Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-06-24
DRIFT

ID ESPONSIB1L1TY ,or trouble Of
~ any sort is seldom 20 general and
widespread as it appears to be II, the
new rail strikes. When the Esch-
Cummins law was passed it was clear
that wage tribunal Of special sort
was necessary to deal with questions
then high in the air and threatening to
come to earth with destructive thuds.
But Mr.. Wilson took his own time and
let months pass before he established the
Railway Labor Board for which Con
gress had made provision. Similarly
the railway managers knew that pre-
liminary and regional boards had to be
established as basic and indispensable
parts in the new scheme for wage and
labor adjustments Of which the federal
labor board is the head.
Such minor boards, acting with the
authority of Congress to investigate
causes of trouble at the source and re-
port, il necessary, to Washington, are
absolutely necessary for a sane and just
approach to problems that culminate in
strikes on the railway lines. The cor
porations and their men were supposed
10 DTONllP lot tNluul pl
committees established to cooperate
with these regional boards and to for
mulate their claims and counter claims
for peaceful hearing and adjustment.
No move to that end was ever made by
the railways or by the unions. More
over, some Of the strikes recently called
are not only for higher wages. They
are intended to be protests against the
theory of labor adjustments provided
for by the Esch Cummins law. Every
one has been drifting
The theory of wage settlements to be
observed on the rail lines in the future,
il the plain intention of Congress is to
be accepted as a guiding rule, was
pretty clearly outlined in the recent
voluminous report of the President s
industrial conference. IL was contended
in that report that fiat and general
rate of wages, even il it should be ex-
ceptionally high, could not always be
fair, since what might be an adequate
or even liberal rate in one part of the
country or in one community might
prove to be insufficient in others. Mr..
Hoover and his associates in the indus
trial conference recognized the fact that
living costs vary in different localities,
and they sought to find a plan which
would insure fair wages and working
conditions rather than fixed and in =
flexible scales likely to be unfair to
some and more than fair to others.
In dealing with labor question of
national scope some such departure
from older methods seems TO be neces-
sary So the scheme of arbitration
finally worked out for the Railway
Labor Board would normally have its
foundations in local and regional boards
authorized to make Investigations of
the most thorough sort after efforts for
arbitration had failed Such investiga
tions would supply the information upon
which the Railway Labor Board, as
the final court of appeal. could base its
binding decisions.
In ordering the board to act. and act
at once, Mr.. Wilson has asked it tc
| settle questions with which it has nc
| thorough acquaintance. Yet under the
pressure cxerted from the White House
yesterday, and because of the threat OF
| the brOtherhoOdS to abandon their atti
tude of opposition to outlaw strikes
some decision favorable to the strikers
! is pretty sure to be rendered. This viii
not mean that we are done with trouble
on the railway lines. Nothing has beer
thoroughly investigated. Nothing has
| been settled. The country is merely
muddling along.
Sooner or later settled peace vii
come on the railroads. But it vii
come only after the companies and the
unions quit Sparring for advantage anC
recognize the justice of the plan pro
posed by Congress. or at least the wis
dom of giving it fair trial.