The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-12-09

t4uS~Nii usc' II ChHupt sCpeiCede
the railway lines, no matter how
generously we afford It highways out
Of the public treasury. II freight
traffic by motor were charged with
its proper and proportionate share
OF highway construction, we should
find much of 1t wastcful and more
costly than like services by rail Yet
we have paralleled the railways and
thereby taken away from the agency
OF excepted service, much Of its prof
table traffic. while the taxpayers
have been providing the highways,
whose cost of maintenance is not
yet realized.
The federal government has
right to inquire into the wisdom OF
this policy, because the national
treasury is contributing largely to
this highway construction Costly
highways ought to be made 10 serve
as feeders rather than competitors
OF the railroads. and the motor truck
should become coordinate factor
IN our great distributing system.
This transportation problem can
not be waived aside. The demand
for lowered costs on farm products
and basic materials cannot be ig-
nored, Rates horizontally increased
to meet increased wage outlays dur
ing the war initiation, are not cas-
lily reduced. When some very mod
crate wage reductions were effected
last summer there was a per cent
horizontal reduction in rates.
Railways are not to be expected
to render the most essential service
In our social organization without
a fair return on capital invested,
but the government has gone so far
in the regulation OF rates and rules
OF operation that 1t has the respon-
sibility of pointing the way to the
reduced freight costs so essential to
our national welfare.
Government operation does not
afford the cure. 1t was government
operation which brought us to the
very order of things against which
we now rebel and we are still liqui-
dating the costs of that supreme
folly.
New economics. new efficiencies
In cooperation must be found. The
fact that labor takes SO to 60 per
cent of total railway earnings
makes limitations within which to
effect economies very difficult, but
the demand is no less insistent on
that account.
Clearly the managers are With
out that intercarrier cooperative
relationship so highly essential to
tho best and most economical opera
tion. The relationship Of the serv-
ice to public welfare demands the
effective correlation and con-
scientious drive to meet an lnsistent
and justified public demand.
The merger OF lines into sys-
TENS. a facilitated interchange OF
freight cars, the economic use of
terminals and the consolidation of
facilities are suggested ways of
economy and efficiency"
President Harding also recon-
mended the pooling Of freight cars
| and the establishment of an agency
| to finance railroads in buying equip
ment.
In previous address to the con-
gress." he continued, 81 called to
| your attention tho insufficiency OF
| power to enforce the decisions OF
| the railroad labor board. The car
| riers have ignored its decisions, on
| the one hand, workmen have chal.
! lenged it's decisions by strike, on
| the other hand.
The intent of congress to estab.
! lish a tribunal to which railway
| labor and managers may appeal re.
| spectinE questions of wages and
! working conditions cannot be toe
| strongly commended. 1t is vitality
| important that some such agency
should be a guaranty against sus.
! pended operation. The public must
! be spared even the threat of dis.
! continued service.
Sponsoring the railroads ns we
/ do, it is an obligation that labor
! shall be assured the highest justice
| and every proper consideration OF
| wage and working conditions. but II
! Ia equally obligatory to see that nc
| concentrated action in forcing de-
| mands shall deprive the public OF
| the transportation act essential tC
| its very existence. 1t is now i'm
| possible to safeguard public interest
! because the DEGREES OF the board are
| unenforcable against either EN-.
! ployer or employe.
THE labor board itself is not sc
/ constituted as 10 the best service ot
/ the public. With six partisan mem.
/ bers on a board of nine, three par.
tisans nominated by the employe
and three by three railway manag-
ers, it is inevitable that tho partisan
viewpoint is maintained throughout
hearings and in decisions handed
down. only the public group Of
three Is free TO function in unbiased
decisions. Therefore, the partisan
! membership may well be abolished
and decisions should be made by ar
impartial tribunal.
II am well convinced that thu
functions OF this tribunal could bt
much better carried on here IL
| Washington. Even would 1t b,
| continued as a separate tribunal
there ought to be contact with th'
interstate commerce commission
which has supreme authority in tht
rate making to which wage cos
bears an indisscluble relationship
theoretically, fair and living wag
must be determined quite apar
from the employers earning capaCit,
but in practice in the railway serv
Ice they are inseparable. The rec
ord Of advance rates to meet in
creased wages, both determined b,
the government, is proof enough.
The substitution OF labor iivi
sion in the interstate commercr
commission, made up from it's mem
bership. to hear and decide dispute
relating 10 wages and working con
, ditions which have failed TO adjust
ment by proper committees create,
by the railways and their employees
offers a more effective plan.
III need not be surprising tina