The Connecticut labor news., 1921-11-04

They will tell you, If you listen to them, that the railroad man is over paid; that he actually gets more money in his hazardous calling than the young doctor, the young lawyer the business man who is just starting in his career. Then, they will turn around and deridc the railroadman' s union and will condemn the prOtcc- tive organization that stands between the brakeman and the stock Juggler
 They will say all they can, and dc all they can to injure the cause Ot the railroad worker and all the time they are playing straight into the hands ot the interruptions persons who have wat cred railroad stock away up i'll the billions, who have taken prosperous rail road properties and wrecked them, who have miSmanaged and misdirectcd splen- did railroad properties so that they have gone into bankruptcy and all the while it IS the hard driven railroad worker who must stand the brunt of the 1nisdOingS of those who have amaSsed immense for tunes out of the roads and who insist that dividends be paid, come veal or woe hell or high water, stock gambling, n1- dustrial conditions or surplus moisture.
 The writer IS perhaps as closely ia miliar with American railroads and pre- Vaiing conditions on the various SyS- temS of the country as any ncWSWrlter III this section, says the Worcester Labor News. Twenty-Five years of close asso- citation with railroad men of all grades executives, switchmen and officials as d newswriter has at least qualified him to write understandingly of the railroad situation from most any angle. Without undue emphasis on the clever way that our own nearby roads have been juggled and despoied, and without particular reference to the upbuilding of the huge fortunes of Jay Gould, J. Pierpont Nor gan, Con- Vanderbilt, E.. H. Hartman James J. Hill and other "magnates, y all on the downfall and wrecking of frst-clasS roads, the sworn statements of Charles Sanger Mellen, deposed pres ident of the wrecked New Haven sys- tenn, still stands.
 "The railroad man in overals is not to blame for the deplorable condition of our roads," said Mr. MelIen, when Morgan was trying with all his vicious power to send Mellen to jail for expos ing the system The railroadman in the office is not to blame," he contin- ued; it is the 'railroadman' in Wall Street who has accomplished the down. fall of the railroads of this country.
 There is no other nation on the face of the globe that would stand for the iniquitious, deliberate junking of high grade properties as this nation has stood. There IS ample profit in operating an American railroad as a railroad, but there is far more profit, nay, immense fortunes in wrecking and then re-or- ganizing them.' And so on. Mellen knew, and because he told, they sent him into the discard
 Those who condemn the shivering brakeman or the harassed freight con- ductOr for being loyal to his protective union ignore that the very professions that they cite are more strongly or ganized than any day wage earner ever was, and perhaps ever will be. Take the doctors, for instance; is there any stronger organization than the medical associations that demand as much for one professional visit as the brakeman earns in eight hours?
 It is very well known, but very lightly touched upon in the press. or on the platform that the, doctors have one of the strongest "unions'' that ever was organized. It is so strong that if a member bucks its rules he is outlawed Also, if the doctors union establishes
 
 st who can break that arbitrary fig ure? And any doctor can make from 20 to 50 visits per day. During the flu" epidemic one doctor with two autos and a chauffeur to drive the cars night and day. made more than 50 visits per day. And if he stuck out for his unior rate of $3 per visit, what brakeman car compare his income with that doctors flOOdtde of cash?
 The lawyers have very strong union They call theirs the Bar Association and they have established rate of pay ment that their clients must observe if they would avail themselves of profes- sional services. So much for going into court so much for writing a deed, SC much for writ, and so on Nobody questions the lawyer or the doctor for joining their respective unions, and sell dom is a voice lifted in protest against professional fees. It is fact that the doctor and the lawyer receive more ir one day for their services than most brakeman receive in a week.
 Bankers have their own organization that establishes rates, makes or breaks credits, and so forth, and nobody chal- lenges them. The wholesale grocer, the retail grocer, the milk dealer, the laun LII JIIlallJ llIS dppIC SIOWCl, lIC lu1IlDGl dealer, the shipOWners all have their owr organizations or unions. They are al organized, as the members will explain for mutual welfare, protection of mem. bers and benefit of the public"
 But in the face of all these other unions of men who are in quest of casf incomes, there is resented in some cir. cles against the wage earner having the audacity to form a protective and nut ually helpful organization or union Hi. doctor can charge him $3 per visit anc can come three times a day when the baby is sick with malnutrition or pneu monia, but if the wage earner, unior member, dares to lift his head and ask for a living wage what an outburst i heard from the well-paid, well-fed hy pocrites. Something must be done" they declare, and wag their foxy heads as they spill verbal venom on the workingnan' union.
 Now it is a fact, very much appar ent to neWSpapermen, that the loya fellows who run the roofs of our freigh cars bringing flour from Minnesota, mea from Chicago, coal from Altoona, anc so on, are engaged in just as much ; helpful occupation as any doctor, any lawyer, or any other member of the com munity, and is entitled to wages in pro portion to the risks he takes. plus tn,