened death and destruction
everywhere.
81 disclaim any right or duty to in
tervene in this way upon legal
grounds" said Roosevelt. But the
terrible nature of the catastrophe inn
pending over large portion of our
people in the shape of a winter fuel
famine impels me to believe my duty
requires ME to use whatever influence
| personally can bring to end the sit
uation.'
President Wilson called the two
parties to the railroad trouble into
when the ordinary chan
nels of mediation failed.
The question is: Will Wilson go to
the length that Roosevelt was pre-
pared to go in 1902?
That the railroads could be oper-
ated by the government and the de-
mands of the men met with ease is
by the conclusions of Il man
who has made a mere exhaustive
study Cf the problem than anybody |
else II the country. In his volume
On Government Ownership cf Rail
ways" published in 1910, Anthony
Van Wagenen, authority on govern
ment ownership, shows what the gov
could do.
"The railways of the country" he
says, could by a little expense and
effort be largely increased in their
Their capacity could be nearly
doubled by slight additions and sys-
operation as one system.
by eliminating all dividends and
paying a reasonable interest on the
price $500,000,0 900 could be
devoted a year to improvements"
The largest figure ever placed on
,he possible cost of granting the men
demands by the roads themselves is
year. If Van Wagen-
ems figures are even approximately
correct, this is only one fifth of the
that could be saved yearly by
government operation.
Should congress remain in session.
and the crisis become acute. the pres
dent could no doubt obtain the pass
age of a joint resolution authorizing
hlm temporarily to take over the on i
Grafton of the roads, to insure trans
portation of the mail, movement of
United tSates troops and SUPPLIES aul
for tn general welfare.
The general welfare" clause of thi
is broad enough to stand
much stretching if the administration
is disposed to stretch it. The Inter
state commerce" clause is also very
broad.