Evening star., 1922-07-25
COMPANY UNION
IDEA DANGEROUS
"Attack" on Rights of Labor
Expected to Inflame Men
Still Working.
COURT UPHELD W0RKMEN
Decides Right Of Labor to Be Rep
resented by Delegates Of
Own Choosing.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


dent of the Delaware and Hudson.
and other leaders of the railroad
executive group. that company
unions' would be formed as the basis
hereafter of relations between rail-
roads and their employees was re-
garded in official quarters here as a
most unfortunate utterance at this
time.
Such statements. it was pointed out
by government officials. attacking
rights of labor which are not direct
ly involved in the pending dispute,
can serve only to inflame other union
men who are not now on strike, par
ticularly the brotherhoods of train
men and engineers, and will not con-
tribute to early industrial peace.
Mr.. Loree's announcement, it was
assumed by officials as well as by
spok esmen of the American Fedora
tion of Labor, who criticised the step.
was evidently made before the full
text of the decision of the United
States circuit court of appeals OF the
northern Illinois district was recelv-
studied. That decision deals a death
blow to the effort of the Pennsyl-
vania railroad to establish com
pany union" and it was largely on
the precedent of what the Pennsyl-
vania railroad had attempted that
MI Loree's declaration on behalf of
eastern railroad executives was built.
Labor Board to Decide
The truth is the federal courts have
upheld the right Of workmen to De
represented by men of their own
choosing and without coercion or re-
strtction on the part of their employ
ers. An election which the Pennsyi-
yania attempted to hold to choose
representatives for the wofkmen was
declared void by the United states
Labor Board and the courts now nave
upheld the right of the labor board
to decide who is the legitimate req
resentative of the employees: >.
Unfortunately the labor board IT
self has injected a complication in at
tempting to protect strikebreakers III
the present railroad crisis. Inc poaru
declared that if the men now at woLh
formed new unions they would De
recnenized This, of course. does not
mean that strikers who eventually re-
turn to work would be deprived OF the
riebt TO be represented by the Ameii-
can Federation of Labor or any otneI
organization of their own making
rather than the companys, tnougn' 10
he sure, such an Interpretation OF the
Ia bor boards invitation to form new
Unions was widely distributed before
being denied.
President Outlines Rights.
President Harding himself is on
record in direct contradiction Of what
Mr. Loree has announced. namely the
formation of unions by company di-
rection. The President in his December
address to Congress stated the case as
follows:
"The right of labor to organize Is
lust as fundamental and necessary as
is the right of capital to organize.
The right of labor to negotiate, to
deal with and solve its particular
problems in an organized way,
through it's chosen agents. is Just as
essential as is the right of capital TO
organize, to maintain corporations. to
limit the liabilities of STOCKHOLDERS
With this principle the officials most
concerned in the handling of the
strike situations are in entire agree
men. and that's why anything which
attempts to take away a fundamental
right of labor is frowned upon as
mistaken tactics. Indeed. the con-
tent ton of many union leaders in pri-
vate is that the supposed issues of
wages and working conditions would
present very little difficulty o. set
tlement If it were not for the fact
that basically the present industrial
crisis is being prolonged in an effort
to break up the influence and power
of the unions, a circumstance which
has been back in the minds of the
railroad executives even since the
roads were turned over to their own
ers by the government
1t has been at the bottom of the
trouble not only in the rail but the
coal strike. In fact. in the coal sit
uatfon the operators have insisted
that they would beat the unions If
the government would furnish pro-
lection to strikebreakers. This pro-
lection by federal and state troops
is being furnished. while a test is
being made of the soundness of the
operators contention. For if coal
production doesn't increase soon. the
aid of union men will have to be in
voked through some device either