Milford chronicle., 1919-09-05
AMERICAN BOLSHEVTSM
BY j e Innes

I
duress and just in time to avert tn
strike, that Congress passed a bi
hosting railroad wages, have return
ed to Washington. The total advanc
of all railway labor charges since tina
day has been S1,2OO,OOO,OO0, an annua
expenditure in excess of interes
charges on our total war debt.
This time again the Railway Broth
erhoods demand legislation, but a fur
ther wage advance of a billion is &C
tually the least of their demands. TIL,
Brotherhoods' leaders now state tha
/ Congress is to legislate the railroads
now under government operation anC
losing S500,000,000 this year from the
I U. 5. Treasury, actually into govern
ment ownership. If this is not done
labor leaders publicly threaten a ma
tionwide strike, far more serious than
/ that threatened in 1916
They also make it clear in public
statements that this itself is merely
step toward naturalization of all
industry, whether factory or mine or
farm. In other words, the control and
ultimate ownership not only Of rail-
roads but of all little industries it is
proposed to vest in the working
classes" This was proposed in Rus
sia, and has been tested there during
the past two years, with results which
are sufficiently familiar to anyone
able to read.
The start is the plumb plan" This
railway measure seeks to refinance
$4,000, 100000 railway securities by
government bonds (this total is about
three -fourths of the total bonds of
our war lOans) thus eliminating all
private capital. 1t would combine all
railroads and administer them by
board equally selected from labor,
government and managers. 1t would
divide excess profits between labor
and government but deficit would be
borne by the taxpayer. The board
would determine wages and working
hours.
Lenine and Trotsky in their state
ment to Russians proposed handing
over the large estates to the peasants"
The Brotherhood program proposes
to start by handing over the railroads
to the wage-earners. The Russian
scheme provided for the transfer of
all authority to the Council of Work
mems and Soldiers Delegates" The
Brotherhoods' Council will be controll- /
ed by the BrOtherhoods. Lenine's pol /
cy enunciated time and time again .
looked toward an exclusively prole- /
ariat republic" The BrOtherhoods
ire moving in the same direction. One
If these revolutions was devised for
gnorant Russia; the other has been
for the United States,
which we hold to be a highly intel
igent nation. There is no attempt to
conceal the true state of affairs, and
should be recognized that our own
ountry is face to face with the real
-y: Do we want a Bolshevist Amer
ca? If we do, then the Railroad
offer a program that is
ltended to speedily pave the way to-
ard sO-called naturalization" of all |
ldustry.
A few days before the Brotherhoods
roke loose the President asked Con- |
ress to provide a Federal Commits |
on along the lines of the Interstate |
ommerce Commission, with power to H
x salaries of railroad wage-earners.
'hen a similar policy was entered \
Ito for the handling of labor prob 4
ms along these lines during the war
'ganized labor was immensely pleas II
|, and most awards were satisfactory ll
the wage-earners. Even before the
ar, the Brotherhoods made frequent II
,mands upon Washington-and they II
ways got everything they asked for. II
alters were made so easy for them II
at it is clear that the Brotherhoods II
I've come to regard Congress as
asy", and instead of respecting it II
r its helpfulness, the leaders of III
ese organizations have become ar III
giant by reason of their successes. III
lis is evidenced by the comments of III
e of the labor spOkesmen concern I'll
g the suggestion of President Will iii
n for study of the railroad prob III
n. He says: "The railroads will be iii
ID up so tight that they will never NM
n again if that legislation is passed" III
There is nothing in that statement, III
in the proclamation of the Broth
hoods that pretends to deal with Hi
'or settlements in the way recog- I'LL
.ed by law and free civilized gov I'LL
lments. Instead a demand is made lIll
on the country for an entire change l
its manner in conducting its af- iii
rs. Congressman are already be- l|l
ming to hear from constituents who W
not propose that the interests of Hill
100000 people are to be held of lIlI
S importance than the wishes of llllI
)ut one and half per cent of the IllII
)ulatiOn. Hill
Wages and the BrOtherhOOds llllI
he Railroad Brotherhoods, repre- Hill
ting 500 nnn men on all railways IIIIIl
the United States. have delivered lllll
ultimatum to the government that W
y will tie up all transportation III
N coast to coast, to force another lllllI
ion dollar wage advance, and at Hill
same time compel the government Hill
buy the railways and turn them llllll
r to the employees for their man llllll
ment. IlllIl
LENDERS of Congress who are as llIlI
lded by this latest Brotherhood ul- lllll
atum regard this plan as BOlshev- IllIlI
of the purest Russian type. The lII
ernment has been very liberal in lI
treatment of railway employees, lllI
ing increased their payroll from lIIIIl
so 100000 in 1917 70 S2,900,000,0 900 llllll
year. his is an increase III LHe llltll
.oll of $1,15O,000,000. The govern Hill
t has raised the average wages of HILL
'oad workers from $1,000 to s1,5O0 lllIll
ear, and has raised the average HUH
100000 of the better paid men to lIlll
9 than $4,000 a year. Thousands IlIII
he employees are now earning Dl
h more than the under officials Of Illll
roads. HILL
1t, in spite of this enormous in Hill
Sc in the payroll, without paral- Hill
in the history of industry, the IlllU
ers of the organized forces are Hill
asking for a billion dollars more. llllll