Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1919-08-26
railing
The News
Of The Day

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President Wilson's every public
utterance has proved him one of
the greatest masters of language
of all time. But unlike many ex-
perts in the art of expression, Mr..
Wilson always says something
when he speaks or writes. His
two statements, issued late yester-
day, one to the public and the 9TH
er to the railway shopmen, on the
shopmen's wage demands, were up
to the Wilson standard in clear
ness of thought and expression.
. These two statements, because of
their importance to every citizen,
reproduced in full! on another page
of this edition.
Here is a paragraph in enc of
the presidents statements that
speaks for yor and me and for ev-
cry citizen-including the shop
men, although they are the other
party to this controversy:
"Any substantial increase of
wages in leading lines of industry
at this time would utterly crush
the general campaign which the
government is waging, with ener-
gy, vigor and substantial hope of
success, to reduce the high cost of
living. And the increases in the
cost of transportation which would
necessarily result from increases in
wage costs. Only by keeping the
the cost of production at it's pres
ent level, by increasing produc-
ton, and by rigid economy and
saving on the part of the people
can we hope for large decreases
in the burdensome cost of living
which now Weights us down."
What the President hopes to do
and it mus be done somehow
by somebody soon-is to put an
end to the never ending cycle of
higher living costs, followed by
forced increases in wages, follow
ed by higher living costs, ct cetera,
ad infinitum.
And speaking of railroads, we've
heard a great deal about the
Plum plan for tri-patrite operation
of the railroads of the nation-the
nearest concrete application of the
soviet system and Bolshevism this
nation has known. Do you know
what the railroad men themselves
think of this plan? Apparently it
wasn't born in the ranks of the
workers, but in the minds of
group of manipulators of the rail
road unions. That may be wrong
conclusion. but few days ago a
convention of railroad workers was
held in Chicago. 1t was the an
ual meeting of the international
Railway Master Blacksmiths asso-
citation.
"What do l think of the Plumb
plan? It's ridiculous" w. c.
Schofeld, president of the associa-
ton, replied when an interviewer
put the question to him. "Under-
stand, that's my personal opinion.
/ can't conceive of 95 per cent of
the people being willing to let the
other per cent do what they
please with the railroads. The
government ought to turn the
roads back to the companies; they
know how to run them
And Schofeld's words seemed to
pretty we'll express the opinions of
many others.
"I'm against the Plumb plan"
Geo. Hutton, master blacksmith
in the New York Central shops at
West Albany, N. Y, said. ''The
government ought to let the rail
roads run the roads again. The
way things are we shopmasters are
losing our identity.
81 came out on old Al. We were
an hour late getting in here this
morning. Something wrong
when old Al is late. Never used
to be that way"
"Well if you want to know what
I think about the Plumb plan, just
let me answer it by saying that
I've been with the Pennsylvania
road for thirty eight years and l
guess if I hadn't been satisfied with
the way that road did business l
wouldn't have been there that
long" Harry Gamble of the AL
toon, Pa, shops said.
'"The boys in the shops? Well,
These men didn't propose to
speak for anybody but themselves,
but straws often tell which way the
wind blows. Ninety-fve per cent
of the people of this country are
not going to let five per cent have
earnings of the railroads for which