Daily Kennebec journal., 1916-09-27
Ex-PREs|DENT TAFT ON
RY. STRIKE settlement

In October Yale Review, former
President Taft deals with the railway
strike settlement" He writes:
What is the record of the Admins
tration concerning labor organizations?
Has it considered the public interest,
or has it ignored that and deferred to
the power which such groups are sup
posed to WELD in elections?
The great public advantage in or
ganization and combination Of capital
and Of wage -earners we all recognize.
The one vastly increases the product
of human enterprise and energy. The
other puts the wage-earner on an
equality with his employer in dealing
with wages and the terms Of his en-
ployment. Corporations and trades
unions are, therefore. institutions Of
modern economic society. that are per-
manent and necessary. The power
they acquire may become so great as
to tempt to serious abuse and public
injury. Hence we had the antitrust
law and the interstate commerce law
directed chiefly against combinations
fof capital but affecting in some meas
ure combinations of labor. Labor
leaders have sought exemption from
such laws as a privileged class and in
some cases they have been successful.
Mr.. Wilson, while avowing his oppo-
sition to this class legislation, has
united with the Democratic Congress in
passing, at the demand of the unions,
the Clayton Act. This Act, the labor
leaders claim, takes unions out Of the
| limitations Of the Trust Act and de-
MES to employers and the public the
ordinary legal remedies against collec-
| tive labor wrongs to business.
This unwise subserviency to the de-
mands Of labor leaders finds it's crown
ing instance, however in the dealing
Of Mr.. Wilson with the threatened
strike Of the railway orders of con-
ductors. engineers, trainmen, and
switchmen. These orders control, or
claim to control. 100000 men who run
the freight and passenger trains Of
the country. Should they all strike
at once. they would. for time certain
| ly, stop the arterial circulation of
commerce necessary not only to the
business but to the health and life Of
| the people. In the interdependence Of
groups on each otper for subsistence
in our modern society. such a COM
bination has the greatest power for
public injury. The legality of strike
rests on the proposition that the econ
omic inconvenience they cause their
| employer is a legitimate weapon in the
| inevitable controversy over the divi-
| sion Of the joint product Of labor and
capital. In ordinary strikes the injury
to the public at large is incidental and
negligible. When, however, the strike
threatens to reach such proportions as
the one In question, the probability OF
its enormous injury to the public
dwarfs other considerations and JUS
titles legislation to limit and restrain
concert Of action having such effect.
Thus Canada has a law declaring such
strike unlawful If entered upon be-
fore submission Of the issue to arbf-
tration. After arbitration, when the
public have learned the merits. then
the strike may proceed and public
opinion is counted on to defeat disre-
gard Of the judgment.
The main issue between the four
railway orders and the companies In
the present case was whether their de-
mand for an eight-hour law, with ten
hours pay, involving an increase Of
at least twenty-five per cent labor cost
to the railways. should be heard and
decided by arbitration as contemplated
by a Federal statute signed by Mr..
Wilson, or whether 1t should be en-
forced by a strike and great loss to
the country's business and much suf-
fering inflicted on the people. The
railroad presidents proposed arbitra-
ton. Mr.. Wilson promptly decided
against such arbitration, and charged
the railway presidents in demanding 1t
with forcing the strike and all its dis
astrous consequences. Could there be
a more complete illustration Of Sena-
tor Lodges remark that the first step
which the President takes In the inves-
tigation and consideration Of an i'm
portant issue, before evidence or argu-
ment, is "to make up his mind"
Mr. Wilson having found the railway
presidents unconvinced by the bare
statement Of his final conclusion, then
went to Congress and pressed upon 1t
the passage Of a law compelling an
eight hour day with ten hours pay,
and another law enforcing the Cana
dian system of arbitration. If these
measures had been combined, the pub
lie would at least have secured some
machinery for preventing a recurrence
Of "the pistol-at-the-h head" method
pursued by the railway orders. The
heads Of the orders, however. con-
temptuously rejected any attempt to
| limit their future use Of the same
weapon which was now proving SO ef-
fective And so the Democratic Con-
gress and the President humbly bowed
to the will Of the heads of the orders.
Within two days there was passed an
Act which enforced as law a simple
compliance with the full demands Of
the heads Of the orders. kttle or no
consideration was given to the other
recommendations Of the President;
and he abandoned them so quickly in
pressing for the Act which was passed
that 1t is difficult to believe that they
were more than formally made. Was
this not an abdication Of President
Wilson in favor Of President Garrett
son? a We might concede the advan-
'tage yf an eight-hour day. We might
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