The New York herald., 1922-07-31
No Sacrifice of the Railroad Men
Now on the Job.

When the railroad executives meet
in this city tomorrow to discuss
possible terms of settlement for the
shop crafts strike they will be free,
it would seem, to do various things
Il they so choose to do. Perhaps
they would be wise to do some Of
them. Perhaps they would be wise
to do none of them. 1t is for them
to decide such questions in sound
Judgment and clear conscience.
The railroads might agree among
themselves, for example. that strik-
ers could return to work under the
new wage scale and working condi-
tions announced by the United States
Railroad Labor Board to go into eff
feet on July 1, but that there would
be no objection to a rehearing Of
the matter by the board.
The executives might agree that
they themselves, upon the return of
the men to work, would take up the
matter of changes in the wage scale
as decided by the board and modifica-
tion of the general shop rules as
laid down by the board. They might
decide to drop all possible damage
suits against the unions, to set up
local adjustment boards, to do no
outside contract work, to restore for
feited pension privileges-many Of
these things the executives will be
free to do Of their own accord and
few impartial minds would question
their actions.
But there is one thing the Ameri-
can public never could be convinced
the railroad executives have the
right or the freedom to do. This is
te throw out either the old men that
did not desert their posts when or
dered to walk out by the strike lead
ers or the new men that came to
take the places Of the strikers. The
railroad executives are not free to
make this sacrifice of their men, old
or new, now on the job. They are
bound morally, bound in a degree
that should be of even stronger
finding force than a legal contract,
not to throw out these men. They
are bound by their most solemn
pledges repeatedly made in official
notices to the men and IN public
statements spread before the eyes of
all the American people.
The railroad executives are bound
by the declarations and promises Of
the United States Railroad Labor
Board not to throw out these men.
They are bound. in truth, by the word
and the faith of the United States
Government itself.
Furthermore, the railroad execu-
tives are as solemnly pledged and are
as strongly bound not to take away
from a new man or an old man now
on the job a single one of the senior
ity rights, privileges and benefits he
has acquired during the strike-has
acquired under the ruling of the
United States Railroad Labor Board
declared the day B. M. JEWELS de-
luded followers walked out; ac-
quired under the promises and
pledges of the railroads, acquired
under the rules, customs and prac-
tices Of the railroad seniority sys-
tenn itself, as carried out through
the years.
II the strikers that come back on
q settlement agreement must be taken
care of they must be taken care of
in some other way than by the sacri-
fee of the faithful, competent, loyal
worker and citizen now on the job,
unless the railroad executives wish to
destroy the confidence of the Ameri-
can public in their sense of funda-
mental right and in their jealous
guardianship Of their own honor.
Neither the railroad executives nor
the United States Railroad Labor
Board can have any standing with
honest Americanism, rigid in its own
conscience and uncompromising in
its demand for justice to everybody.
II the old man or the new man now
on the job is made the victim Of a
strike settlement with the Interna-
tional Association of Machinists. the
Blacksmiths Union, the Boilermak-
ers Union, the Brotherhood of Rail-
way Carmen, the Sheet Metal Work
ers, the international Brotherhood Of
Electrical Workers and the Brother
hood of Stationary Firemen and OIL
ers in the striking shop crafts organ
izations.
The men who have stood by the
United States Railroad Labor Board
stood by the railroads, stood by the
American public must not be thrown
to the wolves.