Emmons County record., 1916-08-31
The Flag and the Mani

For weeks the columns Of the daily
press have been filled with reports of
the details Of the fight between rail
road operatives and some of their or
ganized employees Pres. Wilson has
been dcvoting large share of his
time to the matter, the alternative of
a satisfactory settlement being n ma
tion-widc strike that would tic up
every yard Of railroad, and bring mis-
cry and suffering untold to the public
should the strike last q week or more.
TO the average reader it appears
that Pres. Wilson has displayed more
the part of a politician anxious to take
advantage Of 4 condition that would
put organized labor in debt to him
than the part of an unbiased official
anxious to do what he could to avert
strike without injuring the interests
of either side to the controversy. The
president has taken the demands right
out of the mouths Of the employees
and has added little more for good
measure and then issued his ultima
tum to the railroad presidents, all the
time injecting the right amount Of
stage business to make the whole
business catch the fancy of the Amer
lean public.
The railways have insisted on the
principle Of arbitration and the en-
ployees have absolutely refused So
far as the Record is concerned, it is
not Interested in the merits of the
controversy. Rather, the method of
settling the same is the subject of our
theme. The public pays the freight;
the public Is Innocent; the public
would suffer many times more than
either employees or railroads.; and
likely the public will foot the bill if
the employees win. But certainly cv-
cry man is entitled to make his own
terms and should be allowed the right
to secure as high a wage as possible.
The unions have done a great deal to
improve the condition of employees,
although even the matter of unionism
has been o"crplaycd and sultified at
times.
What the railway employees are en-
titled to receive and what the proper
method to be used in arriving ut a
conclusion are two absolutely separate
subjects. If Farmer Bill has dis
putc with Farmer Tom about wages,
about rents, or about any other matter
of business nature, there is a vast
amount Of legal machinery at hand to
forcibly and cquitably settle the ques-
ton. Instead of allowing a set of
men to tie up so important matter
as the railroads Of the nation, there
ought to be means Of forcily dcterm-
ming the merits of each contention
and as forcibly seeing that each side
received its just desserts, without the
possibility of the innocent bystander
the public, getting the full charge of
buck-shot, figuratively speaking.
incidentally, this threatened tie-up
iihS bibupIlt uOIIlc 10 us uIlOIner mat
ter: the utter dependence of all
under the present highly-involved
system of living. 1t is alright to
smugly declare that each of us could
retire to our quartcr-section or two
and there get along without regard to
the attitude of any others. But-how
would the theory work out should
there be a strike, not to mention what
would follow were all other interests
ION strike?" What would wheat be
worth? How about cattle and hogs ?
And where would go the price of land
If the railroads should fail to op-
crate for protracted spell?
The railroads should have their
rights. The employees should secure
I theirs, as well. And the public should
be remembered. The Wilson policy
falls far of the mark in these various
respects.