The sun., 1919-08-14
Mr.. Gompers and Mr.. Plumb.

I Mr.. GLENN z. PLUMB, counsel of the
railway brotherhoods, Is not so intel
lectual as he is noisy.
Mr.. PLUMB's ranting about the
wrong Of saving railway earnings in
stead Of squandering them, about the
economic and social miscarriage Of
ploughing them in instead of paying
them out In dividends, thus adding
to the financial strength Of the prop
erty instead Of bleeding 1t white, may
be dismissed without ceremony.
Mr.. PLUMB's assertion that the Gov
eminent has been pouring improve
ments into the railroads by the hun
dreds of millions of dollars here, there
and everywhere simply isn't SO, as
every railway worker down to the last
track walker knows. The financially
bust-up Railroad Administration, as
likewise every track walker knows,
has been starving the physical bodies
of the best and strongest railroads in
the United States.
Mr.. PLUMB's Indictment of prosper
u railroads for raising capital with
stock issues instead OF with bond Dor
rowings simply is business ignorance
into which the keeper of a peanut
stand couldn't fall. The keeper Of the
peanut stand knows the difference be-
tween more ownership capital put into
a property by the owners and money
borrowed on mortgage from the out
side. He knows that II the stock
doesn't pay dividends, doesn't carr
dividends, it's the stockholders loss.
A railroad need not because of lost
dividends be sacrificed. 1t can 60 on.
1t can go on W building up, giving
better and better service with the
earnings which are not paid In divi-
dends to the owners Of the stock-the
owners Of the railroad. But bonds, In
terest and principal, cannot be de-
faulted upon without sacrificing the
road. 1t will be stripped to avoid the
default. 1t must go Into bankruptcy
as the penalty Of the default. 1t must
become a ruin for the investors, for
the workers, for the public dependent
upon its service.
Mr.. PLuMB's easur Is easily
taken. Mr.. SAMUEL GoMPERs, presi-
| dent Of the American Federation OF
Labor and q redhot defender of union
workers, as he has the right to be, is
If n different calibre from the vocal
PLUMB. He usually knows what he is
talking about. He has a sense OF re-
sponstbility. He is a devoted, passion
ately loyal son of his country. To be
accepted with a grain of salt, there.
fore, is a cable despatch quoting him,
with III w italics. as follows:
American railway workers Intend
not only to compel the Government to
take over the railways. but will de-
mand, as the logical x step, that
labor shall be granted a permanent
equal voice In railway administra-
ton"
We question, in fact, not Mr.. Com
PERs's words so much as the CORE.
spondent's accuracy in quoting and
interpreting or the cables fidelity In
transmitting them. Mr.. GoMPERs,
with his appreciation of the power of
this nation, is not liable to be OBJ
sessed with the misrepresentation that
two million railroad workers can com
pei moro than one hundred million
Americans TO do anything. Mr.. Con.
PERs is not likely in any such Ian
guoge to give aid and comfort In his
own country to the economic lunacy
and political chaos, the Bolshevism
and the anarchy against which he has
been battling and is now battling In