Denver labor bulletin., 1916-09-30

way men to be bullied back into indus
trial slavery.
100000 People Inconvenience.
he immense corporation, the Inter
borough, that has prec. pitated the strike
in New York city and put five million
people to Inconvenience and expense, ana
III uanger of fatal accident, has the
meanest record for financial corruption
and imposition upon the public which
feeds it, OF any public service corpora
tion in the whole United States. The
public investigation made this year by
a legislative committee of the state OF
New ork, proved that the lnterborough
had given away millions of dollars OF
the public's money, in the form OF bon
uses to officials tsome of whom are now
causing this strike), and in all the other
devious means known to immoral bust
ness. The record of public inquiry
proved that the lnterborough had put
over a contract on the city which Sc
cured to it a guarantee of as good bus
| mess in any year, as the corporation had
had in the past years of its existence.
I he inquiry showed that the public bus
mess of rapid transit in 4 city of sin
million people had been subordinated to
the private greed of profit takers, who
had assumed practically no risk in devef-
Oplng Trans nSpOrtatlOn, ana stOOu only 10
make profits.
''The wages paid to the men in this
service are less in the great majority OF
cases than every impartial authority de
clares is necessary for decent living in
the metropolis. The hours of service
violate every rule of good social econ
onY, of health and of personal welfare
When tn men, subjected to those com
pletely inhuman conditions, sought the
right that street railway workers il,
other cities of this country have sought
and acquired, the Tnterborough brought
the lash down upon them with ferocity
only equal to the greed with which ii
| has from the beginning of its existence.
robbed the people. 1t Immediately de-
manded police protection tho the only
violence even threatened was the vio
lence which the corporation itself in.
flicted or threatened by the employment
OF strkcbreakers, which have Justly
been described as the lowest form OF
animal life' Thousands of men, man,
of them the most vicious in the coun.
try, were brought in by a notorious
strike breaking agency. Several hundred
of the most decent of these strikebreak
ers themselves struck from their humil-
iating employment The fight of the en-
ployes to picket the cars and shops OF
the street railways was denied as al
incident to trick of building wire
cages around the front and rear ends OF
the cars, for no other purpose than to
deceive the public into the belief that
the men rrnning the cars were in dan.
ger of violence from the strikers anG
their sympathizers.
Public Sympathy With Strikers.
"The injury to the public perpetrated
by the street railway corporations has
included the killing of four passengers,
and the serious injury of l03 other pas
senrers. These fatal accidents were due
to the employment by the corporations
of incompetent strikebreakers and green
and reckless motormen and conductors.
If such homicidal acts had been perpe
trated by the strikers, there could be no
question that they and their leaders
would have been indicted for manslaugh-
ter. But the powerful corporation inter
ests that assume to own or control the
processes of law and order seem to be
completely immune from any punish
ment for their acts. They even have
the audacity to threaten to use the
courts and the prosecuting machinery to
indict and arrest labor leaders who are
exercising the lawful right of collective
action for self-defense
Among the union organizations that
have been the quickest to come to the
support of the street railway men are
the Dock Workers and Longshoremen 1t
was concerning these workers that the
present John Pierpont Morgan. who now
has the controlling interest in the street
railway corporations. made his famous
statement showing the complete indif-
ference of such financiers to the rights
of workers. When questioned bv Frank
p. Walsh Of the United States Commits
sion on Industrial Relations, whether he
thought that ten dollars a week was
enough for dock worker, Mr.. Morgan
replied. IF that is all he can get and he
takes it, ! guess it is enough
''1his industrial controversy here in
New York is still pending. in fact a.
Organizer Fitzgerald has said, it is Just
beginning, 80 far as its final and signifi-
cant phases are concerned. but the ul.i-
mate issue can hardly be in question
The great mass of the people of New
York are in sympathy with the strikers"