New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-24
President Losing Popular
ity as Strike Negotia-
lions Drag On.
EACH SIDE HOLDS
HE FAVORS OTHER
If Peace Is Patched Up II
Will Not Be His Per
sOnal Victory.
From Tho Tribune Bureau ]

washington, Aug. Gas tHe sNiIhO
negotiations at the White House drag
10 the close Of their second week. so Tar
as they have been productive of any re-
suit in the opinion of observers here. 1t
has been not on the points IN cortro-
versv between the brotherhoods and the
railways. but on the President himself.
Progress toward an agreement has beeh
made, and il is probable that some
form of peace will be patched up out
il will not be such as TO constitute
great personal victory for Woodrow
Wilson, nor to Offset the prestige ne
has lost.
The main outstanding feature of the
present situation is the growing un
popularity of President Wilson with
the two groups of contestants. Not
that this has reached the point of eX-
preston or pronounced discomfort, but
IL is thing that is noticeable wher-
ever railway men meet, Whetner they
be workers or executives.
Much Of il is the natural outgrowth
Of conditions surrounding the confer
ences here. Given temperatures such
as Washington has experienced during
, the last week and with groups of men
who have been strained in deadlock for
weeks suddenly reduced TO idleness
while an outsider attempts TO settle
their dispute, it is little wonder that
temper and patience have been tried.
Believe Wilson Partial.
But President Wilson's unpopularity
I is believed to have deeper reason
still And this is that, beginning the
negotiations as a mediator IN a frank
/ desire merely to find basis of settle
ment without taking sides in the con
troversy, he has suddenly lost the
, qualities that commended him. Both
/ the unions and the railroads feel that
I the President has taken sides, but they
/ do not agree as to which group he
/ favors.
This criticism is perhaps most severe
from the railway executives. and
+ reaches its elimination in julius krutt-
schnitt's statement tonight, in which
/ he calls the Presidents plan Of settle
ment spurious" Much Of il found It's
origin in the Presidents unfortunate
/ gift Of phrasemaking, which again has
seriously embarrassed him. Hhen
/ President Wilson declared that the
/ eight hour day had the sanction OF
society,"" and that conditions and not
principles" made arbitration impossible
in the present situation, railway men
assert he abandoned his position OF
mediator and sided with the men.
As a result Of mis- telegram to Pres
| idcnt Pope, of the Manufacturers As
ISOLATION, the President has found him
self on the defensive. Instead OF beng
merely an attempt to find a basis for
peace between the opposing groups the
| issue has suddenly become, in the
/ opinion Of business organizations all
+ over the country, as reflected In their
kilograms TO the White House, a test
involving the whole principle of arbi-
tration.
In Untenable Position.
Beside the question whether force
alone was TO be the sole means of
/ settling industrial disputes in the fut-
/ ure, the merits of the present contro-
versy suddenly dwindled. And the
President, finding himself in an I'M
tenable position, made haste to assure
tho public that he was for compulsory
arbitration in the future. which would
make similar situations impossible.
Thus it is the question Of arbitration.
disregarded by the President early in
the negotiations, that is the main
stumbling block at present TO an agree
ment. The roads, under the pressure
of preventing a break, have consented
to trial of the eight-hour day, though,
as Mr.. Kruttschnitt's statement to-
night shows, they regard it as a most
fragrant hold-up by the unions.
But in return for that the eXecu-
tives have tenaciously held to the con-
tention that the remaining issues must
be settled by arbitration, or that in
any agreement worked out the principle
must be recognized as means of set
Ting future disputes, and in that
largely TO their great surprise, they
have had the overwhelming support of
the public. In fact, one railway official
admitted to-day that had they known
month ago that public opinion would
have rallied so quickly to the arbitra-
tion issue, the railway case would have
been in an entirely different shape.
Brotherhoods Also Distrustful.
Among the brotherhood men distrust
of the President is due to a different
reason. The White House statement
on the eighr-hour day unquestionably
made strong appeal for the President,
not merely among the GAO labor repre-
sentatives gathered here, but in trade
union ranks all over the country. The
trainmen felt, after their first confer
ence at the White House, that the Pres
ident was in sympathy with them, and
until within the last day or two they
reciprocated by being strongly for Will
son.
But the delay in the negotiations has
caused suspicion among many of the
men that the President was merely
trihing with them to gain time. This
dscord, mainly among the New Eng
land men. was plainly shown at their
meeting to-day, when the leaders sue
ceeded in keeping harmony only after
the greatest efforts. The President had
persuaded them TO surrender their de-
mands for punitive overtime and to
make other concessions for the sake
of gaining the eight-hour day basis, and
expected prompt acquiescence by the
railroads. The railroads, in turn, have
been seeking to cut these down still
further and q settlement is nowhere in
sight. This condition has made the
men FESTIVE, and many of them put the
blame or the President.
Nor is the eight-hour day, which the
President extolled, exactly the same
proposition as outlined. AS the COM
. plications Of the railway speed basis Of
operating trains have been explained to
the public, the reaction has been more
in favor of the railroads. The question
is not, as President Wilson puts il, one
of an eight-hour working day. but Of a
basis for computing extra pay. The
brotherhoods have announced that they
would oppose any limitation on work
ing hours. Gradually the public has
perceived the point that the demands
were not being made for the benefit of
the great mass of railway employees,
: but for less than 20 per cent of those
employees.
HUNGARIANS WANT ENVOY