Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-07-23

4
closing up their organized ranks d
! symptomattc Of the approachi2S cri.
sis In the transportation world. The
private railroad corporations ara
bankrupt. That Is no longer secret
at Washington. To pull them out 81
the bog means either that they must
be subsidized out Of the public treas.
ury, or that tho employees and travel.
ing public must be fearfully exploited
during the next generation.
The railroad workers are deter.
mined to resist exploitation. They
will not tolerate reduction In wages
at least while the cost of living r.
mains at its present inflated level
and there is no reasonable prospect
that the price of necessities will come
down soon. There is the deepest sig
n1hcance In the coming amalgamation
OF the brotherhoods with the Amert.
can Federation Of Labor. All intelli.
gent, men and women among the work.
ers can see the storm coming and are
making ready to meet it. A conserve
| alive United States senator, whose
name has long been associated with
railroad legislation, sums up the out.
look when he declares, in private con.
versation:
"The railroads are overloaded with
water and waste. They must raise
their traffic rates with ever-increasing
frequency in order to pay their honest
bills and their dishonest dividends.
And when they increase their rates
they boost the cost Of living on the
one hand and diminish their volume
of trade on the other. Within q few
months their finances are just where
they were before. while the public has
been driven farther along the road Of
discomfort by the increased cost of
living. am Respondent about the
outlook: and even If we manage to
save the railroads, all the other basic
industries are almost as bad of. The
coming. year may find America in tho
same economic and Industrial plight
that already prevails in Europe"
Perhaps this senator IL unduly pes.
simistic; but it is hard to think 80.
here in Washington, where the pri-
vate conversation of men is so differ.
ent from the general air Of public
confidence in our postwar condition
and outlook.
Workers Have Plan.
The railroad brotherhoods are not
among the pessimists. They are too
busy to be gloomy. They have a gen.
timely constructive plan for solving
the transportation problem-the only.
constructive plan that has appeared.
It need not be described again at
length. The idea is that the govern
ment shall first squeeze the water out
Of railroad valuation, purchase the
lines by bond issue, and then enter
into contract with the organized
workers to operate the roads. Glenn
e. Plumb has worked out the legal,
details of the scheme and is busy
pushing it from his headquarters In
Washington.
Members Of congress who are still
too timid to commit themselves ON the
question confess that the Plumb plan
is the sanest that has been present
ed. It represents an effort by the
workers to apply common sense to
situation which has been character
lied for half century by public neg
lect and private cupidity. 1t aims
to roll burden of the peoples back
and establish the railroads perma-
nently on basis of service. Every
alternative plan entails either direct
increase in the cost of living-which
the organized workers declare they
will not tolerate-or direct cut in
wages which they will resent even
quicker. 1t is typical Of the so-called
public" that it remains inert and
voiceless even now when a crisis IL
upon. the country.
This week witnessed conference
in Washington of the spokesman Of
some Is smaller organizations Of rail-
road workers, whose ambitious aim is
to effect an amalgamation of all rail-
road employees within a single organ
ization. This phase of the effort orig
mated in May when the Order of Rail-
| way Station Agents met here and au-
thorized their president, Earl H. Nor
| ton, to confer with the other bodies.
The present meeting at the Continen-
tai hotel was meant to be entirely pr1-
vate, and Mr.. Morton expressed to
your correspondent his regret that
publicity had been given to the move
| 'ment before any definite progress
| could be reported. President Morton
is one of those who see that the whole
| railroad issue will either be adjusted
along the lines indicated by organized
labor or permitted to drift into fatal
middle.
Packers Bill Up.
Senator Kenyon and Representa-
tive Anderson have introduced twin
measures for the control of the pack
ing industry for which support ID So
licited from workers In that industry
| particularly, and from the consuming
public generally. The bills began by
requiring every dealer in :. livestock
and butchered meats, and every
dealer in dairy or poultry products,
who does more than 100000 worth Of
business year. to take out q federal
license from the commissioner Of
foodstuffs, an official who will operate
under the department Of agriculture
Sale Of Old Downs Place.
The old Downs place., six mile.