New-York tribune., 1919-08-05

the most serious and farreaching
proposition the country will be called
on t. face.
The Days Big Events
Other developments of the railway
wage problem to-day were as follows:
President Forester Of the Brother
hood of Railway and Steamship
Clerks. Freight Handlers, Express
and Station Employees, announced
that unless its demands were COM
piled with by the Railway Admins
tration strike referendum of it's
100000 members would be taken.
The Railway Department of the
American Federation of Labor an
nounced that the shopmens strikes
in various parts of the country are
illegal"
The House Committee on Inter
state and Foreign Commerce ordered
favorable report TO the House on
Senator Cummins's bill. subjectng
all railroad rates, wh' le the railroads
remain under FEEDER Il control, to re
view by the Interstate Commerce
Commission. 4'hs is regarded as a
formal repud' ati IN Of the Presidents
plan before as even been consid-
cred.
The Ser - Interstate Commerce
Committe i'll meet in special ses-
sion tor 5w to begin consideration
of the ! railway crisis.
VII fake 1t Up Wednesday
Cor r.uing its regular procedure,
but :. flancing the hearings one day,
the JJuse Interstate Commerce Com
rnitf,e will listen Wednesday to
pr!sentation of the railway en-
r yes plan for government owner
alp Of the railways.
Republicans express a fear that
President Wilson will come out for
the railway employees plan of gov
ernment ownership.
The aggressive attitude taken by the
railway brotherhoods in favor Of their
scheme of government ownership OF
the railways and operation by the en-
plcyes is considered to have great sig
nificance, and it is regarded as pos
sible that they may succeed in forcing
fight to finish on government own
ership now. Republican leaders in
Congress suspect that the railway men
have assurances of some deGree Of
sympathy, if not support, from the
White House, and at least one Repub-
lican Senator, a man of exceptional
foresight and political Judgment, de-
clared that the President would soon
declare for it. Senator McCumber, on
the floor Of the Senate, declared that
the Presidents latest move was "only
another Adamson bill to get a certain
vote"
Time to Drop Pussyfooting
The action of the House Interstate
Commerce Commission in favorably re-
porting the Cummns bill is considered
tive members are saying that the time
has come to stop pussyfooting and
meet the extreme radical movements
Of the hour in a decisive struggle.
Those members expressed satisfaction
over a telegram from Pierce Blewitt,
of Jamestown, N. D., to Senator Nc
Cumber, reading:
Farmers work sixteen hours a day
fighting black rust, drouth, hoppers
and wilt. Labor unions have six and
eight hour days and expect farmers
to feed them for nothing. What we
need is little backbone and good
club to make those fellows line up
where they belong"
The railway mems statement is as
follows:
"The innuendoes in telegraphed dis
patches from Washington, appearing
also in the speech of Representative
Blanton of Texas. that the railroad
unions are Holding up Congress and
This appeal is made to the Ameri-
can people direct. 1t involves the
Judgment and common sense Of pub
lie sentiment, of all the public which
earns wage or q stipend We recog-
nize that the only way in which we
can exist under the present system
is to demand further increases in
wages. But we agree with Represen-
tative Blanton that this affords but
y4t
remedy.
Bill Provides Remedy
"Labor's BILL on the other hand,
provides a remedy and we ask mere
ly that its terms be scrutinized. Our
full argument in support of these
terms will be presented on Wednes-
day before the House Committee on
Interstate Commerce by Warren S.
Stone, grand chief, Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers; Frank Morri-
Grafton of Labor, and Glenn f.
"lumb, general counsel for the or
Ss~anized railway employees of America.
In this statement we are sounding
the note of our basic principles.
"That this role originates with
labor is merely because labor hap
pens to have firm organizations
through which it may become artic-
ulate. 1t is not to benefit labor as
labor alone; it is to benefit the con-
Stunning public, of which labor at
present is the audible part. In
labor's bill providing that thu pub
lie take over the railroads and es-
tablish tripartite control between
the public, the railway operating
management and the employees the
labor organizations of America have
established this new policy, which