The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-08-30
WANTS SMALL BODY
OF MEN TO DESERVE
EIGHT-HOUR RESULTS
President Wilson Goes before Joint Session Of the Two Houses
of Congress and Lays the Railroad Situation of the Coun-
try before Them in a Very Strong Address,
ASKS CONGRESS TO PASS AN EGHT-HoUR LAwAT ONCE.
Declares That the Troubles between the Executives and Train,
men Must Not Be Permitted to Interfere with or Weaken
the National Defense.
(By Associated Press.)

y" H'NAA ~ 49, 10y "!"NH tE - III
ened railway strike before Congress Tuesday in an address to both
Houses assembled in Joint session. He spoke in part as follows:
Gentlemen Of the Congress, have come to you to seek your
assistance in dealing with a very grave situation which has arisen
out of the demands of the employees of the railroads engaged in
freight train service that they be granted an eight-hour working
day, Safeguarded by payment Tor an hour and a nan OF service
for every hour Of work beyond the eight The matter has been
agitated for more than a year, and came three weeks ago to a
final issue, and resulted in a complete deadlock between the par
ties. The means provided by law for the mediation Of the CON
troversy failed, and the means OF arbltraton, Tor winch the Ia"
provides, we're rejected. The representatives of the railway eX-
ecutives proposed that the demands Of the men be submitted in
their entirety to arbitration along with certain questions OF re,
adjustment as to pay and conditions OF employment which seemed
to them to be either closely associated with the demands or to
call for reconsideration on their own merits; the men absolutely
declined arbitration, especially if any Of their established priv
eges were by that means to be drawn again in question. The
law in the matter put no compuIsion upon them.
Friend of Both Sides.
Gust as soon as it became evident that mediation under the
existing law had failed and that arbitration had been rendered
impossible by the attitude Of the men, considered it my duty to
confer with the representatives of both the railways and the
brotherhoods and myself offer mediation, not as an arbitrator
but merely as spokesman for the nation in the interest of justice,
indeed, and as a friend of both parties, but not as judge; only as
the representative of ~l00,OOO,OOO Of men, women and children
who would pay the price.
at seemed to me in considering the subject matters of the
controversy that the whole spirit of the times and the preponder-
ance of evidence of recent economic experiences spoke for the
%eght-hour day. 1t has been adiudged by the thought and eXpe-
rence Of recent years a thing upon which society is justified in
insisting as in the interest of health, efficiency, contentment and
a general increase of economic yigor. The whole presumption
Of modern experience would, 1t seemed 10 me, be IN us FAVOR
whether there was arbitration or not, and the debatable points
to settle were those which arose out Of the acceptance of the eight
hour day, rather than those which affected its establishment. |
therefore proposed that the %eight-hour day be adopted by the
railway managers and put into practice for the present as a sub
stitute for the present ten-hour basis; that should appoint, with.
the permission of the Congress, a small commission to observe
the results of the change, carefully studying the figures OF the
altered operatinp cost. not only, but also the conditions of labor
under which the men worked and the operation Of their existing
agreement with the railroads with instructions to report the facts
as they found them to the Congress at the earliest possible day.
but without accommodation; and that after the facts had been
thus disclosed an adjustment should III some orderly manner pc
sought Of all the matters now left u%nadjusted between the rail
road managers and the men.
offers Friendly Services.
81 unhesitatingly offered the friendly services Of the admin
istration to the railway managers to see to it that Justice was
done the railroads in the outcome. felt warranted IN assuring
them that no obstacle of law would be suffered to stand IN the
way of increasing their revenues to make the expenses resulting
from the change so far as the Developments OF their business and
Of their administrative efficiency did not prove adequate to meet
them. The public and the representatives of the public, l 1en'
justified in assuring them, We're disposed to nothing but justice
in such cases and Were willing to serve those who served them.
BrotherhOOdS Accept
'"The representatives of the brotherhoods accepted the PLAN
but the representatives of the railroads declined to accept 1t.
'The railway managers based their decision to reject my
counsel in this matter upon their conviction that they must at any
cost to themselves or to the country stand firm for the principle
of arbitration. based my counsel upon the ~indisputabe fact that
there was no means Of obtaining arbitration.
Country Caught U%nprovtded.
81 weld to no man in firm adherence, alike of conviction and
of purpose, to the principle of arbitration in industrial disputes;
but matters have come to a sudden crisis in this particular dispute
and the country has been caught unproWded with an lmprac-
ticable means Of enforcing that conviction in practice (y whose
fault we will not now stop to Inquire. A situation had to be
met whose elements and fixed conditions were indiSputable. The
practical and patriotic course to pursue, as it seemed to me, was
to secure immediate peace by Conceding the one thing in the de-
mand of the men which society itself and any arbitratorS who
represented public sentiment we're most likely to approve and
Immediately lay the foundation for securing arbitration with re;
gard to everything else involved. The events have confirmed
that judgment.
Having failed to bring the parties to this critical contro,
versy to an understanding, therefore turn to you, deemlng 1t
clearly our duty as public servants to leave nothing mdone that
we can do to safeguard the life and interest of the nation. In
the spirit of such a purpose earnestly recommend the following
legislation;
Asks For Legislation
"Frst immediate provision for the enlargement and ad-
ministratye reorganization Of the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion along the lines embodied in the bill recently passed by the
House of representatives and now awaiting action by the SEN
ate; in order that the commission may be enabled to deal with
the many great and various duties now deyoying upon it with a
promptness and thooughness which are with its present con-
stituton and means and action practically impossible.
Second, establishment Of an e]ighthour day as the legal
basis alike of work and wages in the employment Of all railway
employees, who are actually engaged in the work Of operating
trains in interstate transportation.
Small Body of Observers.
"Third, the authorization of the appointment by the pres
ldent Of a small body Of men to observe the actual results in ex-
perience Of the adoption Of the eghthom day in railway trans
portation alike for the men and for the railroads; its effect in
the matter of operating cost in the application Of the existing
practices and agreements to the new conditions and in all other