Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-04

RAIL BOARD ON
OUTLAW ORDER
Says 1t Is Attempt to
Disband Unions at Its
Own Discretion.
Too Fatuous, He De-
clares, to oBePermanent
u. S. Policy.

Washington. July 3.-The ruling of
the United States labor board out
lawing'' the railroad unions now on
strike, was denounced by Samuel Com
pers, president of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor. in statement issued
Monday. as utterly bolshevik in char
acter' and an attempt by the board ITO
disband unions at will" The ruling
Mr.. Gompers added, was palpably s'too
ridiculous and fatuous to be accepted
as permanent American government
policy"
THE action of the board Mr. Com
pers' statement continued. lis exactly
a replica of the action OF the com
munists in turning the unions into gov
ernment controlled agencies for the
carrying out of the orders of the state.
Freedom of expression vanishes under
the order Of the board.
But | say now that the workers Of
America. either on the railroads or
elsewhere. do not intend to sacrifice
freedom Of expression and of action
The board undertakes to say that
must cease to exist-they are out
lawed.'
Logical Outcome. Says
Whether this is for the moment an
assumption of authority on the part
of the board is immaterial 1t is the
logical outcome of the very establish
ment of such boards. 1t is an inevita-
BILE consequence of an initial action
that was wrong in principle and that
has proven impossible in action.
The railroad labor board, rs An in
stitution functioning in the twentieth
century. is second in incongruity only
to the so-called open shop movement.
''The law gives the workers. or the
railroads. the right to decline to accept
the boards rulings. The workers. of
necessity. declined. and by vote of the
withdrew their services.
They declined to work for the terms
ordered by the board. The board now
declares them 'outlawed' This is au-
tocracy with vengeance 1t seems to
put the whole force of government
back of the movement. to kill the spirit
and the fact of collective bargaining,
Of joint negotiation and agreement by
the voluntary coming together of work
nrs and employers 1t is the ca1am-
tous outgrowth of mistaken idea.
Unions cannot be made and re-
made at government dictation. This is
neither the Russia of the Black auto
,rat nor of the Red autocrat This is
where the principle of vol
intary action. of conference and agree
nent. of freedom of expression and
If lawful action is rooted in our soul
md grown into our institutions.
Cites Former Case
"The unions exist for humanity for
he workers and they cannot and will
lot be destroyed Mt the whim or fancy |
If band of dictators
81 ask whether the board ordered |
he directorate of the Pennsylvania |!
ailroad dissolved and new, amenable |
'oard created when that railroad refus
d to obey the orders of the board. |
IF course. it did not nor will it in any |
uch case. The railroad labor board
5 seeking to perpetuate what it be-
ieves to be the existing dominant eco
ionic condition. But the board is
mistaken in it's analysis of modern
rends and fundamentals. 1t would
ave been equally as fitting and equally
S ridiculous for the board to order
he dissolution of railroad directorates
there such directorates refuse to obey
he orders of the board.
'If anything could have been cal
ulated to inspire the workers with
to win a victory for
emocratic methods and for justice in
heir employment. this action of the
oard will have that result, unneces-
ary though 1t may be-" |,