The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-11-10
BY WHITING WILLIAMS
"NOthin' to Conclude On"


! dents hurt when their men Joined the
strike. That unhappiness can be un.
derstood when-as happened more
than once last June-the men voted
to strike on roads where they were
well treated, while they voted not to
strike on certain other roads where
managers and workers have beer
much further apart. To the first
sort of executive it looked like dis
| loyalty. To the worker it was not a
question of disloyalty but of which
loyalty.
ave worked on this line thirty.
eight years-goin' on thirty-nine, ,
said an old veteran the other day,
"and III want to say that there amt
a better railroad in the world to
work for than mine But all the
boys voted to help the other shop
men get the treatment we're gettin'
here, and when the super tried to
persuade me to play safe and go
back, | told him I'd been square and
decent all my life and | couldn't
think of maxim sure of my old age
so far as money was cOncerned-you
see, I'll get my pension soon, or will
| if we go back-and run the risk of
goin' down to my grave with all my
pals and neighbors a-disrespectin'
me. l just couldn't do that
81 got wife and three kids" said
a younger man. But before we'd
steal the jobs of our friends. Pm
tellin' you we'd eat the bark off the
trees"
l am not saying whether such de-
cisions and such choices of loyalty
are wise and right or not. I simply
say with infinitely more wrestling
and travail of spirit than most of
us can realize. In the words of one
who went through it:
'If we turn down the boss and
stick by our buddies, we may have
to get another job--mebbe in a fac
tory or steel plant. But if we stick
by the boss and turn down our bud
dies-why, then, we're just yellow.
We gotta leave town-gotta sell our
house and everything-and start all
over again, somewheres else"
No wonder the negro baggage
hustler was puzzled to find the right
word for such a problem of balanc-
ing off against each other these
competing rights and opposing du-
ties as between the man who leaves
the lob and the man who takes it,:
"Yessah, of all the strikes Use
ever seen, this heah one is the most
unconcernible. There just amt moth
in to conclude on"
Other Troubles Besides Wages
In spite of that, | think we can
conclude on this-or these: Seniority
4,
large to the railroad worker. But
it should hardly furnish the OBJ
stacle some executives have described
in the way of giving justice-that is,
a decent job--to both the striker
and the strike breaker after the dis
pute is settled. The reason is that
80 per cent of my strike-breaking
friends will linger only few days
on the railroad after they are de-
prived of the special wartime" ad-
vantages of much overtime with free
board, room, and transportation.
Most of them, Furthermore have
not the ability to earn the pay they
can get under the stress of strike
labor shortage.
Second, the biggest cost of the
strike will be its hangover-its spir-
itual hangover in the decentralization
ard unhappiness that will hold the
country's shops and roundhouses in
It's ugly and costly grip for months
and months after peace is declared.
Third, the safety of the travelling
public certainly requires that rail
road work be done by workers who
not only know their job but also care
for it and are happy year after year
in the enjoyment of its responsible
tiles. q g
Fourth, the very well-being of the
public certainly requires that this
question of loyalty to ones imme-
date neighbors or to ones employ
er-this matter of holding the job
and fighting for it-must not be
allowed to cause such colossal eco
monte and social disturbances. Peace
needs no such wars as these.
Can this be done without the Rail-
road Labor Board? If not, why
hasn't the board found the answer?
for that was what it was expected
to do. How did it fail to gain the
confidence Of these 100000 shopmen
also of those railroad managers
who disregarded some of its deci-
sions? What are the troubles-be-
sides those of wages and wage cuts
the minds of both workers and ex-
ecutives before we can expect peace
on the railroads?
Unless too many adventures come
into the next week or two, farther
down the line, ! hope to get more
light shortly on these questions.