The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1921-06-11
WORKERS HAVE NO Bread;
CAKE FOR CAPITALISTS
Continued from page ~

railroads is a proper government &C
tivity.''
What occurred after Senator Cum
Minis made this statement has pro-
Voked great speculation and the an
swer has not yet been given. All that
is known is that a few short months
after he made this declaration of faith
he went A;er bodily to the railroads
and permitted them to hold the pen
with which he wrote a transporter
ton act that has been disappoint-
Ing when it has not proven disas-
trous in operation.
Yet the fact re mains that Cummins
spoke great truth, and it loses none
of it's value because he has recanted
its faith. The giving Of transporta-
ton is governmental function, and
until this fact is recognized and in
corporated into government policy
there will be a continuation of ex-
listing injustices and perversions and
the industry of the nation will lam
guish.
Lever for Big Business.
Railroads are the lever with which
big business controls all industrial
activities. That is the principal OBJ
stacle in the way of just solution
OF our most vexing industrial prob
lem. When this Gordian knot is cut
1nere will be revolutionary change
IN industry that will be beneficial
10 the people, But it won't be cut
While congress: is made up of rail-
road attorneys and lobbyists, seeking
not the public need, but the maxi
mum Of the demands of as bold a
Dand of freebooters as ever strobe the
good ship of commerce.
Every official act taken in connec
ton with the railroads in the last
TWO years has been the wrong step.
The wage cut is the limit of infamv.
1t is nigh time that the people closed
tnelr ears to the yawping Of the poll
tlclans and the vociferous begging of
the railroads and got down to the
prass-tack fundamentals involved in
the problem Of transportation, The
many mlsstate ments which have been
llaoe IN regard to the high wages
VI ra4lfoad workers must be dismissed
from the calculation. The average
wage today is we'll below what everv-
body who has no selfish interest to
protect admits is below the safety
point In demanding still further no.
uuctlons the railroads must admit that
lucy 40 not wish to pay a living
:oeo VI lhat they cannot pay liv-
lug wage and make both ends meet.
II anything has been proven bv all
ms pother about the railroads if is
tildt private ownership is rotten to
the core and should be decentlv bur-
leu before the entire industrial bodv
IS injected with the poison thew .ro
eSudlng. The testimony railroad OK
ecutlVes are giving is a frank avova1
OF thelr lncompetency. Add to that
the dishonesty that permeates tho
management of the carriers and .
','oat4on is presented that ought to
'nallenge the earnest attention of
every man and woman who want.
thls country to get back to it's for-
mer greatness.
Control by State.
washington once said that
hlshly organized community. can
my oe tne offspring Of a sound sys-
.enl u hlgnWays' and those highways
.'!ust De quilt by the state, since were
llgh"ays built as a speculation bv
private persons the common welfare
must be subordinated to private
profit p1'"'e
mat statement was prophetic. II
correctly states what has happened
unoer the private ownership as we
know it today. The public, the work~
ers' must bear the burden of keen
ing commerce moving. The MANAGERS
round wanting in so many vital mar,
tlculars, are wholly unable to meet
the new problems of reconstructio,,
unless they get cessions that viii
orlne almost universal ruin to our
people.