Arizona republican., 1920-09-14
Republican A. p. Leased Wirel

MARION, Ohio, Sept. 13.-Reaffirm- l ing his support of the Cumnlins Esch | act, restoring the railroads to their owners, Senator Harding charged in d speech to the a delegation of railway workers late today that by assuming control of the roads at all the Wilson administration had sought to promote a policy based on permanent govern ment operation
 Had the experiment proved suc- cess, the Republican nominee declared, the administration would have favored retention of the transportation lines 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 administration officials ito take ad- vantage of the anNietieS of the peo- pie" in asking authority to take over the properties.
 The senator also assailed as 'so cialistic'' and Revolutionary" the plan supported by some labor leaders to put the railways at the disposal of the railway workers The Cummins- Eseh bill he said. was the best measure
 congress could work out in the time
 allotted and gave to both railway own CTS and employees just guarantee of rights.
 | Marion Rail Employees for Harding Several hundred railroad men, com 1 posing the Harding and Coolidge Rail- i way club of Marion, were In the dele
 gation 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 l ''Thegovernment must change con l ductors." Harding will not side track us" and Safety first, elect Harding" J. w. Rosebury, past president of the l local unit of the Order of Railway 1 Trainmen. presented the delegation to 1 Senator Harding and told him they
 hoped by coming to prove the fallacy of 1 fthe impression that railway workers i are opopsed to your candidacy because
 of your support of the Cummins- -Esch
 act"
 Conceding that the act was mot | perfect" Senator Harding character 1 ized it as "the most considerate piece of legislation ever enacted in the pro- | lection of any group of workmen in the l United States"
 When the world war came on" he l continued. i've had gone so far In l restriction and regulation that the | governments response to much of the railway batting made it difficult for 1 the railway management to keep pace l with the expanding requirements or ] the country. It is not important to ] discuss now whether the railway serV- 1 ice was breaking down under the great
 
 | The country was apprehensive and i we were all deeply concerned in put l ting everything that we possessed at I the command of the government for
 the winning of the war. With such l feeling manifest throughout the coun- l try the railroads were taken over for l'the period of the war. Undoubtedly l there was back of the movement the
 insistent forces in our country who 1 believe in government ownership or fn of Iap
 opportunity for the application of their theories of government ownership and i I sometimes suspect the taking over of ] the railways was more impelled by | the thought of modifying our govern i ment policy than the developing of a
 better service for the conduct of the Fwar.
 Says SociaIistic Experiment
 This suggestion was later on con firmed by the insistence of the ad- 1 ministration that it be given author ity to take over the telephone and tel l egraph lines When congress voted a i grant of authority to take over these ! lines it was expressly stipulated that
 no such seizure would be made unless 1 the exigencies of war urgently required l it; but after the authority was given, | without new exigency having arisen and without a single new condition of
 peril, the telephone and telegraph lines
 were seized because an administration
 was in power which was disposed to
 take advantage of anxieties of people ! while involved in war. to completely
 revolutionize the government policy in
 dealing with these public utilities.
 If the experiment with the rail
 ways and these communication lines had been successful, it reasonably may 1 be assumed that the policy would have been made permanent. Such was the
 undoubted intent of the present ad ministra tion.
 T must emphasize one of the gross 1 misunderstanding relating to the iCummins- ESch act. It did not provide ! for a permanent government guaran- toe Of dividends on railway capital. On
 tho contrary, t placed a limit on these
 dividends. II did provide for main tenancc Of rates for period of six
 months which would guarantee suf-
 ficicnt railway earning to make pos sible the financing of necessary rail-