The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-23
WALK-OUT THREAT
 BY ENGINEERS BID
 FOR J. s. CONTROL
Stone Indicated Stand and Forecast Protest Before Committee of Congress
 Two Years Ago
ny L. V. MARSHALL
special Ccrresgoosndent of The Ago.nss5n,i' gsS

 (Copyrisht, 1891, by The AEe-herald'l
 Washington, October 22.-"1t Is the sheerest kind of nonsense that the railroads can be tied up so tight that they. cannot run. because we know that the railroads arc going to run under some form or other. If not Tn any other way the government will open up the lines of communication and run them because the people have to live"
 This Is not the statement of a rai- was executive, but the words of War ren s. Stone, grand chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the most powerful of the four broth- erhood groups that took tho lead in ordering the nationwide railroad strike. Made to a committee of Con- gress, it conveys clearly the underly- ing principle of tho proposed strike. It was made at the time that the railroad brotherhoods issued state- mont and these words were used:
 The railroad employees are in no mood to brook tho return of the lines to their former control
 since nll the plans suggested for this settlement of the problems leave labor essentially where 1t h1s stood and Whero t an ue- tcrmined not to stand.
 Thus, 1t is that ever since the rail- roads were given back to private ownership there has been increasing unrest among the labor leaders, and determination to force at the first favorable opportunity their demand that the government buy the railroads and turn the operation of them over to the employees under what is known as the Plumb plan. Warren Stone himself has served as president of the Plumb Plan league. Ills state ment quoted at the beginning of this article clearly reflects the view of the grand chief. that the railroad work CTS by strike or otherwise cannot ef- | fectiyely stop the railroads. But what | they have felt all along they could do would be to force the government once more into control of the trans i portation systems in the hope that out of this control would come new agitation and possible success for the | Plumb plan.
 Constant strike Talk l For more than two years now the railway employees have been con fly on the verge of a strike. The 1 u of the strike has constantly | b, pparent. So much so. in fact. 1 thas many persons have been inclined to regard the strike orders now out as l just another gesture on the part of tho union leaders. The fact that so much time wss allowed to elapse be- tween the issuance of the orders and
 the effective date of tho walk-out gave further color to this gurmise. l The constant talk of strike is no doubt responsible for the mood of
 many of the railway executives who ave declared their willingness to fight the issue out st this time. Pres ideht Harding and the other officers of the administration have felt, how ever, that in such fight to the fin ish. the public would be the sufferer in the long run. They further have felt that the railroad labor board. & | government agency, was being flouted by both sides and that tho government must stand behind this board to the limit.
 | The moves for the proposed strike l of next week are given a new inter est by reference Go statements of the brotherhood leaders made during the last two years. When the brother hoods declared the workers were In no mood to brook the return of the roads to private ownership, Chief Stone was asked the purpose and in- tent of the declaration.
 The purpose and intent" he re- piled. was that we were bitteyly op- posed to the roads being returned to /, the old form of private ownership while the struggle of organized labor was to maintain that which 1t was jusl yentitIed to-"
 Favor Plumb Plan
 MT. Stone declared it would be the purpose of the brotherhoods to create
 
 | through every means ct our com mand. through every channel open to us"
 Would you seek to develop 1t through striker" he was asked. l NO. I am speaking now only for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi- neers, of which I am the executive officer. We have made no threat of any strike for the Plumb plan. After we have waited a reasonable time to see what Congress does, then If there is no constructive plan put forward, | I think we will be able to formulate a plan for the railroads" | Congress was considering at the time tf Esch-Cummins bill under which the railroads are now operat- ing. MT. Stone protested. T think the time has arrived" he 1, said. when the government should take over the railroads. and think any other plan which proposes to turn them back simply means finan- cial panic and chaos.
 l At the close of his discussion of the unrest of labor and the failure of the government to check the high cost of living Chief Stone issued this | warning to Congress in 1919: T want to say this to you and 1t Is not In the spirit of threat that make the statement that unless Congress or someone finds a solution of this problem within tho next few months and do not mean in two or three years, but within the next few months. you arc going to. see the worst time that we have ever seen in this country. because the people are not going to fold their hands and sit themselves down when starving. but they will die fighting"