Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-29
SAFEGUARD LIFE OF THE NATION" SAYS PRESIDENT
IN PLEA TO CONGRESS TO AVERT RAILROAD STRIKE

Confined from fare One
man Adamson. Of the House Interstate
Commerce Committee, and will urge early
action on his proposal.
Republicans manifested opposition early
today and indicated they would need con-
siderable time for debate. Nevertheless,
Administration officials feel that the entire
program will go through within ten days.
PRESIDENT WILSON'S SPEECH.
The Presidents speech to Congress fol-
lows.
Gentlemen of the Congress:
'G have come TO you to seek your as
sistance in dealing with very grave situa-
tion which has arisen out Of the demands
Of the employees Of the railroads engaged In
freight service that they be granted an
eRht-hour working day safeguarded by
| payment for an hour and half OF service
for every hour OF work beyond the eight
THE matter has been agtated for more
than a year. The public has been made fa-
miliar with the demands of the men and
the arguments urged in favor of them. and
| even more familiar with the objections OF
| the railroads and their Counter-demand that
| certain privileges now enjoyed by their men
| and certain bases of payment worked out
| through many years of contest be recon-
| sldered, especially In their relation TO the
| adoption of an eight-hOur day. The matter
| came some three weeks ago to a final issue
| and resulted In complete deadlock between
the parties. The means provided by law for
| the mediation Of the controversy failed and
| the means of arbitration for which the law
| provides was rejected The representatives
| of the railway executives proposed that the
| demands of the men be submitted in their
| entirety to arbitration. along with certain
| questions of readJustment to pay and
| cond .tlons of employment, which seems to
them to be either closely associated with
| the demands or to call for reconsideration
on their own merits the men absolutely de-
cllned arbitration, especially II any of their
established privileges were by that means
to be drawn again In question.
FEARS NATIONAL CALAMITY.
"The law In the matter put no compulsion
upon them. The 100000 men from whom
the demands proceeded had voted to strike
IL their demands were refused; the strike
was Imminent; II has since been set for the
fourth of September next. It affects the
men who man the freight trains on prac-
ticnlly every railway in the country. The
freight service throughout the United States
must stand stili until thor places are filed
II, indeed, Il should prove possible to All
them at all Cities will he cut of from their
TODD supplies, the whole commerce of the
nation will be paralyEed, men of every sort
and occupation will be thrown out of en-
ploymont, countless thousands viii In all
likelihood be brought, IL may be, to the very
calamity brought on, to be added to tho
other dlstresscs of the time, because no
basis Of accommodation of settlement has
been found.
Just soon as 1t became evident that
mediation under the existing law had failed
and that arbitration had been rendered i'm
possible by the attitude Of the men, con-
sldered 1t my duty to confer with the rep
resentatives OF both the railways and the
brotherhoods, and myself offer mediation
n G n N rht atnr hut ,,nIrar
man of the nation, In the interest of justice.
indeed friend of both parties and not
as judge. only as the representative of one
hundred millions OF men. women and chill
dren who would pay the price, the in
calculable price of loss and suffering
should these few men insist upon approach
ing and concluding the matters in con-
troversy between them merely as employers
and employees rather than patriotic cIti-
zens of the United States looking before
and after Ind accepting the larger respon-
sibIlty which the public would put upon
them.
FAvoRS EIGHT-HoUR DAY.
''It seemed to me, in considering the sub
Ject-matter OF the controversy that the
whole spirit of the time and the preponder-
ant evidence OF recent economic experience
spoke for the eight-hour day. 1t has been
adjudged by the thought and experience of
recent years a thing upon which society Is
justified In insisting as In the interest Of
health efficiency, contentment and gen.
eral Increase Of economic vigor. The whole
presumption Of modern experience would, 1t |
seemed to me, be In its favor, whether
there was arbitration not. and the de-
batable points to settle were those which
arose out OF the acceptance of the eight
hour day rather than those which affected
Its establishment. l. therefore proposed
that the eight-hour day be adopted by the |
railroad arrangements and put into prac-
tice for the present a substitute for the |
awIaN NNg,ar 4 Aa.I
that should appoint with the permission |
Of the Congress, small commission to OBJ |
serve the results OF the change, carefully |
studying the figures of the altered operat- |
ing cost, not only, but also the conditions |
of labor under which the men worked and |
the operation Of their existing agreements |
with the railroads, with instructions to re- |
port the facts as they found them to the |
Congress at the earliest possible day. but |
without recommendation; and that, after |
the facts had been thus disclosed, an ad- |
justment should In some orderly manner be |
sought of all the matters now left unad- |
justed between the railroad managers and |
the men,
QUESTION OF ARBITRATION.
Sfhese proposals were exactly in line.
1t is interesting to note. with the position
taken by the Supreme Court OF the United
States when appealed TO to protect certain
litgants from the financial losses which
they confidently expected II they should
submit TO the regulation of their charges
and of their methods OF service by public
legislation. The court has held that It
would not undertake TO form a judgment
upon forecasts but could base its action
only upon actual experience; that it must
be supplied with facts. not with ealcula-
tions and opinions, however scientifically
attempted. To undertake to RrbitTats the
question of the adoption of sIEht-houF
day In the Hight of results merely estI-
mated and predicted would be to under
take an enterprise Of conjecture. No wise
man could undertake 1t, or, IL he did under
take Il, could feel assured Of his eonelu-
sl0ns.
BRoTHERHooDS ACCEPTED PLAN.
"Ths Representatives Of the brOtheFhOOas
accepted the plan, but the representatives
Of the railroads declined 60 accept Ii. In
the face Of what 1 cannot but regard as
the practical certainty that they will be
ultimately obliged to accept the sIEht-hsuF
day by the concentrated AetlOn Of organized
labOr, backed by the faVOrabIe Judgment Of
society, the Representatives Of the railway
management have felt Justified In declining
> peaesful settlement which would engage
all the fOrces OF Justice, public and private.