The Carlisle independent., 1919-08-28
RAILWAY LABOR
 MOVE ASSAILED
New York World, Strong Wilson Supporter, DenounceS ''RevoIu-
 ton by Ultimatum."
PARALLEL TO RUSSIAN IDEA.
Calls Railroad Brotherhoods' Plan for Government Ownership Soviet
 Economies Venture"

New Ork.-1ne New Ork W Oftu, in leading editorial, characterizes the railroad labor plan for Government ownership of railroads as "a straight out adventure into Soviet economics.p
 The editorial page of the World has long had a national reputation for un- deviating support of Democratic prin- ciples, hostility to Wall street, and the most loyal and vigorous assistance to President Wilson. The World says:
 "Revolution by Ultimatun,."
 The plan of the railroad brother hoods for taking over the railroad properties of the country is a straight out adventure into Soviet economies It contemplates collective ownership, but class operation and control, which is at the foundation of the Soviet sys- tenn.
 The American people, through their Government, are to buy the railroads from the private owners and turn these properties over to the railroad em- ployees to manage and operate. In consideration of an investment of ap- proximately $2O0O0,O00, 900 the Gov ernment is to appoint onethird of the directors, and the public is to share in such savings in the cost of opera ton as may remain after the em- ployees have paid themselves what they think their services ought to be worth.
 The spirit in which the program is put forth may be inferred from a state ment made by B. NJ Jewell, acting president of the railroad employees department of the American Fedora ton of Labor, in which he said that if President Wilson's suggestion to Con gresS was carried out i've will tie up the railroads so tight that they will never run again if that legislation is passed" It might have been Trotzky himself speaking to a bourgeoise that had offered mild and academic objec- tions to being despoiled.
 Who ls the Government?
 Before any railroad plan can be worked out one highly essential fact must be established-namely, whether the sovereign power of the United States is vested in Government and in the American people or whether it is vested in the railroad brOtherhoods.
 For three years now the brother hoods have assumed that the sovereign power was vested in them, and Con- lent reasons for that assumption. When the railroad employees in the critical period of the summer of 1916 demanded an eight-hour day and threatened a general strike, President Wilson sent message to Congress in which he urged that the eight-hOur day be made the basis of work and wages, but he made four other pro
 
 An amendment to the existing Fed eral statute which provides for the mediation, conciliatiOn and arbitration of such controversies as the present by adding to it a provision that in case the methods of accommodation now provided for should fail. a full public investigation of the merits of .l; e,bo sd and completel before strike or lockout may be lawfully attempted"
 Try to lntiridats Congress.
 Congress refused to enact this Iegis- lation because the labor leaders ob- jected to it. and now we have situa- tion in which labor leader can threat. en to "tie up the railroads so tight that they will never run again" If Congress presumes 10 pass an act to which the. brotherhood autOcracy objects as un equal to it. imperative demands
 The railroad brotherhoods have em- parked upon a policy that even the most conservative of them must admit Is economically revolutionary. If their scheme of naturalization under class control is to be carried out n respect to railroads, nobody can draw the line where it shall stop until all industry is under Soviet direction. Yet they are not putting their program out as a matter to be discussed and deliberate ly considered by the American people They are trying to force the issue and bring aboat a revolution by ultima tum.
 The Public Pays.
 In the last three years the railroad employees have received hundreds of millions of dollars in wage increases for which the general public is paying. As reward for it's generosity the country is to be taken by the throat and choked into submission if the most complicated economic issues that have tr.l f tI..rl c.