Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1919-08-15


cepted the Honorary Presidency Of
the Plumb Plan League organized
among the rank and file of the fifteen
railway national and international
organizations and generally among
organizations affiliated with the
American Federation Of Labor, to
carry to the public and to Congress
the principles of the plan now en-
bodied in the Sims bill which has
been endorsed by the Chief EXecu-
tives of the fifteen railway organiza-
tions.
Hardly any one will deny that under
private management the railroads
have been financial footballs and
that they have been directed by in
terests whose wreckage of numerous
railroad systems is common knowl-
edge.
The passage of the Sims bill will
re-establish the theory that railroads
should be operated for public service
rather than for private profit.
Aside from the application Of dem
ocracy in these properties, and their
handling by practical railroad men,
the Sims bill will squeeze all fictitious
value out Of these properties. This
will affect living costs and reduce
charges the public must meet, for
then it will no longer be necessary to
compel the railroads to earn divi-
dends on millions of dollars of water
ed stock.
Views of President Forester
]. J. Forester, grand president of
the Brotherhood Of Railway and
Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers,
Express and Station Employees COM
prising mora than 100000 employees,
in recent interview expressed him
self as follows:
"Organized labor has come to the
parting of the ways. We have seen
the folly of the old strategy of try
ing to better ourselves by negotia-
tions for merely a higher wage and
humaner working conditions. Now
we are working for fundamental
change.
eve have not come to this conclu-
sion lightly. We have not decided
impatiently. For decades, the Ameri-
can worker has given his drab life
to the old regime, fighting every inch
of the way. And the fight has not
been for progress, but merely to keep
pace with the eXigencies of the hour.
eve are not eloquent men, and we
are not theorists. The facts have con-
verted US, and they have converted,
| believe, the great majority Of Amer
leans. We have all seen the war, and
listened to the ideals for which it was
fought. We gave our lives, our time
and our money, and gave them CRATE
fully.
"But what else do we see? The
number of millionaires has doubled,
and the people pay the eXtortion.
Yes, the workers received wage in
creases. In fact, on the railroads, un-
der government control, the employees
got what seemed fair treatment. But
the money was not money. 1t did not
purchase goods. 1t did not allow the
individual a greater partaking Of the
generous things of the world. And
today he is determined that in a coun-
try dedicated to freedom he shall have
freedom. Freedom to decide his own
destiny, to make his home a better
home, to give his children something
of his dreams for them.
81 say these are simple considera-
tions. But they are deep, and they
dominate all of US.
"The basic structure of American
industry must be rebuilt. There is
no just preteXt by which the present
order can be defended, an order which
concentrates the wealth from the
work of all into the control of less
than ten per cent of the population.
"The American citizen is wise
enough to vote; he must be wise
enough to vote also in his shop as to
the regulation of the wealth he Is
creating.
"That is the proposal of the rail-
road brotherhoods and affiliated or
ganizations in the Sims bill We wish
the railroads to be operated in behalf
of the public on basis of justice to
the men who conduct the industry.
We want capital out of the railroads.
Right there, let me say, we are insis-
tent upon this, that capital shall be