The Connecticut labor news., 1921-11-18
DECLARES FAILURE TO FORCE
 PENNSYLVANIA ROAD TO OBEY
 RULING BROUGHT STRIKE CRISIS

flOut the decisions of any legally con
 stituted Board least of all when the defiance threatens to work in jury to innocent parties. Labor has not learned much if it does not know that in strike it must consult the inter ests of the public and protect the rights of the public, if it hopes to succeed. 1 believe that most workers have learned that lesson, although, like the best of us, some workers may forget 1t in crisis. But 1 would point out, as foil to the iniquity of the workers, that the Board, con- corning which the Times and similar ence, has also been disregarded by no less a corporation than the Pennsyl- vania railroad. On September I6, 1921, the board wrote a decision in reference to a petition filed by the Pennsylvania, referring to the very vital question of labor organizations among the Pennsylvania's employees. The case had been dragging since early in the present year, and the board had been striving to bring about a series of conferences between the railroad and it's employees. While the board twas assuming that all the parties would in good faith endeavor to meet and confer as the board had directed and as the transportation act enacted by congress required,' it ap- peared that the time granted by the board had not been properly used by the railroad, that the conference di- rected had not been held, and that no steps had been taken to enable the employees to select their representa- lives as required by the law and ord cred by the board" On the contrary, the entire 30 days have been con sumcd by the carrier in the active promulgation of propaganda, at an enormous expense to it's stockhod- CTS, in which the issues involved in this controversy have been misstated, l and the action and position of the | Railroad Labor Board grossly mis- represented.
 At the end of the 30 days granted l by the board approached, the carrier filed its application to the board to l vacate and set aside Decision No. 2I8 1 In this application the carrier says in effect, and i'll it's outside propaganda abide by the decision of the board in | this matter, unless said decision sets | the seal of it's approval on the car rier's conduct. (Order in Re: Docket 1 4o4.)
 Finally the board called hearing | for September 26 1921. On that day, l the Pennsylvania railroad showed it's l further contempt for the board by re- fusing to appear. If 1t could not bull l doze the board into an approval of l it's position towards organized labor,
 it would withdraw from the board $ | jurisdiction, and settle the matter as
 it saw fit. 1 do not know what con
 tempt can be deeper than this to a | quasi judicial body, yet 1 am not
 aware that the journals of the coun- l try, now so quick to resent any slight | upon the authority of the board, wept
 so much as a single tear over this l fragrant defiance.
 ] The Boards Weakness.
 i But mutual recrimination only i means that both the pot and the ket- i tie remain black. Yet in the instance I II, Do;1
 yielded to no body of strikers in it's 1 contempt of the board. While the 1 public cannot afford to countenance
 contempt, no matter by whom offered,
 still there is some difference between
 the refusal of men who believe that
 a reduced wage means less than liv-
 ing wage, and the refusal of a great
 and powerful corporation to respect
 the rulings of the board
 It must be conceded that in both
 instances the board should at once
 have asserted it's dignity and it's auth
 ority. Had this been done, it is pos
 sible that the apprehension of war
 which now exists, might have been
 dNOIQGd Ct II HluSl also De du-
 mitted that the power of the board } to compel obedience to it's rulings is l not so clear as might be desired. Nc : one doubts what the Supreme Court can do, and the authority even O.
 minor courts is fairly we'll marked out. But when the Pennsylvania l Railroad insulted the board by stat ing that it would accept those ruling! r only which it asked for, and then de fled the board by refusing to appear ) at a hearing, the board did nothing , When the railway workers took ex ? ample by the Pennsylvania, the board fled to President Harding, who car neither confer ample authority upo1 l the board, nor in any way diminisl the authority, whatever that be, whicl l 1t now possesses. Reviewing bot1 episodes in the most favorable light 1t cannot be said that either inciden
 has served to strengthen the conf
 dence of the people, the workers, O. ? the roads in the United States Rail road Labor Board
 : It is now incumbent upon the board