Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1922-09-27

7 a.
OF & Ass ciated Railway cutives"'
and ASSOCIATED Coal Operators" rep
iresenting still smaller body Of great
bankers, control this vast power, and
either government must takesover the
ownership Of this great power or that
power; can govern the country. ss.
When: as Henry Ford has shown,
the coal mine owners are concealing
their boarding. coal to force 800 per
cent profit t, the whole nation must act
IN self-defense. It is more than
just protection Of miners or any theory
OF, government. It is whether :peo-
pie shall freeze or factories stop at
the bidding Of prodteers.
Trainnen Should Have Struck
& In this strike Of 1922, il the five bro
therhoods the locomotive engineers,
etc:---had joined in the strike, not a
wheel would have turned on a rail,
road between the two great oceans.
Many cities would have been out of
food in a few days. Business of all
kinds would have been at a standstill.
The: railroad unions were masters, if
the brotherhoods had struck, as they
may choose to do in another strike.
+ The right to strike against the pri-
,vate owners Of railroads is sacred.
Men cannot be forced to work unless
we repeal the Thirteenth Amendment
and maintain standing army Of mil
lions to enforce peonage. Laborers
have right to strike and the peace
fully picket. They cannot resort to
violence against person or property.
Hence the strenuous effort of union
leaders to prevent all violence and of
some corporation agents to provoke
|;strikerss to acts of violence.
|: VIII Bring Public Ownership
/ 1t seems clear, therefore, that as
to the ultimate effect of the strike
there can be but one result, and that
is GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP of
all railroads, telegraphs, telephones,
coal mines, waterpowers, and all other
public utilities. Aside, from the merits
of the controversy, it is impossible
that the great public and the business
Interests of the country can abide the
uncertainties which will attend a re-
newal of such strikes. In all other coun
tries most, il not all, public utilities
have passed into public ownership,
and the same must occur here; and
this, being so, the sooner it is done the
better.
England, the last country to do this,
has owned the telephones since 1870,
and took over the railroads in 1914
I'and has practically owned them ever
!; since. -
| When this country made ready to
enter the worlds war it was apparent
ITO all men that the transportation
Psystem Of this. country under private
ownership could not possibly function
efficiently. 1t was clear that the Pc
cuniary demands of "the executives"
of the various systems, the oppor-
tunities for prodteering and the GER
tainty of strikes by employees in pro-
test against Encouragement would
| cause an inevitable and total collapse
Of the whole system Of private own
ership.
+ Owners Launch Propaganda
| To meet this, the government was
forced to take immediate control of
the railroad system of the entire
country. Unfortunately, it. was tenn
porary only. The former railroad ex-
ecutives organized a Union-wide prop
uganda to decry, the success of govern
ment operation. This was for the
Ftwo-fold purpose of securing the re-
turn Of the railroads to private own
ership and immense profits which were
obtained after the war based upon al
legations of the inefficiency of govern
ment operation. The same reasons,
however, which required government
ownership to obtain the proper func-
Etioning of our transportation system
during the war required its continu-
ance for proper and efficient operation
after its close.
AT the close of the war every engine
was put in force by the financial in
terests to educate the public into a
widespread belief that government
operation of the. railroad system of