Evening star., 1916-08-20

1 L.,
| fact and the right or wrong of 1t, as we
feel, has not yet in this country passed
| beyond the realm of debate.
Railway Day Different.
! But these are not our problems The
! railroad day is a different thing, as has
| been patiently and. infer, many times
explained. Railroad trains run through
out the twenty-four-h hour period; the
public demands that they run on Sun
days and holidays; they start at any
hour that the necessities may demand;
! they cannot stop until terminal is
| reached, and many conditions, stated
| and accidental, render 1t impossible to
restrict the hours OF railroad labor to
fixed standard.
In a general movement of some years
ago, the present ten-hour basic day was
negotiated and approved By the repre-
sentativeS of railroad labor throughout
the country and has continued. with
! some exceptions. to the present day
These exceptions have been workd out
under local conditions. different often
from the general conditions affecting the
| question.
Agreements Of Past.
In several important arbitrations of
railroad rates of pay and conditions OF
service within recent years-the last
within two years. involving ninety-eight
/ railroads serving the entire territory be-
! tween Chicago and the Pacific coast-the
! ten-hour basic day was incorporated in
/ the demands of the organizations parties
thereto, and made the basis by them of
| the rates and rules awarded by the fed
| eral board.
| AT the present time. in a controversy
now pending over the identical questions
| involved here, and in which numerous i'm
| portant railroads and national organ
| ization of switchmen are parties, an ar
| bitration through the friendly offices of
| the federal board of mediation has been
agreed to. wherein the question of an
| eight-hour basic day has been submitted
as an arbitrable question.
Principle of Arbitration.
I'VE stand for the principle of arbi-
| tration for the settlement of Industrial
| disputes. Arbitration is the ideal
toward which public sentiment and
| legislation OF this country have been
steadily tending for the settlement of
disputes between employers and en-
! ployes, particularly in the case of pub
| lie service corporations, rather than
| the strike and the lockout. with at.
| tendant disturbances and paralysis of
public business.
Arbitration has been provided by
| legislation, both state and national So
late as 1913 the federal law was per-
| fected or improved by amendments
framed in conference with some Of the
railroad labor leaders now refusing to
arbitrate, and includes in it's scope all
/ controversies in railroad service.
we invoke that principle now. and
are willing for the interstate commerce
commission to arbitrate the whole
willing for the President of the United
States to appoint a commission of dis
| interested persons to arb1trate all mat
| ters in dispute. If neither the inter-
state commerce commi ssion nor the ma
chinery of the Newlands act Is salts
| factory to the labor leaders.
Added Burden Of Expense.
| But we have been met with refusal
| to arbitrate in any manner. and are
| now asked to surrender the principle
| and to add an additional burden Of
many millions per annum to the cost
| of railroad transportation in this coun-
/ try for the benefit of class who are
| among the most highly paid and fay-
| ored workmen in the world.
This is demanded under the guise of
a plea for an eight-hour day. 1t is in
reality only an indirect plea for an
enormous increase in wages.
| The intricate and technical nature
! of the case and the complexity of the
| facts make the controversy pre-
| eminently one for arbitration by an
| impartial tribunal, with authority to
| examine into every factor and reach a
| decision fair and just to the employees.
| the owners and the public, which uiti-
! mately must bear the burden. To re-
! fuse to arbitrate is an admission OF the
| unreasonableness of the demand.
| Moreover, the refusal is by those de-
| manding a vital change in an existing
status. For a party to demand a
/ change of such a status and accom-
| pany the demand with refusal to ar
| bitrate is in conflict with right stand
| ards of conduct. In this instance for
+, those demanding a change to refuse to
| submit their demands to arbitration il
| indefensible.
Defeat Of Progress.
| "To say that such a demand as that
now predicted for a revolutionary change
| in the arrangements that have grown up
| in the development of the railroad busi-
ness and involving so many complicated
facts and relations and such vast addi-
tions to the cost of the country's trans
| portation is not arbitrable is to destroy
| the principle of arbitration, and, il sue
| cessful, would, in our judgment, tend inn
| mediately to discard all OF the legisla-
| ton, state and national, which has been
enacted in recent years and set the coun-
| outs public disorder and business an
archy Tor the settlement of questions in
herent in the relation of employer and
employe.
| 'fIhe view that SO important an issue
| as this may not in conscience be honestly
| debated, and therefore arbitrated, raises
| this question above and beyond the lesser
| contentious of hours of service or pay
| ment of wages. 1t raises 1t, in gravity,
| beyond the social or monetary questions
| affecting the parties before you, because
| it tends to force, by the great weight of
your spoken word, the railroads to sur
render a right to be heard-a right ex-
pressly recognized by the policy OF the
federal legislation enacted for the pur-
| pose of adjusting these disputes and I'M
| der the ban OF your disapproval, ex-
! pressed before the bar of public opinion,
| to accept as indisputable, conditions re-
quiring, we believe, an enormous sacri-
nee in efficiency of service and cost of
| operation of these properties.
An adjustment in this manner will
not stop with this controversy. 1t will
be repeated in every industry wherein,
| today industrial peace exists without
controversy.
edent, place in peril all that has been
accomplished in the peaceful adjust
ment of labor controversies by meth
DDS of arbitration, and therefore, We
present to you our respectful but earn.
! est request that you do not Ienu the
| weight of your great influence against
this right, which we claim, to be heard,
but support the railroads in this crisis
in the effort to maintain this great
principle of arbitration"