The Washington times., 1922-08-08

~ they yielded to
~ a the wishes of
the Preside mt
WILLIAM HARD. against their
own preferences
and judgments and convictions. They
say that now In the matter of seni.
ority rights they absolutely are going
to see the pig before they put their
money down for Il.
Conversations with them lead to
the feeling that they are bitterly In
earnest. They are In earnest. not
only on behalf Of their own unions.
but also on behalf Of unions not yet
on strike. From the heads of such
unions in this matter of seniority
they have received messages saying:
do not yield one inch"
Advisers Of the President. a.
stated In yesterdays dispatch from
this service. are In many cases In.
clincd to regard the seniority ques.
ton as an empty one. The unions
on strike regard IL az highly I'm
portant, and certain unions not yet
other unions--such as the locomo.
sons for fearing that they will get
drawn In .. this strike.
One is Pc reluctance Of their
men to operate defective railroad
equipment. The other 10 the sus-
picion which now Ia growing among
their men to the plain effect that
the Railroad Labor Board intends
TO demolish the. system Of seniority
rights. n
All sixteen, standard railroad
unions are now ranying to the de.
fense of seniority rights. They are
saying to the striking unions:
I'VE realize now that you are
fighting our battle. Stick, a9d we
will help you"
The question Of seniority 10 weld.
ing all the railroad unions together
and Is producing the greatest posi-.
BILE existing danger Of q completely
general railroad strike.
The striking shopmen now have
the argument which 10 best able and
most likely to bring the great su.
premely powerful railroad brother
hoods" to their assistance. Those
"brotherhoods" contain the men who
work on trains. For the men who
work In shops the seniority question
10 one which principally affects the
following problem:
which men In a given shop shall
be laid off first when work Is slack."
In shops the seniority question IL
vital only in slack time. For the men
who work on trains IL is vital at all
times.
A locomotive engineer gets q good
run or a bad run In accordance with
his seniority. BY seniority he works
along up from a locomotive pulling
a slow freight train for perhaps six.
teen hours without rest to q locomo-
tive pulling q fast passenger train
for perhaps only four hours from
start to finish.
The locomotive engineer now imag.
ines what would happen TO him and
to his organization IL he could never
strike without losing his seniority
rights. He imagines what would hap
pom 70 him II he could never strike
without getting put BACK from the
locomotive which he has gained by
years of SERVICE to the locomotive
which he operated when he was in
his first youth.
Therefore the locomotive engi.
neers want no chances taken on
tfis seniority business. Therefore
all the railroad "brotherhoods" are
aroused about L.. Their members
all are affected by the influence Of
seniority on good runs" and bad
runs" They want the seniority
idea preserved and they want II
preserved for sure. And they Join
the striking unions In having abso.
Iuteiy no moral confidence IN the
majority of the Railroad Labor
Board AZ at present constituted.
The Railroad Labor Board has
three members representing the
railroads. The union leaders con.
c.de those three votes TO the rail.
road side of the seniority arsu.
ment.
Then there are thrs represents.
lives of the public. One of those
three representatives Bar.
ton--the union leaders invariably
describe las "the fourth railroad
representative" His associations
and his inclinations are regarded ~
roing together toward an absolute
acceptance of railroad friendships
and railroad ideas. He and the
three regular railroad representa-
tives on the board are counted by
the union leaders az four votes for
the railroads against seniority. Five
votes.would be q majority and the
union leaders know that the fifth
vote necessary In always ready.
The fifth vote is McMenimen.
McMenimen 10 the man. already
mentioned In the washington dis
matches from this service az the
principal reason why the unions dis
trust the personnel Of the Rsilrosd
labor Board.
The uaisns we're granted three