The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-08-16
THE RAILROAD STRIKE
 SITUATION.

The gravity of the railroad strike situation and the consequences O.; d walk out in that industry are to be appraised in the extent of the efforts which are being made to ef- feet a settlement of the difficulty.
 The possibility that the employ ees should strike and thereupon paralyze the distributing industry is considered a serious matter na- turally enough.
 Yet it's very gravity should serve to direct attention to the shortcorG. ings which are inherent in the pre- sent system of private ownership.
 It it does not do that, then the public has simply lost sight of the really important phase of the strike situation.
 Here are two sides to a contrC yersy. One representing the own ership of the machinery and the land and the other the labor which applied to the machinery and the land keeps the industry alive. Labor is the vitalizing force without which operation of any industry is imposs ible.
 Away back, possibly in Europe, Asia or South America, or even at home in the United States are bond holders, stock holders and others who possess the ownership which gives them the right to claim pro- fits from the operation of the in dustry
 It is essential to the well being of society that the transportation industry be well and economically and efficiently operated, serving worker and shipper alike. And the theory upon which the managers and the railroaderS appear to work is that fair days work should be the fore runner of fair days pay.
 Of which all is theory. The rail- roaders face a condition of things which enter also into this contro- versy and which is the stumbling block in the way of any settlement.
 This is watered stock. Practically all the railroads are over capital ized. All of them are operating on a capital for which -value has not been received. Yet on all of these roads, the costs of operation in ac- tual fact. are supposed to be brought within the sphere of profit able operation and that is the burd- en which the management of each and all must carry.
 Hence we observe while one road could easily pay the demands of the brotherhoods, other roads could not do it so well, and they have even under normal conditions had to struggle to continue operation and have had receiverships. and so forth, not to mention re-organiza- tion which was accomplished by out the original water and sponging up a fresh quantity from others willing to supply it.
 The story of American railroads is the story of battles between con fiicting interests to control them, and although such histories do not find their way into the schools. they are much more instructive than those which do, and they are much more interesting.
 The failure to teach history aright, such history as involves the story | of the great railroad manipulations and the story of the great industrial l consultations, is responsible for the fact that the average man is utterly | unable to approach any such sub lect with grasp and intelligence.
 Not only that, but it can be said | with accuracy, that no person can | rightly understand the evolution of | his nations history unless he has .aken the pains to familiarize him. self with the story of it's financial md industrial development. That | is merely reflected in the courts of law, in the legislative halls md in the executives, but is the very foundation of the political ac- ,ivities which are the subject of at- ention from the school historian who is excellent usually at the Jholly fatuous and useless task of