Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-05-27

cerned to be actively interested in
having 1t ended before action can
be taken TO bring that about. In
this case there can be no such thing
as locking the barn before the
horse Is stolen, or, to change the
figure, the fire must be permitted
to get under such Roadway as to
be actually destructive before the
fire department can be called out
and put to work.
BY the time this essential public
sentiment has been aroused all
questions as to the merit or justice
of the stand taken by the miners or
their employers will have been lost
sight of. The public will not care
which side is right on the numer-
GUS issues in dispute. All 1t VIII
be interested in will be in getting
a normal supply of coal under APP
proximately normal conditions and
prices. The inevitable result or
this according TO economists and
industrial experts, will be a settle
ment that is in the main a COM
promise, that will be acceptable to
neither side, and that Will leave the
real problem of the coal Industry
as far as ever from solution.
Railroad Case Handled Differently
When a great railroad strike
was threatened last fall. ana
actually called for october 81, II
was not necessary to dilly-daliy
along until the calamity had
actually occurred. or until some
body was hurt. Thanks TO the
labor provisions of the transporta-
ton act 1t was possible to handle
that case differently. The railroad
labor board, through Ben W.
Hooper, then vice chairman ana
now chairman OF that body, took
hold of that situation and succeed
ed in bringing about the recall OF
the strike order. There was no
interruption of traffic on the rail-
roads of the country, and at no
time was 1t suggested that the pup
lie should sit back and watch rail-
way employees and railway manage
ment fight few rounds.
AS a matter of fact the strike
could not have been prevented II
the workers had been determined
to go through with 1t. for the law
does not forbid strikes and there
is no known way of forcing men
to stay on the job when they arc
dead set on leaving 1t. However,
the law does provide machinery for
the adjustment of disputes between
the railroads and their employees,
and it also establishes certain bases
upon which those adjustments are
to be made. This is a guarantee
to both sides of a square deal IN
sofar as a tribunal such as the rail-
road labor board can mete out JUS
tice without fear or favor, and in
those circumstances there couid pc
little justification for strike.
or course the coal strike has not
progressed almost two months
without the miners being stalked
by the spectre Of want and hunger.
Due to part time employment they
were in dire straits in some dis
tricts before they ceased WORK en-
tirely. AS long ago as January.
Governor Davis of Ohio. issued a
proclamation calling attention to-
this phase of the coal problem I'M
his state and urging that something
be done to assist miners who wanted
not charity but work. The union Is
not paying strike benefits and to
outsiders it Is something of a mys-
terry how the strikers and their
wives and children manage to live.
Last week a church organization
that has interested itself in relief
work took a group Of children of
West Virginia miners to New York
city to be exhibited as human doc
uments evidencing the urgent need
of doing something at once If they
and their parents are to be saved
from starvation. The pitiful APP
peal made by the mere appearance
of these youngsters. emaciated as
they were and with big eyes elo-
auent of suffering. was such that
funds were Immediately provided
for a trainload of provisions to be
rushed to the mining regions
whence they came.
1t may be the suffering OF the
miners and their families that will
prove the important factor in Gre
ating the popular sentiment re-
CURED to bring about the end of
Inc strike. The American people |
do not like to think of there being
starving women and children even
in far-off Europe and Asia, and
they will be still less tolerant of
such conditions right here at home.