Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-20
Duty of Trainmen Likened to Soldiers
BY CHIEF JUSTICE WHITE IN
 ADAMsoN DECISION
IN TIME OF EMERGENCY
Decision is Retroactive and Brotbsr. hood Men Will Draw Back Pay Fron, Jan. 1, Amounting to From o,ooo.- 900 to $5o,ooo, 900.

washington, March 19. - In an | epochai decision holding congress to
 essary to keep open the channels of in | terstate commerce, the supreme court | today, dividing five to four, sustained ene Aoamson law as constitutional l an enforceable in every feature.
 Ihe immediate effect of the decision VIII De. to fix permanent eight hour Dasic day in computing wage scales
 on interstate railroads. for which a
 .hIIode taeIon-W Wlde strike twice has been | threatened and to give effective from january this year, increases in wages 10 tra1nmen of about p per cent at a cost ot the railroads ~estimated af
 rom S4o.Ooo'Oo0 to s50.0o0,00O a year. Congress Has Right to Arbitrate.
 The court. through Chief Justice White, declared both carriers and their eilPioyeS' engaged in a business charg- ca with a public interest, subject to the 1 rlSht or congress to arbitrate A dis pute affecting the operation of that business.
 Limitation of Trainnen's Riuhts. | w Whatever would be the right of an i e1nplove engaged in private business 10 demand such wages as he desires, to l ieaVe the employment if he does not get them by concert of action to agree with others to leave on the same con dltions." said the opinion, "such rights are necessarily subject to limitation when employment is accented in a business charged with a public interest and as to which the power to ree11lat te commerce by congress applied and the resulting right to fix in case of dis agreement and dispute a standard of wages as we have seen necessarily ob tained."
 TraInrren Compared to Soldiers. -aTi17
 justice departed a this point from his written text to empha size the posit;or, or men operating trains in a time of nauonaI emergency by comparing them to soldiers facing an enemy
 Coming on the heels of the conces sion Of the eight hour basic day bv me railroads at New York to avert the threstened strike, today's decision is agreement and. also, removing for n t1me. through the broadest interDreta
 tIon or congress authority outlined by the court, the probability of future transportation paralysis.
 Joining in with the chief justice ip Sustaining the law were Justices Me I<enna and Holrnes-his immediate se n1ors in point of service-and Justices I3randeIs and Clark. junior members Dissenting for various reasons were Justices Day, Vandevanter, Pitney and McReynolds. 4
 Interstate Commerce Uninterrupted.
 The majority upheld the public right ohave interstate commerce Ininter- rupted as a basic principle paramount to interests of the railroads or their operatlves-both declared to be in pub lie service and subject to the supreme unrestricted power of congress to take any action necessary to maintain free oorn and uninterruption of interstate wages or hours of labor the court de cided: congress had authority to en- act the Adamson statute
 Public Right of Regulation.
 The Public interest begets a pub- nc rlght of regulation to the full extent necessary to secure and protect it." sac the opinion. adding that in the emergency of threatened destructive suspensicn of national transportation congress- acted within it's powers in providing wage standard and other means necessary to protect the public interests.
 Law Not confiscatory.
 It also declared that the Adamson law is neither unworka bIe conf1sca tory, experimental nor in excess of congressional railroad regulatory au thority, but in effect. as compulsory gress) undoubtedly possessed" and inevitably resulted from it's authority to protect interstate commerce in deal ing with a situation like that before
 Concurring in the main principles enunciated by the majority, Justice Mckenna expressed the opinion that the law is an hours of service and not wage.hx1ng statute. He also sug- gested increase of railroad revenue probably would be provided if wage increases resulted.
 Dissenting Opinions.
 The dissenting opinions-Justices Day and McReynolds delivering indi- V1dual views and Justices Pitney and Van Devanter joining in one announce ment-varfously asserted that the Atkinson act is void because beyond constitutional powers of congress, be- cause it takes railroads property with 1 out due process of law, or because it is not ar hours of labor statute nor a legitimate regulation of commerce.
 Justices Pitney and Van Devanter denied that congress has power to fix wages of common carriers employees a power upheld by the majority. Jus tice Day did not admit or deny such 1 power, dissenting because. he said, the 1 law illegally takes railroad revenues and gives them to the trainmen by l
 Railroads Test Suit Dismissed
 In upholding the statute, the mapor- | ity reversed Federal Judge Hooks de- l cree en njoining its enforcement. and | dismissed the railroads test suit, leav- 1 ing the federal government free to en- | force the StaIule under us stringent | penalties Dismissal of about 800 | other rialorad injunction suiss, press | ing of which was suspended under | agreement between the government and , the roads. will follow as a matter of | course Wage Increase Dates Back to Jan. i. 1
 The wage increase dates back to | January 1 when the Adamson law was | made effective. Railroads have been | Keeping account of trainmen's wages | due for prompt payment upon today's | decision. The temporary wage in-