New Britain herald., 1922-08-26

first two groups to which such strong
 arm methods will be applied are the railroads and coal mines. First, let me say that the railroads and the
 mine operators are themselves largely
 to blame for present troubles. AL
 though the owners of these properties are now behaving themselves. they
 have not always done so, Most of the unwise methods that labor leaders are using today were applied by the
 railroads and mine operators of 20 years ago. Hence these corporations now are only reaping what they have
 sown. Nevertheless. two wrongs do not make right. Our nation must have transportation and fuel at q fair rate and the operation of its railroad and coal properties must be undis- turbed by either labor leaders or stock market operators.
 Regarding the railroad stuation to secure a fair rate the interstate com merce commission has been organized and to secure undisturbed transporta- ton the Railroad Labor board has been created. The first of these that is. the Interstate Commerce commissioners functioning very well, and the struggle Is now over the Railroad Labor board"
 At this point MT. Babson was told of a strong feeling on the part of both the railroad arrangements and the employees that the Railroad board was not properly made up. Concerning this MT. Babson said:
 About The R. R. Board
 Experience has shown that boards consisting of three groups Gone group representing capital, one group repre- senting labor, and one group repre- senting the public) do not function well. The group representing capital vote in one body for the corporations; the group representing labor vote in one body for the wage workers; this leaves the decision to the three men who represent the public. The prob lens involved are too great to permit leaving the decision to three men chosen more or less for political req sons. To have the Railroad Labor board or any other such board proper ly function, five, seven or nine men should be selected who represent neither the corporations nor the wage workers, but who represent the na- tion. These men should be paid large salaries, given dignif1ed positions, ap- pointed either for life or for long terms, and treated like the supreme court of the United States. These men should gradually build up code based upon their rulings, seeking the advantage of no one group, but rath- CT the welfare of the nation as whole, which in the end would be for the best interests of both the owners and the wage workers. The decisions of this board as applying to transpor- tation, public utilities and similar should be absolute and final
 Railroad owners are now willing to accept compulsory arbitration, but the labor leaders are not. Some claim the labor leaders are afraid of losing their jobs,t but I do not be- lieve this to be the reason. They ap- pear to be honest in their belief that enforcing men to work for profit is only form of slavery. Forcing a man to work in a steel plant which is operated for profit may be form of slavery. If compulsory arbitration applied to all industry, we certainly would be reverting to slavery.
 When, however. it is applied only to transportation, public utilities, coal mining and one or two other indus tries, thus leaving the great field open, arbitration cannot be call ed slavery l say this because under such conditions any man who did not | wish to work for the railroads, the 1 public utilities or the coal operators | would be free to go into competitive | to which compulsory arbitra- ion would not apply. The labor lead ITS state they are willing to accept arbitration-as best ex- mplified by the Kansas Industrial the railroads, public utilities, coal mines, etc, are operated ,y the government. not for profit. They illustrate their case by stating hat this is the reason they are will ng to be drafted for the army, be- ause the army is operated by the Government, and not by individuals or profit, and that this is why being