Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1921-10-20

to keep only one man busyg
Particularly important, at this
iuncture is Vthe record of Henry
Ford, who took over a moribund
line 41O miles long, and within a
few months had raised wages, cut
rates, and increased dividends. II
sounds like a miracle, but at bottom
it is as simple as A. B. C.. Ford |
pays at a higher rate than anybody
els, but he pays only for actual
work. So he has been able to re-
duce the number of employees on
his road from 2,7O0 to 1850 and
with the smaller number handles
four times as much freight as the
old management did with the larger
number Ford is making money,
each individual man working for
him on the railroad is making more
money than he ever made before,
and the public is paying lower
freight rate, all due to the wedding
out of 1850 useless hands.
Now the policy of the unions has
been, and is, to compel the railroads
to carry those superfluous hands;
and their wages eat up all the
profits and threaten to reduce the
wages of all en-. l0yes.
For instances, in the Ford termi-
nal.at Detroit switch-engine broke
down, and it was found that a cot
tcrpin would hav" to be replaced.
On any other roat., under theNNnion
/ rules, fireman and engineer would
have had to sit down and wait I'M
til a maehinist could be sent to re-
place the pin, because 1t was ma
chinist'S Job. Nevertheless, they
would have drawn their wages con-
tinuously, as would the machinist.
The conductor and brakeman also
would have sat still and waited. But
what happened on the Ford road?
The engineer found bolt that
would serve, and with the fireman
help put it in place of the broken
cotter-pin; and in II minutes the
engine was running again.
THE railroads are guilty, no
doubt, of blunders that amount at
times to crimes; at least they have
been guilty in the past. But what
about the unions? Are not rules
that cripple efficiency, slow down
production, make the unit of cost far
greater than it need be, also blum
ders that amount to crimes? The
American people believe that the
man who works on railroad is en-
titled to a living wage. The Amerl-
: can people are willing 10 pay freight
and passenger rates sufficiently high
l 10 furnish railroad workers a living
wage. But the public is willing to
pay railroad workers, not railroad
} idlers. TO burden industry with cX-
ccssiyc rates merely in order that
the railroad may employ a third
5 more men than are needed to do
q the actual work of running the
road is morally and economically in
: defensible.
Before the unions venture upon
the terrible course of calling a ma
E tion-wide railroad strike, they
n should be extremely careful to see to
it that they have exhausted every
l other resource They cannot afford
10 take so drastic course as long
!, as there is any doubt as to the JUS
tice of their cause; for a nationwide
D strike, which is industrial war,
,1.o,,Il n,on,, ,rbot Copp,onN'c TNl1Inun
into war Observation-Disclosures OF
e downfall. If the cause Of the unions
is not founded upon absolute justice,
then a strike will mean downfall;
2 and the downfall of the railroad
unions would be terrific blow to
all organized la''or.
! For the unions are not aIl-poWer-
full, although they may seem so.
Let them collide with the moral in
dignati6n of the American people,
and mighty as they are they will be
: ground to powder. That would be a
S tragedy, no less to the nation than
to the unions. The unions are need
e ed. They have highly important
function to perform in the state, and
9 their destruction would be a blow to
the state But they must justify
: their existence by improving the
, condition of the laboring masses
through legitimate channels, not by
moraA sabotage. They must strive
to obtain for labor a greater share
of the profits of labor, never to OBJ
/ tain for labor profits which labor
has not earned. They must stimu-
late production, never stitie il. And
at this moment there is grave doubt
as to whether the railroad unions
t are not sitting production by the
imposition of ill-planned rules.
Therefore there is grave doubt as to
the justice of their cause, and as
: long as that doubt exists they will
never rally public opinion behind
+ it."