New Britain herald., 1919-12-24
RAILROAD LEGISLATION

With no announcement as to the Presidential wishes on the subject, such as was promised in the ncssa &c 10 the sixty sixth congress, and no forecast as 10 whether the roads wilt be returned on January 1, as has been previously stated, railroad legislation seems 10 be more or less obscure. The House has adopted the ESch bill. mal>- ing certain allowances for the time when the property will be given back, while the Cummins bill, of the same general intent, has been passed by the Senate. There are matters in the lat ter bill, in particular. which do not meet with the approval of the lower body and when the timc comes to consider the two bills in conference there will be considerable controversy before a compromise is reached.
 In tho House the Isch bill original lN contained an anti-5trikc provision, not as severe as that of the CumminS bill. Compulsory arbitration was practically required in tho Clause to the effect that labor unions might be liable for damages providing they failed to abide by the decisions of boards that we're named. This clause did not live, la bor interests succeeded in blocking it. The Senate wieldcd it's powers with greater effect in the Cummins bill making strikes on rail- roads illegal, With q penalty of five hundred dollars fine or six months imprisonment for quitting work. The bill creates an adiustm ent board, or series of them, for the arbitration Of labor disputes and brings into being a Transportation board, with great pow CTS.
 The question of strikes will be the point of disagreement between the House and Senate committees which will comb binc in a consideration of the two bills The Senate, by a large ma
 iority, registered itself as against walllouts on the railroads, the House was unwilling to restrict the right to
 strike" It is questionable if either side will give in and a deadlock will
 result.
 I.abor's right to strike in the case Of the railroads is certainly questionable,
 the right of the individual to quit
 work if he wishes, is undcnia ble. The working man on the railroads has q duty of great importance to his fel-
 lows to fulfil. It must be granted, in
 view of his great need trat he should not quit work at a moments notice.
 leaving the rest of mankind in dire straits There should be legislation that will control him, will insure his fulfilling his obligations. If his pur- pose is good, his intentions right, there is no particular reason why he should run amuck of the law. -Ad l justment boards promise him consid- cration of his wrongs, real or fancicd. There are two sides to every con- l tract and if labor, as q body. agrees to 1 undertake certain duties those duties 1 should be faithfully carried out, and l the public should sec that there is a l penalty for failing to carry them out, | just as it has seen that corporations l keep their obligations to those that
 they employ, and to the law of the 1 land. In principle the right to strike l is the privilege of the workman, as far l as the railroads are concerned. there l should be guarantees of no strikes and 1 the best guarantee is the imposition of | a penalty for failure to keep an agree ! ment upon some representative of the l organization which makes the agree ] mcnt. The needs of the country are l greater than the needs of any par