Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-17
THE PUBLIC IS THE COAT

TNHE immediate danger in nation
I,cide railroad strike Is the paralysis
of traffic and the resultant menace to the
lives and business of the people. There
are some things inherently so awful that
we believe they simply cannot happen
But they do happen, as did the great
catastrophe in Europe Nevertheless, in
the present crisis there is reason for
hoping that the President, through the
vast powers resident in him, will be able
to avert the threatened calamity al
though it is doubtful If he will be able
TO do go without shifting to the shoulders
of the great multitude additional burdens
which they ought not to bear.
1t is obvious that the roads cannot in.
crease wages without correspondingly In
creasing their rates for service. That
thought runs through the entire discus
sion In Washington. But the roads can
not increase rates without the approval
of the Interstate Commerce Commission,
which takes months and years to reach
a decision, during which interim the roads
would be flirting with bankruptcy.
Granting, however, that the roads
could Immediately increase their rates and
SO pass the added cost on to the general
public, the settlement of the issue by
this means would be nothing more than
a rank outrage. We do not believe that
the millions Of workers in this country
who are neither capitalists nor members
of unions should forever be the goat.
Whenever there Is any prosperity there
is an instant demand from a special group
usually get some increase. They have
forced their wages up and up until 1t
is quite obvious that there is no large
class of employees in America receiving
such fair and generous remuneration as
the railroad men who are now demand
ing more. The issue, therefore, is not
simply whether there shall be a paralysis
of traffic or not. 1t is the larger issue
of whether the people of the United States
shall have n wholly unnecessary tax i'm
posed on them without their consent To
grant wage increases amounting to $780,
100000 annually Is simply to tax the
nation that amount of money, in addition
to the enormous extra taxes which are
about to be levied by the United States
under due process Of law.
It has been perfectly clear for months
and even years that the railroads Of the
nation need encouragement instead of
encouragement. They have been legis-
lated against until 1t is almost impossible
to get new capital for desirable railroad
enterprises. If at the very moment when
the roads, after period of poverty, are
at last showing profits, they are to be
held up and those profits taken from them
by the arbitrary decision of their en-
ployes, the development Of the country
is in for a setback that will be absolutely
calamitous.
The men are entitled, we believe, to an
eight-hour day, but that does not seem
to be what they want. The extra pay
for extra time is the snake in the grass
We take 1t that there would be an awful
howl If the men were actually prohibited
from working more than eight hours
day. 1t is just as bad for the unions to
charge all the railroads can bear as it is
for the railroads to charge all the traffic
will bear.
The President is confronted with a
double duty. He must. first, prevent
strike; and he must, secondly, prevent
the shifting to the shoulders OF the people
of an annual tax, of s1oo,OOO,ooO, to be
paid by ordinary workers to a special
class OF workers who already are excel
lently remunerated, according to existing
and fair standards.
The public is just a little tired Of
always being the goat.
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