Evening star., 1920-09-14
CUMM|NS-ESCH ACT
BAcKEDBY HARDING
Railway Workers Hear Him
Discuss Situation From
Marion Porch.

MARION. Ohio. September IA (by
the Associated Press).-Reaffiming
his support of the Cummins-Esch act
restoring the railways to their own
ers. Senator Harding charged in
speech to a delegation of railway
workers here late yesterday that by
assuming control of the roads all
the Wilson administration had sought
to promote a policy based on perma-.
nent government operation. Had the
experiment proved success, the re-
publican nominee declared. the ad-
ministration would have favored re-
and other public utilities under gov
ernment control.
The war. he said, had offered an
opportunity to try out the scheme
only because it permitted adminis-
:, tration officials ito take advantage
of the anxieties Of the people" in
asking authority to take over the
properties.
Assails Labor Leaders' Plans.
The senator also assailed as so
cialistic" and Revolutionary" the
plan supported by some labor lead
posal Of the railway workers. The
Cummins-Esch bill, he said. was the
best measure Congress could work
out in the time allotted and gave to
DOIn railway owners ana emplOycS a
just guarantee of rights.
Several hundred union men, COM
posing the Harding and Coolidge
Railway Club of Marion, were in the
delegation, and they cheered the
nominee as he hit at class rule and
lauded the labor provisions of the
act.
They carried banners expressing
their support in such inscriptions as
THE government must change con-
- - - -
u.s. and Safety first. elect Harding"
J.. W.. Roseberry. past president Of
the local unit of the Order of Railway
Tra1nmen, presented the delegation to
Senator Harding and told him they
hoped by coming to prove the fallacy
workers are opposed to your candi-
dacy because of your support of the
Cummins- Esch act"
Explains Misunderstanding.
II must emphasize one of the gross
misunderstanding relating to the
Cummins-Esch law" said Senator
Harding. "It did not provide for
permanent government guarantee of
dividends on railway capital. On the
contrary. it placed limit on these
dividends. It did provide for a
six months which would guarantee a
sufficient railway earning to make
possible the financing of necessary
railway improvements under the con-
troll of their owners. but this guar
antee of S y per cent earning was
limited to the period Of transition of
six months duration, and was uni
versally recognized as being neces-
sary because of the admitted failure
of the government to maintain the
railways in a state OF preparedness
for efficient service.
IF we had returned the railroads
without this temporary guarantee OF
earnings, in all probability the great
American system would have broken
down entirely and We should have
found ourselves in a state Of railway
paralysis which the country could not
tolerate.
No Wage Reduction Planned.
I'VE also stipulated that there :
should be no reduction of American /
railway wages during that same Pc !.
riod. In other words, we gave the
American railway workman precisely
the same guarantee that we gave to |
the American owners, and in neither
case was this done with sole thought |
of owners or of workmen, but Con-
gress was thinking of the welfare of
must be the thought in mind in deal
ing with any important public ques-
tion.
The Cummins-Esch law made one
0Ot4Diy progressive Stcp IN OcallnS
with the railway workmen,~ he con-
tinued. There has been much out
cry against the act as being hostile
to labor and unjust to unionism and
subservient to capital. On the con-
trary. it is the very opposite of these
things. 1t does not interfere with
collective bargaining; on the con-
trary, it facilitates collective bar
gaining. Moreover, it recognizes that
railway workmen ought to be en-
ployed under the most fortunate con-
ditions for the good of all the Ameri-
can people. 1t. in effect, provides
that they shall be abundantly and
generously compensated, and estab-
fishes, for the first time in America, a
tribunal through which the govern
ments concern for workmen may be
given eYnrasoiop