The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1922-08-31

| Since the leaders Of the railway shop
lcrafts ordered the members of their or
iganization 10 strike July against de-
cisions of the United States Railroad
Labor Board. constant efforts have been
made 20 find a basis for "a just settle
Imcnt. ! believe you are familiar with
Those negotiations and the unsuccessful
efforts 10 bring about settlement
which have been made 10y the Labor
Board and individual members of the
board bv member, of the President :
cabinet. by representatives Of various
Organizations and by the President him
/ self.
! The final conference in New York.
I August -, further demonstrated thai
the differences which exist are Of such
a fundamental nature that they cannot
he composed We of the Illinois Cen
| trail System believe there is nothing TO
be gained by further negotia tons on a
question which admits of no cOmprom-
Use Moreover, we believe the situation
has been unfavorably affected by re
ports frequently sent ont by leaders of
the shopcrafts that a nationwide set
tlement was about TO be effected, and
that il can serve no good purpose TO
continue to hold out these false hopes.
While we are deeply interested in the
general situation, we believe that we
can accomplish great deal more for
that part of the public served by us,
for our employees and for ourselves If
we concentrate our future efforts large |
ly upon the conditions on our own rail |
way system.
No one regrets more than we the I'M |
fortunate situation of our former en- |
faIn rl,N
orders from the leaders of their crafts. |
On June IA, when the strike vote was |
being taken. we addressed letter to
all Illinois Central System shopmen in
which we appealed to their better judg-
ment and counseled them not to vote
in favor of placing in the hands of their
leaders the power to call strike. We |
were of the opinion then that if they
placed such a power in the hands of
their leaders il would be unwisely eX
ercised and a strike would be called,
resulting in untold suffering and hard
ships to the strikers. We had the in
terests of our shopmen at heart and
did not want to face the situation of
having to fill their places. We appre
ciat ted that in any emergency which
might arise the public welfare demand
ed that our trains be kept running.
On July 10, ten days after the strike
had been called and some of our shop
men had complied with the orders of
their leaders TO desert their posts, we II
again addressed them. The public had
to be served with transportation and, if
our shopmen who left our service were
not going to return to their positions, L
new men had TO be employed to fill the
We did not want to employ L
new men until we were absolutely sure
that those who went out would not re-
turn. It therefore became necessary
for MS to fix a time within which those
who left their positions could return
without loss of pension, seniority and
other rights. We waited ten days for
our former employees TO make up their
minds, hoping all the time that they
would return, and after having waited
that long we gave them another whole
week within which they could return
without loss of any of their rights.
Holding, as we do, that service TO the
public is our first and highest duty, |
we could no longer continue a waiting I
policy and thus run the risk of not be-
ing able adequately TO take care of
those depending upon this railway sys-