Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1922-03-02


men should strike, this is not the time.
Of all the times when the restraints OF
law might be invoked to prevent
strikes, this is not the time. OF those
who have work millions are being
sorely representations are receiv.
ing a wage below any standard of de.
cent living-they exist on hopes OF
better times. No doubt many strikes
would occur except for the depressed
business conditions. The workers are
submitting to oppression, even to
slow starvation. They realize that they
are being imposed upon. They submit
because the choice is submission or
starvation.
Many of the men who remain al
at work are not getting enough wages
to live on. The United States Steel
Corporation, which is the largest en-;
ployer OF labor in the country, mas in
part, if not all cases cut wages one
half. And that is the attitude of many
harsh employers. The cost Of living
remains UP. The workers are in a great
strain, even those who have work.
The Railroad Labor -.
Situation.
There IS much that | would like 10
say about the situation of the railroad
employees, but l have time merely TO
deal with it briefly. Against their unan-
imous opposition the labor sections
of the transportation act were forced
into that act. 1t was done at the behest
of the railroad managers. And now we
find that the managers are themselves
flouting and evading the law and
treating it with contempt. What is
the result? They get away with little
criticism. SDue to the subserviency OF
a parasite press, knowledge of their
misconduct is withheld from the pub
lie. The country does not know how
the railroad managers are
violating the labor sections of the
Transportation Act.
The country is flooded with false
pro-railroad propaganda. In an effort
to distract attention from the fact that
the railroads are strangling the count
ry through extortionate rates, lot
of deliberate lying is being done about
the wages of the railroad employees.
The excuse is made that railroad wag-
es are so excessively high that rates
can not be reduced.
Railroad Employees
Exasperated
Railroad employees are in a state OF
extreme evaporation. II was not alto
gether the proposed further reduction
in wages that caused the recent threat
of a railroad strike. 1t was the feeling
uopn the part of the employees that
the carriers were not being fair with
them, that they were not getting a
square deal, that the laws for their
protection were being evaded, flouted,
and treated with contempt.
want to cite few instances which
have contributed to the evaporation
of railroad employees-The Atlanta,
Birmingham, and Atlantic Railroad
has terminal in my district. Its man.
ager proposed about a year ago to ig-
more the transportation act and to
make horizontal cut in wages. The
cut was posted on the boards. The
Employees thereupon appealed to the
Railroad Labor Board, which prompt
ly nullified the proposed cut and direct
ed the manager to confer with the
employees on the proposal to reduce
wages. The manager refused to do
this, but conspired with a creditor
whose debt was not yet due and caus-
ed a collusive suit for receivership to
be filed in Federal Court. The Judge
promptly appointed the manager as
receiver, and upon his own request,
without notice to the employees, au-
thoried him to put in the same cut in
wages which the Labor Board had
ordered him to withdraw. The en-
ployes thereupon ceased work and en-
tered upon strike, which continues
to this time. To their appeal the Labor
Board answered that, since the Federal
court had appointed a receiver, the
Labor board had no jurisdiction. A
similar case is that of the Missouri &
Northern Arkansas Railroad.
Erie and Pennsylvania
Cases =.
I cite the case of the Erie, with its
shops at Hornell and Marion, leased
to dummy corporations organized by
the railroad and differed by its former
officials. The railroad made contracts
with these dummies for repairs, and
so forth, leaving them free to deal
with their labor without the interven-
ton of the Railroad Labor Board. The
Labor practices of these dummies have
been outrageous and oppressive, yet
there has been no relief for the employ
ees.
TAX the case ofthe Pennsylvania
Ordered by the Railroad Labor Board
to negotiate with its shop employees
through their organizations, the Penn
sylvania created bastard organizations
under its own domination and pre-
tended that they were the employees