The Washington times., 1920-04-13

One Strike Lesson.
Government Ownership.
The Greatest Business.
Judging Women.
By ARTHUR BRISBANE
tCopyrisht. iSgo.)

Not forever will the people Of
,he United States be content TO
leave to accident, or TO qusrrels
of workers and employers, the
possibility Of getting to and from
their homes and their work. the
supplies Of food and other import
ant matters. A nation intelligent
enough to create the greatest ma
tion and greatest railroad system
In the world ought to know how
70 run this nation, and the rail-
roads.
When a railroad is to be built it
Is built in accordance with engin-
esrlng rules. under agreements
and contracts that are binding.
When a man goes to the railroad
station he has to pay a certain
amount, and he pays It. Owners
and workers should also be bound
by rules and agreements in their
dealings with each other.
This Is not condsmning either
workers or employers. General
condemnation is foolish.
In the days when there were
one hundred men for ninety jobs
the employers took advantage of
the condition. They used to play
the idle men against the busy men,
to the employers advantage.
Today there are a hundred jobs
for every ninety men, in some
cases two jobs for each man. The
men, like the employer looking
for workpien against another EN-
plpysr-playing the game as the
employers used to do.
In all these transactions, when
strikes result, the public is buffet
ed between the oPposing parties.
Some better plan will be found;
uulsss the people lack intelligence
to run the country that they have
established.
One thing is quite certain. The
simplest, probably the only, salts
factory solution for the transpor-
tstion problem is Government
owpership.
Griticjse the insfFiciency and ex-
travagance of Government man
agement II you will. But always
remember that under Government
centrel the reads were in the
hands Of the old crowd Of railroad
officials anxious to make Govern
ment control q failure.
Don't overlook this fact: 'Nife
Government at least kept the
railroads running.
Now the fact that any trains are
moving is due to Government
ownership, that is to say, to tho
PostoGice, for the Government
owned mails move, -
Under GOVERNMENT ownership,
as the men have learned, they are
treated fairly. Eventuallys no
doubt, the Government would man
axe the railroads at least as well
al 1t does It's Postoffice. 1t would
get rid of managers whose prtnci-
pal lob under Government control
was to make a failure, in order
to bring the roads back to private
ownership.
The present strike will be set
tied in due time, of course. 1t Is
not SO much a strike Of employees
against railroads as it is a strike
of dissatisfied union men against
union leaders. But no matter
what the cause, 1t Is always q
strike against the public which
can't help itself.
What is the most important bus
mess in the world? Mrs. c. A.
Bisbee, of Aurora, ILL.,, answered
the question when the local cham
ber of commerce working for
better Aurora" asked what her
business was and what she was
doing to make the city better.
Raising babies," she answered.
"You can make Aurora better by
making it clean city in every re-
spect."
Raising babies is the most i'm
poytant business. The mother
does not merely create the baby
and then bring ie into the world.
After it is born she does for it
all that the sculptor does for his
block of marble, and more. If 1t
is a boy she trains out of it as
far as possible the brutality in
herited from male ancestors. All
boy babies were once born little
savaSes, with jaws protruding and
with cannibal instincts. Mothers
have CHANGED that gradually with
patient effort, through FIVE hun
dred thousand years. That should
be remembered by gentlemen with
red faces that occasionally de-
nounce the growing influence of
women in public affairs. "Rais-
ing babies" is the most important
business in the world. Educating
them Is the next most important
business. Supplying food from
the earth to feed them is the next
important. Yet Government does
less for mothers, teachers, and
farmers than for any other three
classes of the population.