The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1919-10-17
INVISIBLE
GOVERNMENT"
NOW ON JOB
The RaiIroaders May Go Back
But They Will Not Go
Back to Stay

/ The in visible government WHlIu
has swayed Congress since the Civil
War was never so active in behalf
Of its projects as now. It is desper-
ately at work at Washington trying
to force the hand of Congress and
consummate a steal Of ten billions OF
dollars that have been ploughed into
the fake property investment &C
count which the people are asked
to legalize and ever afterward re-
ward with a tax that directly adds
TO the cost Of living.
The only measure before Congress
that stands between the people and
the railroad Financial highwaymen
is the Sims bill, which was formu-
lated and has the endorsement Of
the organized workers of this coun-
try. Every other bill proposes to
permit this gigantic steal-the
most colossal bit of freebooting in
the annals of crime.
The brotherhood bill is the only
one that adequately meets the ques
ton OF watered stock and the labor
problem, and organized labor is the
only force here in Washington, or in
the nation, fighting on the peoples
side Of this issue, that Yields any
power that the politicians fear.
Seventeen separate and distinct
plans of railway reorganization
have been submitted to Congress
But it is noteworthy that neither
the railway managers nor the War
field Committee of alleged share
holders has had the temerity to give
publicity to their demands in the
form of proposed legislation.
True, the Warfield crowd has
presented to a Congressional Com
mittee the proposed draft of leg
! islation which it demands, but this
bill was given under pledge of
confidence and the public has not
! heard a word from it. That is evil
dence that the railway-financia
group are in a state of wholesome
apprehension. They don't want the
public to scrutinize too closely what
1 they are trying to do. They want
| Congress to get into a wrangle, and
/ then they will slip through their
outrageous steal, and the people,
they hope, will be none the wiser
until too late.
The Cummins bill, with its UNI
American provision against the only
effective weapon that remains with
the workers, is damned both by the
workers and the managers. 1t does
lot give the latter all they want,
but it gives them a great deal more
than they are entitled to receive, or
that they will receive, if the people
are aroused to the iniquity of their
course. The Esch-Pomerene bill is
an insipid bid for financial favor. It
gives the managers somewhat more
than Cummins is prepared to yield.
But 1t is not enough for the man
ayers. They want the whole of
their outrageous demands. They
want the people to legalize their
fake ten billions of dollars of wa
tered stock, and four billions addi-
tional for depreciation during So
called Government control, and then
they demand that forever after the
people shall be taxed to pay a re-
turn upon this top-heavy inverted
pyramid, built up of crime, manipu-
lation and exploitation.
And the managers will succeed,
too, unless the organized railroad
prevent it. The Plumb Plan League
Is carrying the message of their
venality to all sections of the -oun-
try. Already there is a noteworthy
veering of public opinion. The issue
is not yet determined. The rail
roads may go back-but they will
not go back to stay. That is the
one certain thing in this contro-
versy. The railroads may seize
their booty, but they will never be
able to get away with it.
To contend otherwise would be to
abandon faith in the intelligence
and the patriotism of our citizenry
1t would imply that we are fitted
only to be slaves, to be the miser-
able, contemplate creatures that
Wall Street says the masses of
Americans are