The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1919-09-11
|RlAMAT uB0a
MOVE ASSUMED
st1s' ~r --x@<-
New York World, Strong Wilson
Supporter. Denouncss Rsvo-
luton BY ultinatan~
Parallel 70 Russian Iden


out adventure into Soviet economics
The editorial page OF the worid has
long had national reputation for un-
devIatins support OF Democratic prin-
ciples, hostility to wan street. and the
most loyal and vigorous assistance 10
President Wilson. The World says:
@Rsvsiutien BY uitlmatum-"
The plan OF the railroad brother.
hoods for taking over the railroad
properties Of the country Is = straisht-
out adventure into Soviet economics.
II 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 en-
ployees to manage and operate. In
consideration OF an investment OF APP
proximately O0o,OOOo0 the Gov-
ernmcnt Is TO appoint one-thlrd or the
directors, and the public Is 10 share
in such savings In the cost OF opera
l tion as may remain after the en-
/ ployees have paid themselves what
they think their services ought to be
/ worth.
/ The spirit In which the program Is
4 put forth may be inferred from state
ment made by b. NJ. Jewell. acting
president OF the railroad employees
department Of the American Fedora.
4 tion OF Lahcr, In which he said that II
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 II that legislation is
passed II might have been Trotzky
himself speaking to a bourgeoise that
had offered mild and academic objec-
tions to being desroiled.
i Who 10 the oovernmsnt1
1 Before any railroad plan can he
worked out one highly essential fact
must be stablished-namely. whether
the sovereign power Of the United
1 States Il vested in Government and in
the American people or whether II Is
vested in the railroad brotherhooas.
For three years now the brother
|: hoods have assumed that the sovereign
power was vested in them. and Con-
gress has provided them with excel
/ lent reasons for that assumption.
L When the railroad employees In the
critical period OF the summer OF 1916
demanded an eight.hour day ard
4 threatened a general strike, President
1 Wilson sent message to Congress in
1 which he urged that the eight-hour
day be made the basis Of work and
wages, bat he made four other pro-
posals, one Of which called for
AN amendment to the existing Fed
eral statute which provides for the
I mediation, conciliation and arbitration
1 OF such controversies as the present
by adding TO 1t a provision that in
case the methods of accommodation
now provided for should fail full
public investigation Of the merits Of
every such dispute should be institute
ed and completed before a strike or
lockout may be lawfully attempted"
Try to lnsImidate Congress
Il Congress refused TO enact this legis-
Il lation because the labor leaders OBJ
\ iected TO Ii. and now we have situa-
h tIon In which A labor leader can threat
en- to ''tie up the railroads so tight that
n they will never run again" n Congress
presumes 10 pass an act TO which the
h brotherhood autocrAcy objects as uu.
equal to Its imperative demands.
II The railroad brotherho0ds have en-
barked upon a policy that even the
most conservative of them must admit
is economically revolutionary. II fheir
scheme of naturalization under class
control Is 10 be carried out In respect
TO railroads. nobody can draw the line
where IL shall stop until Ill industry
is under Soviet direction. YET they
are not pu,insf their program out as a
matter 10 be discussed and deliberate
~ considered by the American people.
1 They are trying to force the issue and
bring about = revolution By ultima
tum.
II The Public Pay9
In the last three years the railroad
employees have received hundreds Of
millions OF dollars in wage increasca
for which the general public Is paying.
As reward for Its generosity the
country is TO be taken by the throat
ana crooked fnto Submission n the mos,
complicated economic issues that have
ever confronted II are mt settled forth.
With. II there u any difference be
tween that kind OF arrogance and the
arrogance cf The German general stan
IN July, 1914, we si5suld IKE ts know
what II II 49,,