The Washington herald., 1918-05-27

Mr.. Brisbane takes a most terrific
punch at the prohibitionists of the
nation in his editorial in which he
states:
Under the camoufiage Of a pretend.
ed prohibition movement a few
bigots and opportunists are seeking in
the support of the Randall amend
ment to the agriculture emergency
bill to strengthen themselves polite.
ally and gain a few brief moments OF
legislative prominence.
THE amendment. besides being q
menace to the public good. is an open
insult to the President.
Its supporters would rob him Of
discretion and make 1t impossible for
him to exercise in a moment Of ma
tional peril the functions of judgment
already expressly conferred upon him
regarding the regulation Of the manu-
facture OF light and harmless bever-
ages"
Yet the prohibitionists who are en-
deavoring to bring about a wartime
prohibition-and Mr.. Byran, one OF
Mr.. Brisbane's friends. Is one of them
are sincere in what they are at.
tempting. Hundreds of thousands OF
them have given their boys and their
dollars to Americas cause. They
may be in error in this matter, but
certainly their conviction that nc
more intoxicants should be produced
should have some weight with even
those who are opposed to it.
The only step that would really
bring a settlement of this insidious
little row in Congress, which is re-
fiected over the nation would be a
statement from the President han
| ding the matter courageously and
thoughtfully as he thinks it should
be handled in view of conditions over
the country.
Then prohibitionists who love our
cause more than they do the other
cause would act advisedly In what
! they do-and those who would still
persist in imposing this dry solution
upon US would have left so small an
amount Of influence that their cause
would be wholly retarded
We have wondered what attitude
real union labor takes on some of the
questions Of the day. We have per-
sued some of the journals with in
terest and with care. in the hope that
we could keep up, as time went on,
with the thoughts of those who are
in command of this class.
We read from the Unionist of Chi
cago the following story on the late
action Of Railroad Director General
McAdoo in raising the wages of the
railroad men. There are several
points in this presentation of the mat
ter which we have not seen hitherto,
and we believe our Herald readers
will be interested in reading. too. The
article says in part:
The proposed increase, which
would affect 100000 railway work.
ers throughout the country, came
in for considerable discussion al
yesterdays meeting of the Chicago
Federation of Labor.
Delegate William z. Foster, in
speaking on the matter, stated that
the $2ss.000, 900 a year wage in.
crease. which the, daily papers re.
port Is the proposed award submit.
ted to Director General McAdoo fol
his signature, would in reality Cd.
crate as a decrease in salary II il
Is put into operation. The 40 Del
cent increase is based upon the rate
Of wages in force December 81
1915, and nearly all the workers
concerned have already received
more than this amount Of increase
since that time and are still finding
| 1t hard to keep up with the ad-
vanced cost of living.
Delegate Foster estimated thai
the increases received since thai
time would total about $350,000, 900
The railway workers feel that the
increase should be based on the
wage rate in existence December
81, 1917, and thousands of protests
are pouring in to McAdoo from
these workers all over the country
Delegate Foster felt that the whole
matter was intended to discredit
| government control"
Who would have suspicioned this
anyway? Evidently the railroad
men have been keeping in touch
with the situation. If they are Il
hold out against this raise-whicf
they maintain Is really a reduction
we are apt to see them object
| too, to the rate raise which wa,
announced after the wage raise ant
possibly as q very natural accom-.
| paniment of that step.
The more we see of the govern.
ment operation of railroads tn,
more we believe all sides should b,
heard before any one of then
claims victory and vipdicatiou. W,