Milford chronicle., 1920-03-12
UNCLE TED'S
BED TIME STORIES
Current Events for the Children
and Grown-Ups, Too
THE RAILROADS GO
BACK TO THEIR OWNERS

had coaxed him to tell them another
story. You remember that about a
month before last Christmas l told
YOU about the Cummins Railroad bill"
"Oh, l remember" said Jack. Not
long before that you told us about the
Plumb plan and how the railroad men
wanted the people to buy the rail-
roads and then run them their own
way"
Yes, Jack, you have a good mem
ory, so l am not going back and ex-
plain what the original Cummins Bill
said. Since that time there was an
other railroad bill written by a mem
Der of the House of Representatives
called the Eseh Bill. These two bills
w4le put together and after let of
discussing of the various things in
them, an agreement was reached and
the combined bill was passed. The re-
suit has been that at 1901 o'clock on
the morning of March l. the railroads
passed from the cau'rol Of lie gov IN
men; and wers turned back I. their
various owners, as they were before
the war. What | want to tell you now,
arc some of ne things which those
who voted for this bill believe D be
, right and which / too believe to be
riIht.
I'VE should Iii be very haoly Ia.
thu railroads are back in the 1a,.ds
Of their owners. For more than two
years these roads were all
run by the Government under the di-
rectiOn of what was known as the
Railroad Administration. That exper-
lence has had one good effect, even
though it has been very, very expen-
sive.~ 1t has shown that Government
ownership or control of the railroads
is bad thing and will not work. Mr.
GOmpers, president of the American
Federation of Labor, and other labor
leaders made an announcement thru
the papers just before Congress voted
on the bill, that those members who
didn't vote the way they wanted would
be defeated for reelection. That is,
they didn't want this bill passed But
that didn't worry the majority of the
members of Congress who voted for
the bill because they believed that the
welfare of their districts, their
States and the country could best be
served by the railroads under private
ownership"
Our teacher said today that the
government owes the railroads a lot /
of money" said Ruth.
yes, Ruth" continued Uncle Ted, |
Director General Hines, of the Rail |
road Administration has said that the |
Government owes the various rail- |
roads, $636,000,000, which will have to |
ibe paid this year out of the United |
States treasury. This figure shows us |
that during the two years or more
that the Government has run the
roads, the people have been taxed
0l0 nm hn nf fho Dof1 II
road Administration. The poor man
agement by the government and the
waste and extravaganza during this
time makes it all the harder to bear
this huge expenditure"
"The labor men say that this bill
is unfair to them" said Jack. "Is that
true?"
mo, Jack, I don't think it is. 1
know 1 couldn't agree with any bill
that was not fair to the railroad men.
Some of my best friends and some of
the finest men l know are working for
the railroads. 1 don't like to disagree
with them but l can't see a thing in
this law that is unfair to them. One of
the things they object to is the fact
that the public is represented on the
labor board which is created by this
law. The parts of the law which re-
fer to labor are quite plain and fair,
to me. 1t authorizes railroads and
their employees to create adjustment
boards where they can settle disputes /
and disagreements. A labor board is
created with nine members to be ap-
pointed by the President and confirm 7
ed, as are other appointments by the l
Senate, each member to receive a sal
lry of $4,000 a year" '
How will these men be selected?" a
asked Jack.
Three of the members will repre- +
sent labor. These three are to be Sc $
ected from list of six furnished by il
he labor organizations. Three will
'epresent the railroad owners and
hey will be selected from list of six D
furnished by the railroad operators, a
md the last three will be selected to
epresent the public. Now, when any 8
rouble comes up and the railroad +
employees and the operators are un-
lble to adjust their troubles as to q
wages, working conditions and the g
-arious things that cause such dis
utes, this board has power to call in Z
Witnesses, examine all papers, books, N
tc., and give a fair hearing to both J.
ides. Then they can make what is
allied a finding, a report, just as E
ourts do in similar cases. No report in
t the board can be final or binding
Mess at least one member of the
hree representing the public agrees NJ
} the report But after the report is lie
lade there is no power to enforce it, 81
xcept public opinion. The most ex-
'eme penalty the board can apply is P.
lat Of giving the report publicity so nj
lat everyone in the country will th
now the facts. So, as I see it, chill
rem, there certainly can be no harm he
/ letting the public know the facts
/ these disputes. The public is the
rst to be interested The public is,
course. you and 1 and all of us.
there is a railroad strike and we
mt get food, we suffer. If because I'M
disputes the train don't run on an
me; there are not enough men to ur
IN them and all the hundred and one a
ings that can arise, the public suf by
RS. The labor leaders have object
, as ] told you, to the public having en-
on this labor board. W.
nat is not a fair way to look at it. MI
le public should be considered first.
Another reason why / am glad this Mr.
Il has become law is this, although las
e actual fighting of war with Ger
any stopped when the armistice was spt
yned, November IL, 1918, we are ant
il technically at war. I want to see My
al peace just as. soon as possible. A
ace that will place the United adt
ates in the same secure position it wit
Id with the rest of the world before
2 war. That means a peace without TOW
Y league of nations which would anC
Ike our Constitution a scrap of pa the