The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-08-24
Strike" Message Declares
Nation Must Guarantee
Right to Work.
URGES LEGISLATION
Would Put Teeth in Esch Cum
minis Law and Give Nation
Power to Regulate Coal.

Harding in an address to Congress to-
day on the industrial situation declar-
ed that the right Of employees and en-
ployers alike to conduct their business
must be recognized and he also de-
plored what he termed warfare on
the unions Of labor"
The president declared national in
vestigation for constructive recommen-
dations as to conduct of the coal in
dustry to be imperative and recon-
mended government commission to
advise as to fair wages and conditions.
Immediate legislation to establish
temporarily national coal agency"
with necessary capital to purchase, sell
and distribute coal also was urged by
the executive.
Would Amend Rail Laws.
Stating that the Esch-C ummins act
in establishing the railroad labor board
was inadequate, being with little or
no power to enforce it's decisitn, the
president recommended action to make
the boards decision enforceable and
effective against carriers and en-
ployes alike"
Other legislative recommendations
were for "better protection of aliens
and enforcement of their treaty rights"
measure to give federal courts juris-
diction in protecting aliens.
In discussing the coal situation, the
president referred to what he termed
the shocking crime at Herrin, ILL.,,
which SO recently shamed and horri-
fed the country" and added the incl
dent was "butchery of human beings
wrought in madness.
Other than the amendment to the
Esch-Cummins law to make the rail-
road labor boards decisions enforce
able the president did not recommend
any legislation to deal Immediately
with the railroad strike.
Will Use All Nations Powers.
President Harding today told Con-
gress and the nation that he was re-
solved ito use all the power of the
government to maintain transportation
and sustain the right of men to work"
In asking for coal legislation the
president said that the administration
had sought earnestly "to restrain
proiteering and to secure the rightful
distribution" of coal but was without
legal power to control prices.
Rights oil All to Be Safeguarded.
The President declared with emphas-
is that the right of employers and
employees alike to establish their meth
DDS of conducting business, to choose
their employment and to determine
their relations with each other must
be recognized.
Government "by law must and will
be sustained. the President said, no
matter what clouds may gather, no
matter what storms may ensue, no
matter what hardships may attend or
what sacrifice may be necessary"
Stating that sympathetic railroad
strikes had developed and impaired in
terstate commerce, seriously, the Presi-
dent said that trains deserted in the
western desert had revealed the cruel
ty and contempt for law on the part
of some railway employees, who have
conspired to paralyze transportation.
Declares Right to Work.
Asserting that the striking unions
in some instances had not held their
forces to law observance, Mr.. Harding
said "there is a. State of lawlessness
shocking to every conception of Amer
lean law and order" and announced his
intention to invoke laws, civil and com
mercial forbidding conspiracies hind
ering Interstate commerce and requir-
ing safety in railway service.
In declaring positively for the right
of men to work the President said
that in both the coal and railroad
strikes this right had been denied by
assault and Violence" and in some
cases winked at by local authorities.
He added:
at is fair to say that the great mass
of organized workmen do not approve,
but they seem helpless to hinder. These
conditions cannot remain in free
America.
Surely the threatening conditions
must impress the Congress and the
country" the President went on, chat
no body of men whether limited in
number and responsible for railway
management or powerful in numbers
and necessary forces in railroad opera
ton shall be permitted to choose a
course which so imperils public well
fare" eriE>l
Washington, D. C. The text OF
President Harding's address to Con
gress on the industrial situation was
in part as follows:
Gentleman of the Congress:
"It is manifestly my duty to bring
to your attention the industrial situa.
tion which confronts the country. The
situation growing out of the prevail.
ing railway and coal mining strikes
is so serious, so menacing to the ma.
TONS welfare, that ! should be remiss
if l. failed frankly to lay the matter
before you and at the same time &C
quaint you and the whole people with
such efforts as the executive branch
of the government has made by the
voluntary exercise of its good offices
to effect settlement.
"The suspension of the coal indus
try dates back to last April /, when tn,
working agreement between mine op
orators and the United Mine Workers
came to an end.
Operators Declined Conference.
GA short time prior to the expira