The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1921-07-23
WORKERS WILL STAND PAT.

s. NJ. Jewell, president of the rail-
way employees department Of the
American Federation of Labor, has
warned the railroad managers that the
men would not stand for notifications
Ct agreements tending to deprive
shopmen and other railway workers Of
decent working conditions and behind
that warning is a story.
The propaganda Of mis-statemcnt,
lies and suppression carried on by rail-
road arrangements during the past two
\ears has tended to make the public
believe that the national agreement was
a concoction of the devil forced upon
the poor, unoffensive managers by the
bold, bad, vicious, debasing and de-
based railroad administration con.
trolling the roads during government
control.
When pinned down and forced to tell
he truth before the senate commit
zee investigating the railroad situation,
executives of the roads and their law
vcrs grudgingly admitted that the
rules contained in the national agree
ment had been in force on any roads
before the period Of federal control.
They further admitted that such rules
had been agreed to in conference be.
tween actual operations officials and
representatives Of employs and were
the result of years of thought and ef-
fort
Let it be known that the conditions
surrounding man at work mean more
in many instances to that man than
does the wages he receives. The rules
under which he works makes all the
difference in the world and fixes his
status as man or beast. Also do those
rules affect his pay and, therefore,
his life and that of his wife and chill
dren
The men in the shops and on the
roads fought for, worked for and paid
for those agreements and rules through
and during many years-aye, back to
he beginning of railroading, and let
II, one be under the impression that
they will tamely submit to having
those agreements swept into the dis
card by crew of financial thugs
drunk with a victory achieved through
the misuse Of the press and campaign
Of lying abuse of the men and the
government.
The total result of that campaign Of
v;'lification and abuse has been to
make the average railroad employee feel
hurt, insulted and indignant. Never
woalt he have believed that such lies
as were told of him could be spread
so widely and believed 50 readily, nor
did he believe that all his attempts
TO refute such deliberate and willful
abuse and lying villification would be,
rs they we're, refused publication by
all sections of the press, with the ex-
ception Of the papers controlled by
labor.
He has seen day after day and
month after month during the last few
years the most utterly preposterous
and ridiculous statements regarding the
wages he received and the way he
wroked given prominence in the press
and he is at loss to understand the
mentality of those who will believe
such nonsense. He has had forced or
him the opinion that there is no be
lieving any railroad official and thai
tn, power for harm and to do him in
jury possessed by those officials is 81
great that they can easily prevent hin
telling his side Of the story.
He is fully convinced that the cam
paign of abuse has been conducted t,
inflame public opinion against him, s.
that under cover thereof all the right
he has won through years Of struggl
could be taken away from him. H
has been stigmatized as wild beas
intent on destroying the prosperity o
the nation and as responsible FOR e.
outrageous rise in freight and passen
ger rates, while all during the war h
worked for less wages than did me-
Of like trades and callings-worked fo
wages 50 per cent less than paid i
,hipyards, factories and shops.
Let it be remembered that he ha
kept his temper and been reasonab]
through it all, thinking that the trut
would overtake the lie and that jul
tice would finally be rendered him. Blu
his patience is getting to the breakin
point and he will not submit to bein
forced back to work under un.Ame
lean conditions and without rules thu
protect his manhood.
Whatever happens he knows he
not responsible: That the manager