The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1921-01-08
LABOR AND sIX-CENTS

of Duluth because of its opposition to
a six-cents fare ordinance.
In the news story giving an account
of the proceedings of the city council
last Monday afternoon it declared that
the commissioners "acted under pres
sure Of the Federated Trades Assem-
bly, when they rescinded the resolu~
ton calling for the special election.
Then it editorially asserts that labor
took stand against the ordinance on
the ground that the company is op-
posed to unions.
It finally concludes that the. funda-
mental facts involved in the settle
ment of the street railway issue are:
"That the city should have adequate
car service;
'That the street railway company.
should relay it's tracks on streets that
need paving;
'tThat the company is entitled to
fair treatment from the city without
regard to what it's policy may be about
labor;
"That no interest, be it labor or
any other, should prevent the city
from doing the right thing; and
"That a question that is likely to
be increasingly troublesome still re-
mains unsettled.
Now let's analyze the position of
the evening paper.
In the first place. the Federated
Trades Assembly did not bring pres
sure to bear on the city commissioners.
It's representatives merely acted as any
other group Of citizens might do and
have the right to do.
They read the city charter and from
It they gathered that it was not per-
Missile to hold special elections under
the initiative, whether such are held
as the result of petitions fled by elec-
tors or by resolutions of the city coun-
Gil. They believed that the special
election to have been held February 3
next was in violation of the city char
ter, irrespective Of the opinion given
to the commissioners by the city at-
torney:
At the expense of union labor a we'll
known attorney prepared an opinion in
which he held with the committee of
the Federated Trades Assembly that
the special election called by the coun.
Gil was not in accordance with the pro-
visions of the charter. That opinion
was read to the council, after which
the commissioners voted unanimously to
call off the election. Will the Herald
kindly state wherein union labor
drought pressure to bear' on the
council by proceeding in such manner9
It is not true that labor's opposition
to a six-cents fare is based on the
ground that the company is opposed to
unions. It may be true that some
union members are opposed to the Du-
luth Street Railway company for such
reason, but the major number Of them,
like other citizens who do their own
thinking, entertain the opinion that
the officers Of the company have never
come clean to the city. They are al
ways holding something back or they
are trying to put something over under
cover, and this last attempt is but
an instance.
All the conclusions arrived at by the
Herald have been determined by the
courts which have from time to time
held that under the franchise as it is
the company must give adequate ser.
vice. 1t must raise it's tracks and 9TH
erwise improve them when streets are
being paved.
Had the ordinance to be submitted
to the voters on February been voted
on and passed, the people would have
unknowingly qualified the present
franchise. They would have nulliied
all &C the decisions of the courts re.
lating to the kind Of service to be
given and to the nature of improve.
ments the company should make.
If the present city council would
proceed as other councils have done in
the old aldermanic days, the company
would be ordered to give such service
as the council deemed necessary ia
properly and. promptly carry the trav.
cling public. It would order the com
pany to raise it's tracks on superio,
street, or on any other street upor
which it operates, when improvements
thereon arctic be made.
If the company did not like tn.
order and should refuse to do these
things, the city could then hale it int
court where it would DO given an op
pertunity to put up it's side Of the cas-,
i. .