The Connecticut labor news., 1922-08-25

The railway executives are chosen by the money investors in the rail roads as representatives of their in terest They represent the stock holders who have voting power and they represent the bondholders, to the extent that every debtor repre- sents the interest of his creditors But 1t is an error to assume that, be- cause the executives represent the money investors, they represent the "owners" of the transportation indus try. On the contrary, they represent merely the owners of certain proper ties which are used in the public serv- ice, and which, while necessary for carrying on this service, are of minor importance in comparison with the men who are even more indispensable to the operation of the industry9 It was President A. H. Smith of the New York Central Railroad who said to the Interstate Commerce Committee of the United States Sen
 ate on May 20, 1921:
 "Ninety-6ve per cent of this rail roading Is human. The other five per
 cent Is merely coal and steel, and it
 is not worth anything if you do not
 get good men with |"
 No one towns" the transportation
 industry A large part of the physi-
 cal properties used in furnishing
 transportation are held in private
 ownership. But that ownership does
 not authorize the exercise of com
 plete and unlimited private rights of
 property" because the service to
 which these properties are devoted is a public service and the right of any
 individual to control his property, when 1t Is devoted to a public service, is definitely limited by law
 Property Right Is Limited Definitely
 It is written in an opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States:
 @1The essential element of individual property is the legal. right to exclude others from enjoying it. If the prop erty IS private, the right of exclusion affected with the public interest the right of exclusion is qualified"
 Therefore, in defining the authority of the railway executives, 1t must be realized at the outset, first, that they of the money investors in the trans portation industry; and, second, that their power as representatives of the owners of the physical properties of the railroads Is a power limited in law by the requirement that those properties must be used in the public interest. It IS not the "owners' of the railroads, who speak through the executives These executives speak merely for a limited private interest in the physical properties which have been devoted voluntarily to the pub lie service. This private interest in railroad properties has been held re- peatedly by the highest courts to be subordinate to the dominating public interest in these instruments of pub lie service.
 Now in contrast to this minor and limited interest which the railway ex- ecutives represent, let consideration be given to the much larger interest in the transportation industry repre- sented by the officials of the organ ized employees. The money investors plus wealth to this industry The la l bor investors have contributed them l selves. They have invested in this industry their lives, their training and ! for earning a livelihood. 1 This is large and serious invest i ment and one entitled to far greater protection than any money invest ment. A man may lose all his money and yet be capable of supporting him self and his family. But the average skilled worker, who has given the best years of his life to one employ ment, must retain a position in his chosen industry, because the older he grows and the greater his family re- responsibilities, the more nearly i'm possible will it become for him to make an adequate living elsewhere The man skilled in making repairs to locomotives, just as the engineer skilled in driving locomotives, has in l very real sense invested his life in he transportation industry. After 10 le will be able to make himself as 1seful or to make his services as in any other line of work. Rewards for Service Must Be Attrac-
 tive.
 If the transportation industry Is to ttract workers of the caliber neces ary for it's efficient operation, it must offer these workers encourage ng rewards of service. One of the most effective rewards of service IS n assurance of permanent employ nent which will increase with length II SerV1Ce. AnOtneI VdludDle 1nQuCe-l nent is freedom from discharge in he exercise of arbitrary or tyrannical uthority. The railway employees ave organized to protect themselves, ot merely from the imposition of 1adequate wages and unfair working onditions, but most of all to pro- . ect their investment in the transpor- ] ation industry-to insure that, by the , xerciSe of arbitrary power theV ( hall not be deprived of the invest l rents of their years of work <
 It is even more in the public in { crest that the labor investments in ldustry shall be protected than that ! le money investments shall be pro- , ,cted Would 1t not seem absurd to , -cr,1e that e1zeru nnSSihle nratectinn |