Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-08-22

son do most Of the driving. His pres
ent plan to change the order OF indus
try may be run down by the Nationa
Express, in which case he will accept
the inevitable and devote his time tc
some other plan. He Is not of the KIND
to cry over spilled milk or waste time
in vain regrets.
Mr.. Plumb was born in Clay, Wash
ington county, Iowa, fifty three years
ago. He began work on a farm, and
the steel grip of his hand is due to the
number of cows he milked, according
to his own version. Even as boy nc
concentrated all his effort on the par
ticular work before him, and conse-
quently he became in early life @
champion milker. He milked more
cows than any one else in the county
according to the home folks, and nc
became an adept in speed and pro-
ficiency
Getting an education and at the
same time earning enough to keep
lem for young Plumb. He tackled II
courageously. He worked as a breaker
boy at coal mines, making himself
generally useful and showing an in
quioitive mind, which brought him
much useful first hand information
After graduating from the high school
he ran a ditch digger" and later
graduated from Oberlin. Ohio, in 1891
and then went to the Harvard law
school. He took his degree in the
Northwestern University in 1898 and
entered a law office OF Starr, Miller &
Peck in Chicago.
His Early Railway Fights.
In the line of his work Mr.. Plumb
became attorney for a small nde-
pendent street railway and proceeded
at once to learn all he could about the
management, operation and statute
laws regarding street railways 1t is
said that he applied the same thor
oughness to this work that he applied
to milking Iowa cows. He concen-
trated all his efforts on street rail-
way problems. but worked very quietly
and kept most Of his information to
himself. He did not advertise.
Accordingly. when the Chicago
Street Railway tried to get the right
to use any street in the city under its
ninety-nine year franchise and when
all the legal talent had been retained
by the traction companies to further
the plan, the companies had overlooked
Mr.. Plumb. This, at least, is the way
the story comes from Plumb head
quarters.
The city Of Chicago retained Plumb
chiefly because there was no one else
left to retain and he started the fight
for the city. He won the case and his
investigation work at that time is
primarily responsible for his continu-
ing interest In railway matters. There
it was the question of the peoples
rights as against the rights of the
railway owners. Now Mr.. Plumb has
broadened the idea and is champion
ing the rights of the railroad workers
as against the rights Of the people and
the railroads. He does not take the
stand that the people or the railroad
owners must necessarily suffer, but
his scheme is to fit the rights Of the
workers into the general makeup
of railroad industry. He calls 1t
"democratizing the railroads."
Mr.. Plumb did not launch his new
scheme until very recently, and he
might have remained in practice in
Chicago on the side of the railways
except for an incident which came as
an aftermath to his success against
the traction companies. He had mod
estly retired to work as counsel for a
small traction line when the Chicago
railway interests, as they are called,
bought out the small company just to
make Plumb lose his job. This is all
part of the story as Mr.. Plumb's
friends tell it. They say that 1t was to
"get even" with Plumb that the move
was made, and thft this practically
forced Plumb into his present line OF
work. Anyway, he devoted years to
studies OF valuation and railway prob
lems. He claims to have discovered
that there is in law no clear definition
of where private rights end and where
public rights begin in public utilities
corporations. His siand now is that
there Is no clearly defined law as to
where the rights of the workingmen
end, and hence his bill to democratize
the railroads.
Now Has 100000 Clients.
In his statement before the Inter-
state Commerce Committee Mr.. Plumb
says he represents as general counsel
the organized railway employees OF
America, consisting Of the Brotherhood
of Locomotive Engineers, the Brother
hood Of Locomotive Firemen and En-
ginemen, the Order of Railway Con-
ductors. the International Brotherhood
of Blacksmiths and Helpers Of Amer
ica the Brotherhood of Railway Train
men and a score or more of other
unions and brotherhoods. He says the
organizations number upward Of 3
100000 men employed in railway trans
portauon.
Voluminous data on labor's plan foi
government ownership and democracy
in the operation Of the railroads Is
being provided by Mr.. Plumb for the
committee. 1t seems very probable
that the Plumb plan will not get
single vote on the committee. The
proposal that labor the public ant
the management shall control ant
share in the profits Of railroad opera
tion has q distinctly Bolshevik tingt
in the eyes Of so many citizens thai
wholesale criticism is being directed a
the new plan.
The consensus is that the plan is SC
radical that the whole industrial
groundwork OF the nation would b'
upset. There IS no denying it is radi
cal. but AIr. Plumb himself claims tC
| be conservative and. strangel!