Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-06-30
A HOLIDAY STRIKE?
THERE is nothing safe and there

TTNHEHE Is nothing safe ana there Is
l. nothing sane about the manner in
which dissatisfied railway men in this
| territory propose to celebrate the
Fourth of July. Mr.. Jeffery, leader OF
the Pennsy shopmen and spokesman for
the strike movement that now involves
brotherhood men and outlaws" alike
may be talking. like a campaign orator
for dramatic effect alone. In the state
ment which promises railway tie-up
over a large part Of the Pennsylvania
system about noon on July 3. But
even in print that suggestion has an
ugly look.
! II the rail mems advisers wished to
| injure their own cause they could not
find better method than that of a
holiday strike, timed obviously to
harass and bedevil the public at a
moment when the public has a right to
an interval Of relief from it's own large
assortment of troubles. The shopnen
and their associates are in a red hot
row with some of the executives of the
PENNSYLVANIA system. The community
at large has been permitted to learn
but little about the causes of the trou-
Bile. Yet the strikers leaders make it
clear that they are not averse to in.
volving hundreds of thousands of people
in hardship and difficulty IL by that
method they can press their fight little
further against their bosses.
What Mr.. Jeffery did yesterday when
he said that the rail lines would be
tied up at an hour when most people
are away from, home and planning to
return was to provide some justification
for the charges most frequently made
against the more belligerent units in
orr anized labor. He made 1t appear
again that under the policies Of some
unions at least there Is to be no con-
sideration of noncombatants who hap
pen to be caught between warning mi
norities.
The rights and wrongs of the present
strike are now aside. What the strikers
ought to know is that they can get no
where without public sympathy. Why,
therefore, should they seek novel and
ingenious method to demonstrate total
disregard for the public interest? The
threat issued yesterday was not aimed
at the railroads. 1t was aimed at the
people everywhere who are planning to
be away for the week end holiday.
Since the railroad companies will not
meet all our demands, said Mr.. JEFF
ferry in effect, addressing himself to the
public, I'VE will punish you by making
you stay at home or leaving you high
and dry in a far place.
That isn't sensible and it isn't fair.
If strike is necessary, in the view Of
the rail men, it should be postponed.
1t ought not to be so arranged as to
intliCt punishment on multitudes who
do not know what it is about and who
have no power TO defend themselves.
No group, in labor unions or out Of
them, can afford to risk the use of such
method without inviting instant and
general indictment for an altogether
ruthless self-interest.
| To observers on the outside, it ap-
! pears that there is something to be said
in condemnation of the policies of the
rail management and the unions alike
in this instance. Neither group Is quite
| frank. Each is taking long risks in the
effort to obtain final advantage.
There is no question at issue between
the men and the companies that cannot
be peacefully and justly settled by the
railway labor board, which is making
sincere effort to dispose of large
accumulation of work in the shortest
possible time. \ Fourth of July strike
would therefore hurt the unions even
more than it would hurt the public or
the railway ComDanies