The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-05-27
CRIMINAL GREED
SHOWS ITS HAND
(By Charles NJ. Kelley


Those who are engaged in the
shapeless business of beating labor
to its knees" are being forced to
reveal the thought that is back in
their minds. The fine phrases that
they employed when they launched
their variously disguised campaigns
are being abandoned as the strug-
, gle stiffens and their spokesman,
with callous contempt for the SEN
sibilities of their fellow citizens, are
saying bluntly and frankly just
what they are planning to do.
The proceedings before the rail-
road labor board, at Chicago, where
| two million workers are defending
themselves against unjust attacks,
! have brought out some things that
| throw light on hitherto unrevealed
phases of the concerted assault upon
producers. 1t must be clear to
those who have followed this hear
ing that neither justice nor decency
has any part in the plans of the
deflators of labor. Autocracy, made
mad by an access of power gained
while the world was fighting for its
very life, seeks to impress it's will
on those who for the time being are
at a serious disadvantage because of
disturbed economic conditions. They
are trying to make might right.
Representatives of rail workers
with patience, tact and ability, have
refuted with unquestioned fact ev-
cry argument advanced by the Nor
ganized open shop advocates. They
have forced those who have been
urging wholesale reduction of
wages to admit the insincerity and
the shallowness of their conten-
tions. They have proved that greed
and hate are the mainsprings of the
open shop campaign.
When they were forced out into
the open, the railway managers con-
fessed that the welfare of workers
would get no consideration from
them. American standards of liv-
ing made no appeal to them. They
declared that a living wage for
American workers is a "Socialistic
theory" and that to guarantee the
toiler a sufficient amount to pro-
vide the bare necessities of life for
his wife and children is "a Utopian
ideal, dramatically opposed to
principles on which American insti-
buttons and American progress have
been founded and maintained"
This statement was made by the
attorney of the interests which lob
bied through Congress legisla-
tive mandate compelling the Inter-
state Commerce Commission to fix
freight and passenger rates suffi-
GENTLY high to guarantee a return
of not less than 5R per cent on the
"book value" of American railroads.
If anything were needed to cause
American labor to close ranks and
present an unbroken front to the
common enemy, it would be sup
piled by this extraordinary declara-
ton. Only men drunk with power
could be indiscreet enough to give
utterances to such sentiments.
If a guaranteed wage for capt.
tai is to be guaranteed to capt.
tai, and living wage for labor
is to be regarded as un-Ameri-
can and Utopian, the cOrOllary
is that workers are to be re-
duced to state of abjectness
and misery lacking during per-
iods of chattel slavery.
1t is complete reversal of
the injunction not to "muzzle
the OK that tramps down the
grain" Are American workers
to be regarded as entitled to
less consideration than the brute?
Are men who produce all wealth
to be denied sufficient to main
tain themselves in health and
comfort? Is every national in
terest to be subOrdinated to the
extOrtiOnate demands of greed?
The railroads have answered
these questions affirmatively.
If the worker does not now
realize just what is in store for
him. his situation is hopeless.
Whether he exists or not is of
nc concern to the employer. A
living wage is a dream that
finds no place in the hardhead-
ed practically of American in
duStry.