Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-08-25

A. AAttEA III H#AtAAa Aaa4HNA views 80 ; TX
Washington. d. L. Aug. 24.--BeFt
Il. Jewell. president Of he Railway
Employees Department Of TIE Ameri-
ean Federation 81 Labor, THIS week
defined The seniority question IN terms
that may startle railroad Managers
but that vii appeal as sound sense
70 me masses O the people, Here
are some q the things Jewell said.
The railway executives are chosen
hS the money investors IN the rail-
reads as representatives q their IN
tefeSL They represent the stock
holders VINO have voting power and
they represent the bondhoiders. 10
the extent that every debtor repre-
sents the interest of his creditors.
but II Is an error 10 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
service, and which, while necessary
Tor carrying on this service, are Of
minor importance in comparison with
the men who are even more lndispen-
sable 10 the operation of the indus
try.
Ii was President \. II. Smith of
the New York Central Railroad who
said to the Interstate Commerce Com
mittee OF the United States Senate
on May 20, 1921:
Ninety five per cent of this rail
reading is human. Inc other five per
cent is merely coal ana steel, and il is
not worth anything il yea do not get
good men with it,
No one owns" the transportation
industry. A large par, of the ,hysi-
cal properties used in furnishing
transportation are held in private
ownership. But that ownership does
not authorize the exercise of complete
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 it is devoted TO a public service,
is definitely limited by law.
Property Right Is Limited Definitely.
1t is written in an opinion of the
Supreme Court of the United States;
The essential element of lndiHld-
ual property is the legal right to eN-
elude others from enjoying IT. If the
property is private, the right of eN-
elusion may be absolute. IL the prop
erty is affected with the public inter
est the right of exclusion Is quail
fed
Therefore, i'm defining the authority
of the railway executives, it must be
realized at the outset, first, that they
represent only the minority of the
money investors in the transporta-
ton industry; and, second, that their
power as representatives of the own
ers of the physical properties of the
railroads is power limited in law
by the requirement that those proper
ties must be used in the public in
terest. 1t is not the Owners" of the
railroads, who speak through the rail
way executives. These executives
speak merely for a limited private in
terest in the physical properties which
have been devoted voluntarily to the
public service. This private interest
in railroad properties has been held
repeatedly 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
executives represent, let consideration
be given to the much larger interest
in the transportation industry repre-
scented by the officials Of the organ
lied employees. The money investors
have contributed some of their sur
plus wealth to this industry. The
labor investors have contributed them
selves. They have invested in this
industry their lives, their training
and capacity for earning a livelihood.
This is large and serious investment
and one entitled to far greater pro-
lection than any money investment.
A man may lose all his money and yet
be capable of supporting himself and
family. But the average skilled
worker, who has given the best years
of his life to one employment, must
retain a position in his chosen indus
try, because the older he grows and
the greater his family responsible
ties, the more nearly impossible will
ii become for him to make an ade-
quate living elsewhere. The man
skilled in making repairs TO locomo-
tives. lust as the engineer skilled In
driving locomotives, has in very
real sense invested his life in the
transportation industry. After ten or
fifteen years service, it is unlikely
that he will be able to make himself
as useful or to make his services as
valuable, in any other line of work.
Rewards for Service Must BE
Attractive.
If the transportation industry is
to attract workers Of the caliber
necessary for its efficient operation,
ii must offer these workers encourag-
ing rewards of service. One of the
most effecvtive rewards of service IS
an assurance of permanent employ
ment which will increase with length
of service. Another valuable induce
ment is freedom from discharge In the
exercise of arbitrary or tyrannicai
authority. The railway employees
have organized to protect themselves,
not merely from the imposition of in
adequate wages and unfair working
conditions, but most Of all to protect
their investment in the transportation
industry-to insure that, by the exer-
else of arbitrary power, they shall not
be deprived of the investments OF
their years of work.
II is even more in the pubic In
terest that the labor investments IN
industry shall be protected than that
the money investments shall be pro
tected. Would it not seem absurd to
argue that every possible legal pro-
lection should be thrown around the
five per cent of railroading that Is
coal and steel" and that the ninety
five per cent that is human" should