The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1921-06-17
r1illiOnS Must Suffer That The
Shameless Liberality OF A
ReCreant Congress May
Be Realized

lection. 1t is clearly recognized by
every country in the world that gov
ernment ownership and operation of
railroads is proper government ac-
tivity"
What occurred after Senator Cum
Minis made this statement has pro-
voked great speculation and the an
swer has not yet been given. All that
is known is that a few short months
after he made this declaration of faith
he went over bodily to the railroads
and permitted them to hold the pen
with which he wrote a transporta-
tion act that has been disappointing
when it has not proven disastrous in
operation.
Yet the fact remains that Cummins
spoke great truth, and it loses none
of its value because he has recanted
its faith. The giving of transporta-
tion is governmental function, and
until this fact is recognized and in
corporated into government policy
there will be a continuation of ex-
isting injustices and perversions and
the industry of the nation will Ian
guish.
Lever for Big Business
Railroads are the lever with which
big business controls all industrial
activities. That is the principal OBJ
stacle in the way of just solution
of our most vexing industrial prob
lem. When this Gordian knot is cut
there will be a revolutionary change
in industry that will be beneficial to
the people. But it won't be cut while
congress is made up of railroad attor-
neys and lobbyists, seeking not the
public need, but the maximum of the
demands of as bold a band of free
hooters as ever strobe the good ship
of commerce.
Every official act taken in connec-
tion with the railroads in the last
two years has been the wrong step.
The wage cut is the limit of infamy.
1t is high time that the people closed
their ears to the yawping of the poll
ticians and the vociferous begging of
the railroads and got down to the
grass-tack fundamentals involved in
the problem of transportation. The
many misstatments which have been
made in regard to the high wages
of railroad workers must be dismiss
ed from the calculation. The average
wage today is well below what every
body who has no selfish interest to
protect admits is below the safety
point In demanding still further re-
ductions the railroads must admit that
they do not wish to pay living
wage or that they cannot pay living
wage and make both ends meet.
If anything has been proven by all
this pother about the railroads it is
that private ownership is rotten to
the core and should be decently bur-
led before the entire industrial body
is infected with the poison they are
exuding The testimony railroad ex-
ecutives are giving is frank avowal
of their incompetency. Add to that
the dishonesty that permeates the
management of the carriers and
situation is presented that ought to
every man and woman who wants
this country to get back to it's for
mer greatness.
Control by State
Washington once said that
"highly organized community can
only be the offspring of sound sys-
tenn of highways and those highways
must be built by the state, since were
highways built as a speculation by
private persons the common welfare
must be subordinated to private
profit"
That statement was prophetic. 1t
correctly states what has happened
under the private ownership as we
know it today. The public, the work
ers, must bear the burden of keep
ing commerce moving. The managers,
found wanting in so many vital par
ticulars, are wholly unable to meet
the new problems of reconstruction
unless they get concessions that will
bring almost universal ruin to our
people.