Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-08-31

low: they may exceed the horrors Of
| the war abroad.
mittee agree with me that compulsory
arbitration and compulsory service are
both impossible and inadvisable. The
| suggestion. therefore. Is made that the
government make an Investigation and
there be mediation. and that pending an
| inquiry into the facts the parties main
tain the status quo.
Gompers Asked for Remedy.
Now II this remedy is not right and is
wholly wrong what is the remedy"
Mr.. Gompers replied that under the cir
cumstances the employees should be left
free to strike whenever they saw At and
not forced to unfold their arms by law.
The question of bringing about peace
| now. he insisted. should devolve upon the
railroad heads. he declared. and that they
should be expected to agree to some sort
Of satisfactory settlement.
ut Is more essential" he said, that
the liberties of the employees should be
safeguarded than that some suffering
which is certain to follow q strike be
| avoided
Mr. Gompers concluded by saying that
the men could not further delay the
given more time to take measures to
defeat 1t.
W. G.. Lee Testides.
W. G. Lee. head of the trainmen. re-
| viewed negotiations between the rail-
road heads and went into details re-
garding why the employees had refused
to arbitrate the eight-hour day.
In many parts of the south and
southwest" he said. I'VE could not
arbitrate whether we should live in a
house which we had bought and paid
| for"
not called hastily. For eleven days
after the brotherhoods accepted Presi-
dent Wilson's proposal they waited fu :
tilely for an answer from the railroad
heads as to their attitude toward 1t.
and then called q strlke.
I'VE standy ready he said. ito ac-
Lzept the Presidents proposition. though
we believe it embraces less than so per
| cent of our original proposition. We
| shall stand ready to arbitrate all other
| issues as soon as the Presidents eight
hour day proposal is enacted into law.
| TT is beyond us four. II we ever hope
to remain officers OF these organiza-
| tons, II we ever expect to retain the
| respect of those men. to stop this
| strike by any other method than to
| send our general ckairmen code mes
| sages meaning satisfactory settlement
effected That message only can be
/
Another Proposition Acceptable.
Mr. Lee said that a settlement might
have been reached if the President had
proposed to the brotherhoods that they
no longer demand an eight-hour day.
but that they be given time and half
| for overtime.
But" said he, mo such proposal was
| made"
Replying to Senator Pomerene, Mr.. Lee
| said that if it were possible to reach all
| the brotherhood men and explain the
present legislative situation he thought
\ they would vote to delay the strike. But
this, he added. was impossible now.
roads door. Had they answered the
Presidents proposal promptly. he insist
ed the present shortage of time for legis-
ratiye consideration would not exist
| The railroads, he insisted. are prepar-
ing to work non-union men in the event
of a walkout. Any delay in starting a
strike now would be utilized by them in
making further preparations for fighting
the brotherhoods.
Representatives Of Railroads.
| A. P. Thew. general counsel for the
railway executives advisory committee,
said Judge R. S. Lovett Of the Union
Pacific and Elisha Lee. chairman of the
managers conference committee, would
present the side of the railroads
| Judge Lovett said that II the public
was not involved in the present contro-