The sun., 1916-08-29
PRESIDENT WILSON'S PLAN TO CIR
RAIL WAY PEACE AT ANY PRICE.
An Examination Of Some Of the Consequences That Flow From the Initial
Mistake Of Thoushtiessy Rejecting Arbtratipn
From the Engineering Nsus.

hours work as they now Iva, for ,o,
hours. lie omitted the broihc,t,o,'
original demand for Il time and h,,.
rate for overtime work. Hence u.i,,
the arrangement which he prrn.o. n,
railways would have mo- uc.u.iy. vh.,
ever to reduce the present working ho,.,
OF the trainmen.
An elementary arithmct!cal cuuru,,
ton shows that Increasing Tn. n,,,.
rate 80 that n mar earns as ,uu., 81.
eight hours work AS he formerly ,,r,.i
In ten hours work is cuilyal.n, IN ~.
Increased wag rat" of - pcr ,e,,
II President Wilson believes tina, a.,
eight hour day IL the real question ,
issue. then he must believe thar , la,
proportion Of the trainmen who s.
making these demands are working ry..
longer h eight hours aud would ,1a-..
fore he entitled to this large ,r,,.
IN th0r wage rate. Yet he d.u,rt,l
that the railways should put lis prom.
sition in force and give it a ,r,l he.
cause. forsoo;h, no on" is w..o ,uoi,,
In advance of such a trial To- determine
whether the cost to the rlilwt,s vou'f
be material.
President Wilson declares thl, gusio.
favors the eight hour day. Il he mo-.
by that statement that tho nainrlt, ,
voters favor the general principle o, -
eight hour day as a movement 'oHt.I
lettering the conditions Of tho wnrl,,
man generally, h. is very i.hoIy rfr.
II is true also that the best ,Npor,.
efficiency in production are genera
agreed that where employee are We
ing day In and day out the year roui
IN industries requiring iu,cus. H., ,
nerves n muscles. such a. fac,or
work undcr modern high pressure boz.
dustrial conditions requires. eight houi.
is as long II working day as the avc,.
age employee can stand and copt,ru.
efficient work. liut th" railway brake.
man. while he Is on duty, has little %.
nothing to do so long as the train is D.
motion. He has no: as strong q clo
for the eight hour day a. the workmt,
In the ear shop or the Lahore, In IL,
section gang.
II President Wilson means that sor'o..
favors the universal eight hour ia, .
a practical working proposition. he
on unsafe ground. Ev,ry one onecl, .
the desirability of = shorter work. .
day If the greater leisure j. Affords
rightly used but most people pref.
WORK longer hours In order ,n earn n
money and De able t. buy more Of -
things they want. The railway '., ..
men themselves 10 u'. want short
hours. but larger wlgos for their pr,.,
working hours.
Thcr" j. some reason TO- believe .N'
large proportion nf tho members oC
tra.nmcn's brotherhood; have icgt.'
the whole matter ds II big game oi I''
on the part If their officials to get l.
thing TO- them, whi'I uf cout>"
would hc very glad to have: hpt Vs..
II actually comes TO tho pinch. tho IS
be slow to forfeit actually tho lrr-it,s
position they have go long held.
If tho strike comes. there MI ..
all probability for a few Gays and %.
hais :pr weeks much d~!Sorgau.Lif...
train service ana resulting htri.
a!Sl suffering Of innoreut person
Is not the sacrifice justified: Sll
organization he permitted to cN,..
tributions from the pubic IN rn..,.'
To Us ability t. clusc d'St.',"
demands are refused" Tia $50. ...
anarchy.