The Holbrook news., 1921-02-25
THE PURPOSE OF THE
 ANTI-STRIKE BILL

There are many men of radical thought who concede no allegiance to the laws under which they live
 They proceed to break them when ever the spirit moves, until they are forcibly restrained by officers of the law. There are others who, while not as radically inclined as the former class, declare that they owe no duty toward society in general, and claim perfect freedom to do as they please as long as they do not actually break the peace,
 In line with his other attacks or the railroad anti-strike bill and the Esch-Cummins transportation act, Mir. Gompers declares that mo law to compel workmen to work against their will or under conditions detri- mental to their welfare or health can be enforced"
 That sort of argument, conveying as it does a misinterpretation of the anti-strike bill, carries an appeal to those who have a wrong conception of the meaning of freedom.
 There are forms of industry that have become known as public utili- ties because of the direct depend ence of the public upon them for continued life and comfort. Tele- phone and telegraph companies, gas mad electric light companies, and steam and electric railroads are ex- amples. Any concern of that char acter may be entirely the property of private individuals, but the law says that it's service must be contin- uous and that its owners shall not be free to shut down their plant The activity of the public utility has become so necessary part of the public welfare of the community that its sudden stoppage would bring dis sster and probable loss of life. The interests of the people as a whole demand uninterrupted service.
 There has never been any complaint against a law that compels the own trs of public utilities to give con- stant service. Both the owners and the rest of the people recognize its necessity if our social structure is to remain. The so-called wage earning class would be the very first to com plain were the facilities afforded by the public utilities suddenly denied them Yet Mir. Gompers takes the astonishing position that law put ting a limitation upon the actual owners of a utility must not be made to apply against the men who work for thoes owners and upon whose un- interrupted labor the utility's ser vice depends.
 It is estimated that the number of railroad stockholders is 65O,OO0, but many of them are banks, insurance companies, trust companies and other big corporations. Every bank depos- itor, policy holder, trust beneficiary, and owner of corporation stock is, therefore, the owner of an equity in the rail stock held by those concerns 'It has been stated" says the Blu reau of Railway Economics, that the ownership equities of the Amer ican railways are in the hands of more than 5O,OO0,OOO people" Now the law demands and society re- quires that these people shall keep their properties in continuous oper ation for the benefit of all.
 Tn 1919, the latest figures avail able there were 1,977y616 railroad employees. MT. Gompers undertakes to say that while law may protect the whole nation against the action of practically half of the people, it is impotent to provide similar pro tection against the action of the comparatively insignificant number of employees. Nobody seeks to abridge the freedom of an individual employee to quit work, but when conspiracy is manifest by which an organized group of workmen seek to cripple transportation to attain their own selfish ends it is time for the government to step in and restrain the forces of labor precisely as it has restrained the forces of capital That is all that the anti-strike bill now pending in Congress seeks to do.