The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1920-12-24
CUMMINS WILL TRY
TO HOG-TIE LABOR

Interpreting his reelection by |
200 900 votes less than were polled
for Senator Harding as an endorse !
ment of his hostile attitude towards F,
railroad workers and mandate TO
renew his attacks upon them, Sena- |
tor Cummins announces that he Will /
reintroduce the anti-strike provision
that was forced out of the trans
portation act that bears his name
and demand is approval.
The transportation act is not pro-
ducing the results that were pre-
dicted by its sponsors. The rail-
roads are not giving satisfactory ser
vice, and they have not measurably
bettered their bad financial condi-
ton even though rates have been
tremendously increased. The meas
ure. widely heralded as representing
tn best legislative and corporate
thought, is in operation a disap-
pointment all around, to the rail
roads, the public, and in a very
definite sense, the workers.
Senator Cummins and other SEN
ators, moved by pride Of intellect"
to attempt something to minimize
popular disapprobation, are expected
to do a lot of tinkering with railroad
legislation, and it is natural that
they will make another effort to
hog-tie the workers, even though the
latter are not in the slightest de-
gree responsible for the aggravated
dition that becomes progressively
worse. There have been no strikes
anywhere, say the railroad man.
agements, to disrupt their working
personnel and increase the army of
unemployed. When the railroad bill
was approved, bad as it is, the
workers stated that they intended to
give it fair trial and do their part
to make it work, even though they
had grave doubts of it's efficacy.
They have been doing more than
their part, and if the expected re-
suits have not come it is due to the
incapacity of the arrangements or
the fatal defects of legislation that
was fearfully and wonderfully made
by the railroad lobby and its repre-
sentatives in Congress.
Nobody is going to be fooled by
Senator Cummins' platitudinous pre-
tensions of loyalty to the public
welfare. 1t is not difficult to To-
cate the basis of his interest in
anti-strike legislation. The Railway
Executives Association and the Sc
curity Owners Committee, which
Senator La Toilette demonstrated
beyond question We're the real auth
ors of the railroad bill that Sena-
tor Cummins fathered, are active
members of the "open shop" COM
mittee that is endeavoring to de-
stroy labor organizations. The rail
roads are making hard drive
against the morale of their workers,
solely for the purpose of undermin-
ing their confidence in and loyalty
to their organizations. Evidently
they anticipate some trouble in con-
summating this program, hence they
want their workers handcuffed and
made impotent against a policy of
repression that is both un-Ameri-
can and inhuman
The tidal wave that carried Sena-
tor Harding into the presidency saw
ed Senator Cummins' bacon, but he
has not forgotten the scare that he
suffered during his campaign for
reelection. He expects no fur
Their favors from the electorate. In
the natural course of events, his
present term will in all likelihood be
his last. Therefore, nothing remains
to restrain him doing the work Of
the railroads, save a discriminating
conscience and that reverence for
fair dealing which the Senator in
his prime possessed but which have
been lacking in his public actions
during the close of an otherwise
creditable record of public service.
The workers will not accept this
new invasion of their rights with
out vigorous protest. They may fare
less successfully than during the
last session, when they succeeded
in persuading the House to kill
anti-strike legislation. But they are
ready for the contest, and it is
noteworthy that they are not man.
lfesting any alarm over the situa-
ton that faces them.