The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-06-03
MUCH DOUBT OF
SINCERITY OF
SENATE PROBE
Much Time Wasted in Hearing
Railroad Officials Tell Moth
ing.
Washington. D. c.,
Nav %, 1921.
(By Charles M. Kelley)

/ ave VII lHICIS Idlt OOIl-
merce has listened with marvellous
patience to recitals by railroad pres
idents affecting the conduct Of rail-
roads, without hearing any practical
suggestion for the relief of what
every witness has described as a
desperate and dangerous situation.
In its public announcements the
committee has justified it's inquiry
on the ground that private owner
ship of transportation faces its
gravest crisis and that some thing
must be done if the country is to
be rescued from he consequences of
a complete breakdown.
Yet, in spite of this urgency, it
is proceeding in a liesurely manner
in its quest for information, devot-
| ing scarcely nine hours week to
the examination of witnesses. Those
who are familiar with what is
transpiring before the committee
are beginning to entertain serious
doubt as to the sincerity of the
entire proceeding.
The impression is gaining strength
that a great domestic problem vital
ly affecting the welfare of the ma
| CiOll anu lliNOlNlIS Ill us NdIlcU
qualifications every other industry
and the very life of commerce, is
being used by railroad managers.
with the connivance of Senator
| Cummns and his committee, to
hammer down the wages of railroad
employees.
From the average citizens view
| point the railroad question is one
of securing adequate railroad SER
vices at reasonable cost. This i'm
| plies such industrial relations as
will keep the employees satisfied
and contented, so that continuous
operation can be assured the ship
per and the man who uses the
passenger trains.
| But from the viewpoint Of rail-
road managers the problem is not
one of service and continuous op-
GRAFTON at all; it is a problem of
| profits and personal power. In
| dustrial relations enter into it only
in the form of possible extensions
Of autocracy by the managers over
| the workers.
| Hence, the Cummins investigation
takes the form of hearing of big
| lam Oeib al lllcu WIFI d
battery of lawyers and supported
by brigade of press agents, who
are monopolizing the early weeks
of the inquiry and destroying the
news value of subsequent disclos-
ures that will give the public fair
idea of what has been done to them
through mismanagement and manip-
ulation of TRANSFORMATION property.
There has been triumphant
procession of presidents before the
committee reviewing stand, each tes-
tifying to the wisdom and states
manly foresight embodied in the
Cummins-Esch act and the selfish
ness personified in railroad labor.
Each witness solemnly declares that
railroad wages must come down OF
the railroads will be bankrupt and
private ownership will come to an
abrupt end.
Worse things than that might
happen to the nation, but develop
ment of that idea may be deferred
until we are nearer the event. What
should interest the workers and all
who are open minded on the sub
! iect of a decent living wage is that
tbs Railroad Labor Board is now
considering the amount of the cut
which it will impose on the wages
of the skilled and unskilled work.
ers, and that the testimony given
before the Cummins committee is
actually propaganda intended to
shape the popular mind for what
may happen.
Another object the railroads have
in view is to prepare the public for
the retention of existing high and
| destructive transportation charges.
The government, through a COM
PLEASANT senatorial committee, is be-
ing used as medium for the dis
semination of propaganda, and
when this fact is fully appreciated
the harm intended will have been
done.
None of the presidents has charg-
ed that workers are inefficient or
overpaid. They have testified that
they are receiving loyal co-opera-
ton. But, since the news that gets
| to the public is prepared by rail-
road publicity men, these admis-
sions are not given wide circua-
| ton. What the public hears is that
the railroads are in bad shape and
that the work1's must take heavy
reductions of wages if the situa-
! ton is to be saved.
1t hasn't occurred to Senator
Cummins and his committee that
the inadequacies and dishonest
methods of management may be
responsible for the ills which are
so graphically portrayed for their
edification. The development of
this side of the question appar-
emily is not included in the COM
mittee's present plans. They per-
NIT propagandists to read great
stacks of material into the record
thu could be refuted by intelligent
ross-examination and permit them
to depart without having contribut-
ed anything of value to an under
standing of what is actually wrong
with the transportation system.
The Railroad Point of View
II is always interesting, and some
times profitable, to strive for the
railroad point of view on questions
that affect both the carriers and the
public. 1t is possible to learn def
initely what they have in mind by
noting their angle of approach to
their present problem, to wit, in
ability to operate with their present
income, admittedly the largest in
the history of American railroad
ing.
julius Kruttschnitt was sent to
Washington by the Association of
Railway Executives to tell Congress
what it must do to preserve pri-
vate ownership, or the fiction of it,
for that is all that remains to
plague the country. Kruttschnitt