The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1922-08-18
Rey~n FRONT O kfootId


At the present time with pros
poets for as heavy crops as we havs
ever had there is now the poorest
prospect we have ever had for
freight transportation. The rail-
road strike may be broken at any
time, the men may go back to work,
but the prospects are that the re-
pairing of railroad equipment and
keeping it in working order will
depend on their finding new men to
put on the task
At this time the trains are run
ming on schedule, but at a sacrifice
that the public does not very well
understand. The auditors and man
ayers and clerks leave their own
work and are doing work on the
yard and in the shops to keep the
trains running, but this cannot last
very long. When the heavy ship
ments Of grain and potatoes begin
next month and in September these
men will be needed at their desks
and large numbers of men will be
needed to do the yard work, the car
work and the shop work.
The present railroad strike is diff
ferent from most Of the strikes we
have been accustomed to. In most
cases the men were asking for high
er wages because they were not
getting enough or they were askine
to have existing wage scales main
tanned. In this case the strikers are
asking that the reduced prices Of
things shall be borne by other peo-
pie but not themselves. They are
unwilling to share in the great re
duction Of prices and they are I'M
willing to leave their work and LEI
anybody else step in and fill the
places. President Harding has is
sued a proclamation on the matter
in which he says that 1t is the priv
ilege of every railroad employee Il
leave his job, but it is not his priv
ilege to prevent anybody else fro
stepping into it. II is the right OF
the employee to decline to work at
the wages offered, It is the right |
of every other man who Is willing |
to accept such wages to step in and
do the work without being molested. |
The present strike Is not = strike
against the railroad company, bat
against the government and the
people Of the United States.
A very large percentage of the
men who are going on strike on this
occasion, are people Of foreign birth
who took advantage of this condi-
ton growing out Of the war so that
while our men were leaving to go
overseas to fight the battles in those
old countries where these people
came from and to save civilization
which the old countries were wreck
Ing. Many Jobs were made vacant
BY enlistment and the heavy traffic
IN the railroads made 1t necessary
Tor railroad companies to find men
and put them to work almost disre-
yarding their fitness for the posi-
ions. In this emergency lasting
;wo or three years large numbers of
foreigners got into the railroad jobs
md promptly organized and tied up
he railroad companies in labor con-
racts binding them to what they
all seniority rules making it imros-
ible for the railroad companies to
discharge men without the consent
# the union and even the ex-serviee
men on returning from the battle
ields Of Europe, expecting to take
Ip their old jobs, could not get In ,
because they were barred by these
lew rules, and even tho they are {
nuch more efficient and capable ,
Ian the men now holding the Jobs, I
he foreigners hold forth and our