The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1919-08-22
Revolution BY Ultimatum

The plan of the railroad brother
hoods for taking over the railroad pro-
perties of the country is straight
out adventure into Soviet economics.
1t contemplates collective ownership
but class operation ahd control, which
is at the fountain of the Soviet system
The American people, through their
Government. are to buy the railroads
from the private owners and turn
these properties over to the raiload
employees to manage and operate. In
consideration of an investment Of ap-
proximately s20,OOO,0Oo,OO0 the Gov
ernment is to appoint one-third of the
directors, and the public is to share in
such savings in the cost of operation
as may remain after the employees
have paid themselves what they think
their services ought to be worth. The
spirit in which the programme is put
forth may be inferred from a state
ment made by B. M. 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 1--WE will tie up
the railroads so tight that they will
never run again if that legislation is
passed." 1t might have been Trotzky
himself speaking to a bourgeoisie that
had offered mild and academic objec-
tions to being despoiled.
Before any railroad plan can be
worked out, one highly essential fact
must be stablished-namely, whether
the sovereign power Of the United
States is vested in Government and IN
the American people or whether 1t Is
vested in the railroad brotherhoods.
For three years now the brother
hoods have assumed that the power
was vested in them, and Congress has
provided them with excellent reasons
for that assumption. When the rail.
road employees in the critical period
of the summer of 1916 demanded an
eight-hour day and threatened a gen.
eral strike, President Wilson sent
message to Congress in which he ur-
ged that the eight-hour day be made
the basis of work and wages, but he
made four other proposals. one OF
which called for
An amendment to the existing Fed
eral statute which provides for the
mediation, conciliation and arbitra-
tion of such controversies as the pre-
sent by adding to it provision that
in case the methods Of accommodation
now provided for should fail, a full
public investigation Of the merits OF
every such dispute should be instltut-
ed and completed before a strike or
lockout may be lawfully attempted.
Congress refused to enact this legis-
lation because the labor leaders OBJ
jected to it, and now we have a STU
alton in which "a labor leader can
threaten to "tie up the railroads so
tight that they will never run again"
if Congress presumes to pass an act
to which the brotherhood autocracy
objects as unequal to it's imperative
demands. a, ,E.4.s 49, '.''i
The railroad brotherhoods have en-
barked upon policy that even the
most conservative Of them must admit
is economically revolutionary. X
their scheme Of naturalization under
class control is to BE carried out l IN
respect to railroads, nobody can draw
the line where it shall stop until e: AZ
Industry is. under Soviet direction: 4
Yet they are not putting their pro,
g1ramme out as 4 matter TO be- dis diar |
cussed and deliberately consid idereds sby
the American people. They are try
contiAued On PAGE n