The Connecticut labor press., 1919-09-06
RAILROAD men
PLAN MEETINGS
FOR PLUMB PLAN
Public Gatherings at Largest
Cities in Connecticut to
Influence Opinion.
War DEPARTMENT Makes Public
Participation of Labor in
Government Arsenals.

Committees of ali the unions and
associations of railroad employees in
this section are now at work preparing
meetings to be held next week or the
following week to influence public
opinion in favor of the Plumb plan for
the management of railroads in this
country. In this state it is expected that
meetings will be held in New Haven,
Hartford, Bridgeport and perhaps in
other places. Interesting speakers will
be secured and the public viii be in
vited to hear them.
Organized labor in America has been
quick to recognize the possibilities of
the Plumb plan, and to approve its un-
derlying principles. There are many
indications from all over the country
that the drive of the organized railway
employees for naturalization and
democracy in the control of the rail-
roads has encouraged labor to define its
stand.
Street railway employees at Oakland,
California, find in the Plumb plan q
complete solution of their local trans
portation problem. Without altering a
detail, they propose the Plumb plan for
the electric lines operating In Oakland
and ask that immediate steps be taken
to secure just valuation of the prop
erty, to form the basis for transfer
of ownership to the municipality.
The American Labor Party of New
York, at meeting August q in York
vile Casino, advocated the application
of the Plumb plan to the municipal
railway systems of Greater New York.
A comprehensive resolution was passed
enbodying all the special features of the
Plumb plan-revaluation of the proper
ties, tripartite control, division of sur
plus, etc. Reading this resolution, it is
interesting to realize how perfectly the
Plumb plan fits every angle of the
municipal situation in New York.
The New York State Federation of
Labor, at it's convention In Syracuse last
week, went on record in favor of the
Plumb plan for naturalization of the
railroads of the United States and
democracy in their control, and at the
same time urged that the same or a
similar scheme be applied to the tele-
graph and~telephone systems, and adyo-
Gated municipal ownership of all public
utilities. - .:4z '.-ss.-s--s-s
The Plumb plan also forms one of
the foremost pfanks In the platform of
the new national Labor Party recently
formed in Chicago at the instance of
the Labor Party of Cooke County.
The true story of the participation
of labor in the management of the
government arsenals has been made
public by the War Department. In an
extraordinary report on the subject,
the government has officially supplied
the most practical and conclusive proof
ever shown of the soundness OF the
basic principles embodied in the Plumb
plan. The memorandum of the esa-
p1oyees' representatives to the Secre-
tary of War, which is here given in
part, is an epoch making document in
the annals of industrial democracy.
With the signing of the armistice, the
government arsenal employees faced
situation raising grave doubts as to the
security of their employment since the
products which they had been engaged
in turning out were, of course, for use
in the war with Germany Having we'll
functioning organizations in existence,
and with members of these organize
tions conversant to an unusual degree
with production problems, the en-
ployees designated representatives to
take up the subject with the Secretary
of War and Chief of Ordnance. The
outcome was the approval of the sug-
gestion that a branch be established in
the Office of the Chief of Ordnance to
secure orders from other departments
of the government for such things as
the government needed and the arsenals
were equipped to manufacture. The
experience of the War Department in
securing the employees assistance and
devotion by according them a large
measure of control over the conditions
of production and labor in the arsenals,
naturally led toacreating an advisory
committee of employees representatives
in the Arsenal Orders Branch. Em-
p1oyees' representatives actively assist
in the work of this branch, in figuring
costs when bidding for work, and in
other respects.