Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-04-13
Palmer InUOkeS
Grand Jury Action

Continued from PAGE One
cept to call together hastily a board Of
utterly unknown men.
The difficulty with criminal proceed
ings is that they will not stop the strike,
and stopping the strike is the chief thing
that the situation calls for. II the
grand jurips iudict. the strike leaders
will go out on bnil and continue TO
lead their men. Even IL they can be
restrained from doing 30 the men. as
the coal strike showed. are perfectly ca
pablo of going on striking without lead
crship. Aud in the end convictions be
fore jury on the ground of conspiracy
are going to be difficult to obtain.
The final result may BE- to bring the
courts and the laws into contempt.
Political Value of Two Moves
The grand jury proceedings and the
appointment of the labor board have n
certain political value. The public wants
something done. The administration
feels that it must do something. II ap-
popts a board and sets the machinery
of Justice tentatively in motion. Grand
Jury proceedings MHl probably also
please the regular leaders Of the rail
way brotherhoods. They are in difficult
ties. The very existence of their unions
is threatened by this revolt. They. or
at least one Of them. have cried out for
laws which will sustain their leadership.
The attorney general accordingly sets
the existing laws in motion.
Members OF the administration pro
fess no surprise at the sudden naming
up Of this strike. They say they knew
all along of the unrest in the ranks OF
labor which might at any tim" result
as II now has resulted. II that is so.
they have done nothing TO prevent the
trouble and sustain the conservative"
labor leaders.
Blame Administration and Congress
II is difficult to place the blame. But
il rests chiefly upon the administration
which would not take the responsibility
for increase Of the railroad wages. al
though conccding. in effect. that wages
must be increased unless the cost OF liv-
ing came down.
Congress comes in for a share of re-
sDouSibiity because ii took its time in
missing the railroad bill and delayed tho
return Of the railroads to private own
crShip.
If the issue is an important one, II
il is desirable for the industrial peace
Of the country that the moderate leader
shin Of the unions should be sustained.
then there ought to have been co opera
ton between the administration. Con-
groSs and the private owners of the
roads to agrcc on a policy, either to re
fuse the demands for increased wages or
TO grant them.
Instead of that all the parties have in
effect passed the buck back and forth
until the railroad brotherhoods' lead.
crs. who stood by the nation In the coal
strike, have been placed in the eyes
of the followers in the light of timid and
ineffective compromises.
The question where the money is to
come from TO pay higher wages If higher
wages are to be granted Is one that
might have been settled by an agree
ment between the administration, the
railroad managers and Congress. all
sharing in responsibility for the added
burden Of increased freight rates upon
the consumers. No one has had any
idea except TO pass the job ,on to some
one else, while the men, seeing hothing
done, have grown angrier and angrier.
Radicalism and Its Possible Sequence
There is doubtless truth in the view
that this strike is tho result of radical
agitation. The radicals have been busy
fomenting il. But they would have met
more difficulty il the government and
the railroad managers had had a policy
Of sustaining the moderate leadership
in the unions. If union labor falls into
the hands OF the radicals at Montreal,
the admin istration, Congress and the