The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1921-05-28

when they launched their variously dis.
guised campaigns are being abandoned
as the struggle stitfens and their spokes.
men, with callous contempt: for the
sensibilities Of their fellow citizens, are
saying bluntly and frankly gust what
they are planning to do.
The proceedings before the railroad
labor board, at Chicago, where two
million workers are defending them
selves against unjust attacks, have
brought out something's that throw light
on hitherto unrevealed phases of the
concerted assault upon producers It
must be clear to those who have fol-
lowed this hearing that neither Justice
nor decency has any part in the plans
Of the deflators of labor. Autocracv.
made mad by an access Of power gained
while the world was fighting for its
very life, seeks to impress its will on
those who for the time being are at
serious disadvantage because of dis
turbed economic conditions. They are
trying to make might right
Representatives of rail workers, with
patience, tact and ability, have refuted
with unquestioncd fact every argument
advanced by the Morganized open shop
advocates. They have forced those who
have been urging wholesale reduction
Of wages to admit the insincerity and
the shallowness of their contentious.
They have proved that greed and hate
are the mainsprings of the open shop
campaign.
When they were forced out into the
open, the railway managers confessed
that the welfare Of workers would get
no consideration from them. American
standards of living made no appeal to
them. They declared that living
wage for American workers is a $50
cialistic theory and that to guaran-
tee the toiler sufficient amount to
provide the bare necessities of life for
his wife and children is "a Utopian
ideal, Numerically opposed to princi-
Piles on which American institutions and
American progress have been founded
and maintained
This statement was made by the at
torney Of the interests which lobbied
through congress a legislative mandate
compelling the Interstate Commerce
Commission to fix freight and passenger
rates sufficiently high to guarantee
return of not less than 81 per cent on
the "book value' of American rail-
roads.
If anything were needed to cause
American labor to close ranks and pre-
sent an unbroken front to the common
enemy, it would be supplied by this
extraordinary declaration. Only men
drunk with power could be indiscreet
enough to give utterances to such SELL
timents.
If a guaranteed wage for capital is
to be guaranteed to capital, and a living
wage for labor is to be regarded as I'M
American and Utopian, the corollary is
that workers are to be reduced to
state Of abjcctness and misery lacking
during periods Of chattel slavery.
It is complete reversal of the in
junction not to ''muzzle the OK that
tramps down the grain.'' Are Ameri-
can workers to be regarded as entitled
to less consideration than the brute?
Are men who produce all wealth to be
denied sufficient to maintain them
selves in health and comfort? Is every
interest to be subordinated to
the extortionate demands of greed9
The railroads have answered these
questions affirmatively.
If the worker does not now realize
just what is in store for him, his situa-
tion is hopeless. Whether he exists or
not is Of no concern to the anti-union
employer. A living wage is dream
that finds no place in the hard-headed
practically of American industry.