Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1921-11-18
Consolidate Them

1 the lcCeHliy threatened railway StflkC
and the maneuvering of the Federal gov
ernment to prevent 1t, and the new wage
controversy and strike talk now developing
within few days Of the former agreement,
demonstrate any one thing beyond the
range OF serious argument, II is the fact
that tho Railroad Labor Board and the In
terstatc Commerce Commission should be
merged, operate as a single tribunal, and
the rate-making power and wage-ixing
power should reside in single body
All this has been said again and again
by those who have made study OF the
railroad problem since tho passage of the
Cummins-Esch act. 1t was realized soon
after that legislation became operative that
hunder had been made in endowing two
separate governmental agencies with juris-
diction over what is, after all, only two
phases Of the same problem of railroad
control. IL the authors of this legislation
had not been obstinate in their notions and
moved by false pride in their handiwork.
they would have lost no time In asking
Congress to amend tho railroad law con-
solidating the two boards.
But the Railroad Labor Board was al
lowed to organize and authorized to func-
ton. 1t was given ultimate jurisdiction
over all questions OF wages. Almost at the
outset il was flouted by the railroads them
OF the carriers. Then when the first impor-
tant issue arose the railway employees dis
regarded the authority Of the board and
proceeded with their strike program. Only
after tho President had taken the situation
III hand did the men give any heed to the
board and even then refused TO call off
the strike until the board had surrendered
IN announcing that no further wage de-
creases would be considered for a year or
more.
1t is conceivable, OF course, that the
brotherhoods would have acted with the
same indifference to the government If the
Interstate Commerce Commission had been
IN complete authority over them, as well as
over the finances OF the carriers. But it is
to be seriously doubted if such a course
would nave been adopted. 1t is morally
certain that the railway executives would
not have dared turn their backs upon
commission which has the power to deter
mine how much money the carriers NAV
earn.
1t is not enough that the railroad reor-
ganization act shall be amended so as to
provide that the Railroad Labor Board shall
slt III washington instead of in Chicago
lhat Is an expedient proposed by the men,
Ders or That board themselves, who shrink
from the possibility that their jobs may DO
abolished. 1t would certainly be better to
nave both commissions operating in Wash
lngton. If there are to be two OF them and
To make ii easier for them to co-operate.
nut TINS does not meet the issue
The fact is that the agency Of the gov
eminent which controls the earnings of
the railroads should likewise have control
over the wages paid by the carriers to their
men, These wages constitute the major
part OF all railway expenditure, and nothing
could be more absurd from a strictly busi-
ness standpoint than system under which
one authority raises the money for the use
OF an institution. while another, totally
divorced from the first, decides how the
greater part Of that money is to be dis
bursed
President Harding has Indicated very
clearly his dissatisfaction with the present
dual control of the railroads. He has In
hnehce enough to bring that dual control
TO an end, and II he fails to exercise that
influence he will fail in that leadership
which his eountrymen expect him to assume
In such matters of Dolicy