Amarillo daily news. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 19??-current, 1920-09-14
HARDING OPPOSES
NATIONAL CONTROL
OF RAIL SYSTEMS
q. q. y. NOMINEE ADDRESSES
DELEGATION or RAILWAY
EMPLOYEES.
CUMMINGS ACT ENDORSED
AssalS N "Socialisiic" Plan SuppsFicd
by Some Labor Leaders iO Iiacr
Roads 10 Workers
Disposal.
Pv .sso,lni.d Press.

Pv Assosinisd Press.
MARION. Ohio. Sept ~ Rgffirm.
INK his support Of the Cummings Esch
i"t restoring railways to their owners
senator Harding charged IN speech
tn "a delegation uf railway workers lntr
to-day that hy assuming control uf the
roads the Wilson administration had
sought To- promote q policy brs,d uii
permanent government operation
Had IA" experiment pruyd sucrDes
tho Republican nominee declared The
administration would have favored ~.
t-niion ~ the transportation lines and
other public utilities under government
control.
Blll u Praised.
The senator also asytil,d ~ "sprillis
tic" and "rac'ionary" the plan sun
ported by some labor leaders tn put the
railways at the disposal of railway
workers Tho Cummings Esch hill. h.
said was th" best measure congress
could work cut IN the time allotted
Several hundred union men compos
Ink the Harding and Coolidge Railway
club uf Marion were IN the delegation
and ,h'v vhccr,d th" nominee as h" hii
at class rule and laud.d labor pruyi
sions " III" act
Conc,siing that the act was mot per
feet" senator Harding characterized Il
~ the most conslderate plec" II leg
IslatIon even enacted for the protection
of any group of workmen In the United
States"
Reviews Circumstances.
when IN" world war came on" he
continued we had gone ~ far In re.
rtriction and regulation that the gov.
ernment's Response Ia much Of the rail.
railway management 10 keep pace with
the expanding requirements Of the
country The country was appfehens
i've and we were all deeply concerned In
putting everything that we possessed
at the command q the government for
the winning of the war. With such
a feeling manifest throughout the coun'
trv the railroads were taken over
There was hack ~ the movement the
insistent forces In our country who he
lleve In govci nmcnt ownership of rail.
reads
Policy Reyoluiionired."
"When congress voted a grant ~ au.
thnriiy io tax" over the telephone and
Telegraph lines Il was expressly stipu
iatel that No such seizure would he
made unless cNigrncics of war required
II. hut without a new cNigcncy 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 al.
Vantag. ~ the nnNiciics ~ pcopl. while
Involved In war 90 completely r'Vulu'
ti0niz~ on government roliry In deal
ing with these public utilities.
"lf the experiment with the railrnads
and ihrs. communication lines had
been succesful. T. reasonably NAV h.
assumed that the policy would have
been made permanent.
II must emphasize one oi the grns'
misunderstanding relating I" tn
Cumminrs.ESch law II did No, pro
vide Tor u permanent government guar
ante. of dividends on railway capital
On the contrary. u placed limit ON
thes" dividends.
"If ". had returned IN" Iailro0d
without this temporary guarani"" In AZ
probability the great American svstrn
would have broken down and wr shout
hav. found ourselves In state of rail
wav paralysis.
"wc also stipulated that there should
be- NO reduction of American railway
wages during that sam" period W.
rave the Amer lean railway wurkmet
the same guarantee that W. CAV" IN
Am.ficpn owners and IN other rnsr'
was this done thinking with the sol'
right uf owners az workers. hui con
grr,,s was thinking uf the welfare & al
the American people