Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1919-08-13
LHBOR'S DECLARATION OF war.
5 Per Cent. Organized Want the 95 Per
Cent. to do all the Suffering.


chickering's between He'll on-the-
Hill aud Heaven, at-the- Other
end-of-the Avenue iinger super
huous in the news headlines.
The cost of living itself has
sunk to second place. Labor's
declaration of war upon the ex
isting economic and political Or
der has mastered the thoughts of
men like a cry of fire in the
night.
Millions of workers nodded as
one in bond of self Interest
masters Of the most vital mech an
ism of a complex civilization
at a moment O. universal demoral
ization. seize the nation by the
throat and demand the in
stant grant of some eight hun
dred millions of public moneys, to
the end that they-a particular
class-rlaY be exone1 ated from
the hardskips which all suffer as
the inescapable consequences Of
conditions that are world wide.
The $500 900 railroad workers
demand that the government in
crease the burdens of the other
loo, 900, 600, so that they, the
railroad Workers. may be com
pletely restored to their pre- war
status-fha at the people generalv
be made TO suffer more So that
this favored class need not suffer
at all.
And the argument? Nothing
in Gods aorld but the Prussian
law o. might! "We have the
! f,g,; says the acting Fedora
tion chief Ito tie up the country S
railroads so that they will never
run again, 'to destroy commerce
and industry, to con ndeun all
city populations to famine, to
starve women and children by
tens of millions, hence, there
fore, the money must be forth =
coming without parley If the
President or Congress dares to
argue or investigate, Labor's
strike sword will leap from it's
sCabbard and red ruin will rule
the land. Such in substance is
Acting President JEWELS threat.
This is blood curdling, but
it IS preliminary only, and mild
as mothers milk by comparison
with full program that Labor S
might is to ram down the throat
of the nation. So conscious are
the brotherhoods of their power,
so sure are they that all opposi-
ton. will crumble before their
menace of destruction, that they
presu ne to Law down the law to
the President and Congress that
private capital must be driven
out of the railroads, that the
government must acquire full
ownership, saving its bonds in
payment that the properties
must be released to an operating
company ostensibly te be con
trolled equally by the govern
ment the operating heads and
the wage workers but which in
evitabiy would be completely
dominated by the railroad
brotherhoods and that such
profits as may arise from opera
tions shall be split so 50 between
the brotherhoods and the pub
lie. No account is taken OF possi
bic losses and deficits, these
would fall On the public in one
form or another, as "a matter Of
course, and recent experience in
dicates that they would as likely
sound in terms of billions as in
lesser numerals.
This, roughly speaking, is the
Plumb plan which Labor's ultima
tum proposes as the sole alterna-
tive of industrial war--remember
the name, the Plumb plan, you
will hear a good deal about it in
the future that is already slap
ping you in the face. And be
not deceived. The adoption ot
1.-The Plumb plan" would junk