New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-23
Are the Railroads Criminals?

President Wilson appealed to the rail-
road executives "as one American citizen
70 another TO avert this disaster'-the
threatened general railroad strike. If he
had appealed with equal fervor to the rep
resentatives of the employees, before pub
! licly espousing their cause, 1t would nave
been vastly more fair and might have been
more effective.
The immediate threat Of dsaster-and
that is no exaggerated term to apply TO IL
comes not from the railroad executives,
but from the brotherhoods. 1t is they
who have refused arbitraton-who have
refused anything save unconditional sur
render to their demands. And 1t is the
President who. by indorsing their demands
and using all his powers of persuasion, all
the prestige of his office, in supporting
them. has confirmed the unionlsts IN their
position.
That position is wrong. 1t is unsound
economically. 1t is the experience from
wears of labor troubles in all lines OF IN
dustry that the surest way of progress
toward substantial justice for employers
and employees toward stability of business,
toward safeguarding the rights of the gen
eral public, lies through arbitration. lt
has been regarded by social reformers as 4
triumph every time a settlement OF labor
trouble has been obtained by give-and-
take methods rather than by the wasteful
violence Of the strike or lockout. President
Wilson himself, in his speedy denial OF an
tagonism to the principle, and in his SEMI
official talk about the passage OF com
pulsory arbitration law akin to Canada's'I
admits the merit of it. But In this par
ticular instance-as important as any
that could ever come before the country
he deliberately and persistently sets his
face against that which he says is good,
and by that very act upholds the hands OF
the union leaders, who threaten violence
The meanest criminal in this country
has his day in court as his right. All the
railroad executives ask for the vast IN
terests they represent is day IN court.
All the public asks is that the two sides
of the case be spread fairly, accurately,
impartially. on the records. This Presi-
dent Wilson has denied to the railroad
executives and to the public-not only toI
that substantial portion of the puohc
which is employed by the railroads but
does not belong to the "Big Four and
that large part of the public which has
invested its capital in railroad securities
but to the business man whose trade de-
pends on transportation and the house
holder whose food depends on 1t.
81 am willing to allow this matter to go
to the great American jury and let them
assess the responsibility" says the Presl-
dent. His actions give the lie to his words
If he really had been willing he would not
have recommended that the mems demands
be granted before arbitration. lie would
have insisted to the brotherhoods that they
submit their claims to investigation by the
Interstate Commerce Commission or some
other official agency-if necessary one
speciallv created-as the railroad heads
were willing to do. Then the facts would
have been laid, officially, before the great
American jury" Then the public would
have been able to fix the responsibility.
Now all it knows is that capital takes
an intelligent and enlightened stand, while
labor takes an unsound, selfish, arbitrary
stand, and the President of the United
States backs up labor. Even the Presl-
dents advocacy of the brotherhoods' case
cannot win it favor with the public under
these conditions. The sooner the unions
and the President recognize that and set
about it to right the great mistake they
have made the sooner the public will feel
free of the menace of grave disaster.