The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-10-24
WARTIME LAWS
CAN'T BE USED
IN RAIL CRISIS
Nothing in Statutes
Giving President
PosUerS.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Copyright, 1921
(SDeciaI to The Argus

p
Washington, Oct. 24.-Powerless
to invoke any wartime laws be-
J cause of a feeling that public SEN
timent would not sanction such a
! step as the date for a formal proc
lamation of peace approaches, the
administration is really without any
special authority to stop a railroad
strike.
This disclosure has followed upon
a search of the statutes to see if
| there was not some specific law
which applied to the present situa-
ton In time of war" as the ma
tionaI defense act reads, the presi-
dent has plenty of power. He can
even take over the operation of the
+ railroads OF course, the president
! could in time of peace proclaim
martial law in any section of the
/ country where a disturbance oc-
Cured and assume control of the
railroads in that particular section.
| Such an extreme course is not like
| ly, however.
! There is a confidence rather that
! the power of public opinion will
compel obedience. The use OF the in
/ junction is being talked about again
; but the controversy which resulted
from the application of that idea
/ when a coal strike was threatened,
/ has left an unpleasant taste legally,
/ and none of the government officers
! feel that it ought to be done
! On the other hand, the powers of
! congress to control interstate com
merce have been derived from inter
1 l., -Nf nd
: have been sanctioned by the su-
preme court of the United States.
Almost overnight an amendment
could be passed by congress to the
Esch- -Cummins law imposing penal
ties upon anyone who violates the
decisions of the United States rail-
( road board 1t seems practically
! certain that Mr.. Harding will not
rely upon some uncertain powers as
| phrased in a statute originally writ
| ten for some other purpose. 1t ism I
in his makeup to resort to quibbling
or antiquities. He will, moreover,
want the full backing of congress in
! the emergency. The simple an
nouncement from the White house
! that wartime powers would not be
| invoked has been warmly approved
/ in congress where it is felt that
! with such an issue at stake no move
ought to be made without specific
authority from the legislative body
/ of the government UnQueStionably
individual efforts will be made to
put teeth into the Esch-Cummins
law but the decision of the admins
tratian itself on that point is still
held in abeyance.
Would Postpone, Not Settle
The trouble about bringing up
some wartime law is that the
strik9 would only be postponed.
What is really sought by all sides is
a permanent settlement or a defini-
ton, at least, of how far employers
can organize to interrupt commerce
and injure the public welfare.
The threatened railroad strike af-
fects a public utility but politically
speaking it's significance is more ex-
tensive than that. The administra-
ton realizes that it must be careful
in it's moves to proceed absolutely
according to law or it will lay itself
open to the biggest kind of political
warfare such as was waged against
Attorney General Palmer after his
raids of the alleged radicals and after
the Injunction cases at indiana polls
J President Harding gives the i'm
preston that the settlement of the
dispute is not up TO him. He refers
inquiries to the United States rail
road labor board. But it is apparent
that his idea is to exhaust every re-
course of subordinate agencies be-
fore permitting the executive to be
brought into the situation directly
He is not unaware Of the possibili-
ties of the situation and that ulti-
mately he may have to become in
volved himself. For the moment, the
informal influence of the executive
has been exerted to bring both the
carriers and the labor chiefs before
the United States railroad board so
that the equities in the dispute may
be established and the results given
the public. Just as the coal miners
gave up at the last minute because
they didn't want to fight Uncle
, Sam" so it is expected that the
brotherhood chiefs will postpone
if not withdraw their strike order,
, pending a decision by the United
States railroad board. Government
officials may not be taking seriously
enough the threats of the labor lead
ers but it is a fact that hardly an
official here expects a strike to ma
tariol liva