The Washington herald., 1921-10-29
RAILROAD DISPUTE
STILL UNSETTLED,
GOMPERS ASSERTS
Glad Strike Is Called OFF.
Wants Labor Board
Abolished.

The fundamental issues between
the railroads and the employees re-
main to be settled. in the opinion
of Sampel Gompers. president OF the
American Federation Of Labor.
Gompers expressed qualification
that the railroad strike had been
averted. but had no praise for the
Railroad Labor Board
This only true solution of the
problem of the relationship between
railroad employers and railroad
workers." he said. Ties in direct
negotiations between the two
groups. Negotiations and joint
agreement, minus the artificial ma
chinery of government boards, will
bring railroad operation to a prac-
tical and natural basis.
Could Have settled Dispute.
Some people now think Jthe Rail-
road Labor Board a glorious
achievement, but 1 think IL is in
the sosition Of the heroic man who
stops the leak in a defective dam
The man shouldn't have been a hero
because the dam shouldn't have been
defective. Now then, IL we had no
Railroad Labor Board we could
have settled the dispute.
Happily the strike has been
averted. Labor has appealed to the
reason, the consciousness and the
patriotism. not only Of working
people, but of management, so that
now we may be able to work out
our industrial problems nationally
and periodically"
Gompers argued that the Railroad
Labor Board should be abolished.
The government has muddled every
Industrial controversy" he said. THE
1915 strike emergency never would
have reached the critical point had it
not been for the governmental in
Prevention
Sees No Cure in Pay Cuts.
There is no situation in the United
States that cannot be settled by
voluntary agreements. Human rela-
tons cannot be regulated by law"
Gompers could see no light arising
out Of the rescinded strike order.
The economic ills Of the country
are not to be cured by reductions Of
wages" he said. I'VE cannot lower
the standard of living Of our workers.
They will not stand it, they must not
stand it. The ills Of the railroads will
not be cured by reduction of wages,
but will, on the contrary, be aggra-
waited in common with the ills Of all
other industrial enterprises. To lower
the standard Of living Of the people
of our country cannot in any measure
or In any sense improve or stabilize
Industrial conditions"
Says Cards Were Stacked.
Gompers insisted that the Railroad
Labor Board and all similar boards,
(which coerce the worker and there
fore cause resentment" must be
abolished. But he would rather see
the Railroad Labor Board as it is than
see It absorbed by the Interstate Com
merce Commission"
AS usual-and II Is the rule IN
yariably-the cards were stacked
against the worker" said Gompers.
Look at the personnel Of the board
Is It fair? How can you standardize
the public? How can a lawyer or a
business man-both employers hope
to understand the workers view
point?
Before these boards, commissions
or tribunals, employees and employers
meet as litigants nd antagonists
Employees and employers come before
these boards under the necessity OF
presenting their maximum demands
and Of then defending these maximum
demands as minimum demands. They
are not parties to a conference but
parties to a suit in court Each party
Is under the necessity OF seeking the
defeat Of the other"