New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-11-11
Chairman of Senate Com.
mittee Asserts Strikes
and Lockouts Cannot
Be Tolerated by u. S.
Two Bills Are Presented
Mediation Tribunals Are
Provided as Substitute
to Give Men Fair Deal
Nrtc York Trbxre
Washington Bureau


at the same time the Esch railroad bill,
containing no cause designed to forbid
q transportation tie-up, was reported to
the House. where an agreement was
reached to take it up tomorrow. meet
two hours earlier each day and hold
night sessions, with view of passing
it before the week ends.
A hitherto uarevea.ed provision OF
the House bill came to light with the
presentation Of the report. This was
mandate to carriers to make appli-
cation for an increase of ra.es within
sixty days after the roads go back to
private control, the penalty being
denial of government guaranty, which
provides continuance OF the standard
return for six months and the prlvi-
lege of government loans.
4ne present laDor aid industrial sit
uation throughout the country will be
injected into the consideration of the
bills, through the anti-strike provisions
of the Cummins bill.
The Cunmins bill, as it was re-
ported to tAe Senate, contains pro-
visions making it a misdemeanor to
strike, or to aid strikes, OF the rail
road employees. Tne Senate commit
zee voted IA to 1 for t0e section, but
-tEe House committee voted it down.
La Toilette to File Minority Report
Senator La Toilette, OF Wisconsin,
zee, announced he will tie minority
report
In his report on the bin Senator
Cummings said the Senate must take up
4a.lAo-u cessation lnme a.e.y after
the peace treaty mas been disposed OF
The roads have q deficit of SoV0,UUO,O00
-or tse t"o years O. government opera
elon the Senator sad.
lie BID creates wage dispute boards
and requires the employees to ABIDE
by tie decisions OF the boards who
s.lbitrate labor and wage questions,
So4ator Cummins explained. He con-
tinuod
"hitherto the government has not
undertaken to adJudge the disputes
which have so disturbed the fed Of
transportation and which promise to
De s,lll more serious IN the 4uture than
ey have been in the past All that
legislation has done up to this tine
mas been to authorize mediation and
cancellation and to present an oppor-
unity for voluntary arbitration. After
me most careful cOnsl dcrat. on, it is
he judgment of the committee that
The time has come to make ano her ad-
vance in the settlement of disputes
likely to end in the suspension or re-
stralnt OF transportation.
Substitute for Strike Power
"This forward step must be clearly
understood to be justly cons idered. In
q controversy between railway workers
and railway managers with respect to
wages and working cond tons which
cou only be sett ed by agreement be-
tween the disputants, tie right to
strlkc-that is, a concerted cessation Of
work-seems inevitable, for it is the
only weapon which the workers could
etfectually employ. A proposal to pro-
hlbit an agreement among workers to
quit their employment at given time
without substituting some other instru-
mentality for secur ng justice would
not receive at the hands of Congress
moments consideration. In making the
strike unlawful it is obvious that there
must be something given to the work
ers in exchange for it
"The tn ng substituted for the strike
should be more certain in attaining
justice and should do what the strike
cannot do. namely, protect the great
masses of the people who are not di-
rectly invo wed in the controversy. The
committee has substituted for the
istered by the Tribunals created in the
bin for adjudging disputes which may
hereafter arise.
"Strike and Lockout Must Cease"
From the public standpoint and in
the interest of the people generally, it
has become perfectly clear that, in
transportation at least, both the strike
and the lockout must cease. A general
Su DpnSiDN the movement p1 frHIuc
for fortnight would starve or freeze,
or BOTH large number of men, women
and chi dren, and if it we're continued
& month or two months it would prac-
ticaly destroy half our popu alton. Our
business affairs would be so disordered
that the loss would be greater than in
any conceivable war III which we might
engage.
1T is just as much the junction of the
government in these circumstances to
see to it that transportation is ade-
quate. continuous, and regular as 1T is
to maintain order, punish crime and
render justice in any other field of
human activity. 1t is clear, therefore,
that the government must settle the
controversies between railway man
ayers and railway employees, which, If
left to be fought out between the par
ties themselves, will lead to the con-
sequences just described.
There is but one way in which this
can be done: the government must un-
dertake to declare, in any such case,
what is justice, what is fair and right,
between the parties to the dispute, and
then there must be no concerted rebel
lion or conspiracy among those whose
rights have been adjudged for the pur-
pose of coercing either of the parties
to the dispute into another and differ
ent settlement"
House Gill Opposes Plan
Opposition to the anti-strike legis-
lation is expressed in the report on the
Esch bill.
Referring to the labor provisions,
which create boards for the voluntary
arbitration OF disputes between en-
ployees and carriers, the report declares
that the fultilment of ware contracts
by both carriers anu workers Is es
genital and adds:
-. is true that many Of the recently
organized unions among railroad en-
ployees. with little or no experience in
ranks OF organized labor, have not felt
the binding effect of contract obliga-
tons, or been as scrupulou in this
connection a. the members Of the older
organizations represented by the four
brotherhoo DDS. Neverthe 'ess, these
newer organizations should submit to
the discipline prescribed by their own
rules and regulations and should be /
made to feel that they injure their
own cause by observance Of