The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-07-18
.HUDDLESTON TELLS RAILROAD STRIKERS ID REMAIN FIRM
Congressman, in Speech at Wilson Park Yesterday, Says Governments Acts
 Caused WaIkout

mings act and the wicked manage ment of railroads under the direc- ton of the transportation act, were responsible for the present strike of railroad meE.
 He urged the strikers and their families who made up most of his audience. to stick out the strike which he says. was not accustomed by wages as a grievance alone. but caused "out of the evaporation of the employees over the force whicn the railroads have persisted in.'
 Defensive Strike
 Congressman Huddleston main tained that the strike is purely defensive one and was forced upon the workers by the oppressive and unjust conduct of railroad execu- tives and is just as much a defen- sive movement as the advance of American troops into the Argonne
 The speaker in part said:
 The Esch- -Cummins act put the public at large into the railroad business It binds the public to pay in rates anything that the railroads may lose by wasteful and wicked l management.
 Called Shocking Pity What shocking pity it is that the public has allowed it's transpor- tation business to be so mismanaged as to produce the present strike. It | is a case of pure neglect of it's in terests, which the public has been guilty of.
 Tn one sense, the public has a,- ways been in the transportation business. Any failure in transporta- tion is ruinous to the public wei | fare. For this reason railroad own CTS as well as railroad workers owe | to the public the duty to keep the trains running. There Is no public duty that does not have it's corres- | bonding public right. No citizen owes any duty to the public which has not some corresponding ad- vantage or benefit which he derives from his citizenship. Stated other | wise citizen who derives no ad- | vantage or benefit and who receives no protection from the public owes | that public no duty whatsoever. The public has responsibility to the citizen which corresponds to the | duty which he owes to the public. 1 Where the public defaults on this responsibility and ignores 1t. the citizen is released from his obliga- tion to the public.
 Owe Duty to Public
 The railroad workers owe the public the duty to keep the trains running but this duty is conditioned upon the public seeing to 1t that the workers are protected from op. pression in connection with their jobs. The public having failed to perform it's obligation to the work CTS in this respect they were re- leased from their duty to operate the trains and were driven into this strike for their own protection the public having failed to protect them they were forced to defend them selves by the only means they had that Is, strike.
 Forced On Workers This Is purely defensive strike It was forced upon the workers by the oppressive and unjust conduct of the railroad executives. It is as much a defensive movement as the advance of our soldiers into the Argonne It is a fight for the same principles of democracy and justice that our soldiers fought for in France.
 socinlistic MasterstroIxef
 The Esch- -Cummins act is the longest step into socialism ever taken in America. It carries all the evils of socialism but has none of its advantages. It is public owner ship of railroads for the purpose Of paying their losses and seeing to it that they are kept in operation. but is public ownership under pri- | xrnfn za for the public benefit is for private profit It is savagely distorted socialism designed not for the public welfare. but for corporation greed.
 Crime Against America
 By passage of the Esch- -Cummins act a great crime was committed against the American people. It would take a long speech upon that subject alone to mention all the evil features of that law. l will not attempt to cover them all There was the six-months guarantee clause which has cost the public treasury from seven to nine hundred millions. There is the loan clause which has cost $500. 100000. There is section 13 which takes away from the state authorities their power over rates. There is section 15-a under which railroad rates were increased an av- craze of 33 Ia per cent, thereby strangling the business of the coun- try and contributing largely to the I present hard times.
 There are also the labor sections of the Esch-Cummins act. They were forced into that act by the rail roads for the purpose of timidating and coercing the employees. The la Dor sections of the act have been violated by the railroads In multi tude of instances. They have been evaded by the Erie and 50 other ] railroads by farming out shop and other work for the purpose of cut ting wages and expressing their em- ployes in other ways. Certain of the great railroad systems including the Pennsylvania have openly re- fused to obey the orders of the rail road labor board In their dealings with their employees. Other rail roads have tried by intimidaung and foul means to prevent their em- ployes from presenting their griev- | ances to the labor board
 Not Loose Charges
 These are not loose charges. They are based upon actual findings and decisions of the labor board itself. In addition to all this during the six months guarantee period many of the railroads contracted their shop and other work to outsiders at a cost in some instances of five times what 1t would have been to have done the work by the company's o~l employees. This was done for certain corrupt purposes. among others 10 aid in the fight on the employees or ganizations through affording the opportunity to discharge many of .he | or,ar. n shut down the shops. It cost the railroads nothing l he cro,,arn had n ne I