Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-10-20
BY CLINT { HOUSTON.

Chicago. Oct. i9.-Approximately
10000 railroad Shopmen have re
turned 70 work at this writing On
more than 100 systems under the
plan Of settlement adopted a. Ball-
more and later approved by the gen
eTal policy committee Of the Railway
Employees Department. American
Federation Of Labor. Negotiations
continue On other lines. and confidence
Is expressed at national strike head
quarters here that all bat few Of
the hardest boiled" reads Wiii soon
accept the agreement As the only al
tentative whereby their old and ELI
CENT workers can be brought back
to the shops.
Court injunctions, intimidation BY
private armed guards and state
attempted bribery, coercion,
"outlawrys by the Railroad Labor
Board and douhle-eroSSing by the
President Of the United States have
failed to break the morale or deter
of these 100000 organized
railroad workers in waging a fight for
human rights in a lawful and consti-
tutional manner. When the history of
this gigantic struggle is fully written
II will form one of the most ilnminat-
ing chapters in the American labor
movement, a struggle from the day
the government returned the roads TO
private management TO the present
moment, in which the employees have
been forced TO contend not alone with
the more than 200 class one railroad
arrangements, but with the Railroad
Labor Board, a tribunal created by
Congress that for over two years has
sought to limit and circumseribe the
activities Of the organized railroad
employees.
While the conference was on in
Baltimore between President Jewell,
members of the executive council
Railway Employees Department and
several railway executives who had
become dissatisfied with the arrogant
attitude of other arrangements, At
torney General Daugherty came Sc
cretly to Chicago and filed suit in the
United States District Court in the
name of the United States of Amer
lea against the officers and organiza-
tons of the shopmen. This was the
last desperate drive TO prevent a set
tlement which would recognize the
rights of the workers and to aid the
autocrats of the railroad industry in
forcing the men to return TO work
upon terms dictated solely by the
managers.
This action is not surprising in the
light of President Harding's change
of front over night from a proposal
made by him and accepted by the
eh NJ tot a
insure an honorable settlement to one
that demanded complete surrender of
the strikers TO the railroad executives.
Since this time the men have regarded
the strike as a lockout, and such it is.
Daugherty's drastic injunction has
not even made a dent in the strike.
1t has only served to make the shop
men more determined than ever to
win a complete victory. lnjunctions
will not repair cars and locomotives,
nor will the throwing of hundreds of
strikers into prison help the railroads.
1t requires skilled mechanics to per-
form this service, and it so happens
that they are members of the railroad
labor organizations.
After securing the country for
three and half months the manage
ments have failed to find competent
men willing to act as strikebreakers
in sufficient numbers to relieve the
disservieeable equipment. Strikers
have been offered brides ranging
from 500 to 5000 and pay "far ex-
ceeding that fixed by the Railroad
Labor Board as Just and reason
able'," but TO no avail. As a result
6 h. IU hat 20
compelled to place embargoes on ship
ments. In Illinois only about go per
cent of the coal mined is being trans
ported to market on account of car
and motive power being deficient.
This is creating fuel crisis as winter
approaches.
Should the Interstate Commerce
Commission enforce the federal safe
ty appliance laws ON the railroads
more than so per cent of the present
equipment of many roads would be
junked. And the condition of equip
ment on these roads is growing worse
from day TO day. What few me-
chanics they have among the strike
breakers are devoting their time to
minor repairs to keep trains moving,
and no classified repair work is being
done. This is piling up future trou-
bic in heaps for the railroads, as
everyone who knows anything about
the industry will readily admit.
With the approximately zoe, GOO
strikers returning to work during the
past two weeks under signed agree
ments, the financial strain will be
quickly relieved. Each man so re-
turning is pledged to contribute the
amount of two days pay each month
to the general strike fund for the re-
lief of those remaining locked out.
Under these conditions and with the
continued solidarity of the men, the
railroad executives, aided by the
courts and the national administra-
ton, could not break this strike in
one hundred years.
One beneficent effect Of the shop
mems strike is to bring about COM
plete discrediting of the Railroad La
Dor Board, which caused the suspen-
sion of work by decision reducing
wages 2 cents per hour below the low
level prevailing when the roads were
returned to private management on