New-York tribune., 1922-07-26
All Losers

Should the shopmen win the strike,
railroad managers say that the pub
lie, in high living costs, will pay the.
bill. The shopmen retort that the
railroads, should they win. will col
lect their expense bill from the pub
lie.
Both statements have truth in
them, but neither is the whole truth. |
Both the railroads and the unions
viii, of course, try to sweat the pub
2: lie; But neither will entirely sue
ceed in evading it's own contribution.
Labor, particularly, will not be
able to. Labor time, which a wage
worker sells, is ephemeral. A wage
worker. seldom retrieves pay he did
not get. So, though the public will
lose, the shopmen also will lose,
The railroad owners, from the ma |
ture of things, confront, to some de-
gree, a different condition. From
little it is obvious little can be taken.
By processes extending over many
years the value Of American rail
roads to their owners has been
greatly diminished some cases
destroyed. AS a confscation field
the railroads, except as to a few
pockets Of pay dirt, are now worked
out placer sands.
Railroad net income has become
extremely small. The margin above
expenditure is so microscopic that a
slight decrease means a deficit. In
deed, with due allowances for de-
probation, requirements and inn
provements, there is probably no net
income now. Property which gives
no return tends to become unsal-
able and worthless.
The value railroad stock still has
represents not so much present earn
ing power as capitalization of hope.
Railroad owners believe they will
he more fairly treated-some time.
But establish the principles that the
government has the power and the
will to reduce rates indefinitely and
that labor organizations have the
power and the will to boost wages
to what their members think they
deserve, and shares of railroad stock
will go the way of the German mark
and the Russian ruble.
-'+ The success of the shopmen, plus
the demands that will immediately
fofaow from other railway workers.
means subtraction from the re-
fnaInders of railroad values. Rail-
road owners Will endeavor to pass on
the whole of the load, but they can't
Thus we have a strike on our hands
which implies loss to every one
70 the public. to the shopmen and to
railroad owners.
But there is a phase of the strike
matter even more important than
the incidence of immediate loss
Suppose the existing railroad own
ers use their securities for wall pa-
per and the railroad EMPLOYEES,
without labor boards to bother them
hx. their compensation as they please
what then?
In such glorious proftIess davs
the railroads must pay their inflated
current expenses out of high rates
or the public must be taxed to bal
ance railway budgets. Russia's les
son is instructive. The capacity of
Russian railroads to move freight
and passengers is now about 10 ner
cent Of what it was four wears ago.
If such were the consequences in a
country where IS per cent of the
population are farmers and can live
without mechanical transportation.
we can surmise the results in a coun-
try more than half of whose popula,
ton live in cities and towns.
President Harding, in upholding
the decision of the Labor Board. is
struggling 10 do more than appears
On the surface. He has his fingers
on the throat of great evil. If it
is not ehoked how can we escape
rapid and ruinous descent to stand
ards OF living permanently lower?
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