Evening star., 1921-12-16
.H0LDSU.S. DECISION
0NLAb0R |SWTAL
Ben W. Hooper, Vice Chair
man of Railway Board,
Sounds Warning.
By the Associated Press.

, By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, December 16.-The
wisdom with which the question of
organized labor is solved in America
will spell the survival or downfall Of
the republic Ben w. Hooper. former
Governor Of Tennessee and vice
chairman Of the United States Rail-
road Labor Board. declared last night,
adding that organized railroad labor
and railroad capital has a public
trust" to perform in rendering eff
cient and uninterrupted railway
service to the people of the United
States
Speaking at the annual dinner Of
the New York Railroad Club, at which
six other members Of the labor board
were also guests. Mr.. Hooper said
the price of a rail strike last fall
would have staggered the nation"
Railroad labor, he said, has no right
morally. at least. to tie up the rail-
ness health, comfort and lives Of In
nocent men, women and children"
Problem on How to Deal.
But this moral obligation does not
mean that organized labor on the
railroads should be stamped out, the
former governor said. The problem
in this country, he added, is How to
humanely. and how to curb unjust
demands and control such activities
as threaten public welfare,
THE right of labor to organize Is
based on sound principles, recognised
by Congress and sanctioned by the
Il am profoundly awed when con-
template the possibilities for evil II
organized labor Is to be permitted to
throttle individuality, destroy initia-
tive, exalt inefficiency, dominate man
agement. limit production. ignore the
rights Of the public and set up a class
government. then, indeed. is this coun-
try headed for bolshevism and death.
"All Of these things are the pos
sible, but not the inevitable, results of
organized labor.
VIII Constitute Bulwark.
ION the other hand, If organized la.
Dor confines its efforts to the legiti-
mate advancement of the cause Of the
working man. by tho procurement of a
just and reasonable wage, the estab-
lishment Of desirable working rules
and conditions, the maintenance OF
an increasingly good standard of liv-
ing and the preservation of the po-
litical and civil rights OF labor. then
will organized labor not only serve its
own interests but it will constitute
one of the bulwarks Of the American
republic.
'In my judgment, the survival Of
this republic depends upon the wis
dom with which this question Is han
died"
Mr.. Hooper asserted that if the rail-
road brotherhoods had been crushed
in strike, other organizations would
have sprung up in their stead and
probably would not have been anil
mated by motives half SO conserva-
tive and patriotic as those which con-
troll the brotherhoods.
Explains Negotiations.
"a few sophisticated and hard
boiled individuals never could believe
that I did not promise the brother
hood officers, when addressing them,
to take something away from the
carriers and give it to them, yet this
was literally true" the commissioner
said. 1.-The memorandum adopted by
the board, which finally averted the
strike merely called attention to the
fact that it was premature to start .
row about another reduction in wages,
because the board did not propose to
readjust the wages of any class of
labor until the rules and working
conditions of that particular class
had been passed on.
The fixing of railroad wages. Mr.
Hooper said, should recognize living
wage that means something more
than bare existence and also that
there is limit to the ability of q
carrier to pay-"that there Is no
miraculous fountain of inexhaustible
gold flowing into the Golfers Of a rail-
road"