The Wilmington morning star., 1946-05-26
COMPROMISE PLAN
BASIS OF ACCORD
Government, Rail Officials
Predict Return To Nor
NAL Service Today
By DOUGLAS b. CORNELL

(AP) - The railroad strike
ended suddenly today only
minutes before President Tru-
man asked, and got, action on
legislation to permit drafting
of men for industrial emer-
.gencies and penalizing strikes
against government = seized
properties.
The measure, Mr.. Truman told
the lawmakers, is necessary for
the preservation Of our govern
ment."
The House responded with al ex-
ceptional burst of speed, passing
and sending to the Senate exactly
what the President asked.
So far as the rail walkout was
concerned the legislation no longe-
was needed. Representatives OF
the carriers and two striking I'M
ions-engineers and trainmen-
signed at a down town hotel an
agreement hating the strike. Then
they went on a Misunderstanding spree.
Announces Strike Over
Mr.. Truman announced to a
wildly whooping congress that the
strike was over. Grim, unsmiling,
he interrupted an address to a
Joint Senate-House session at the
point where he said:
81 request the congress I'M
mediately to authorize the Presi-
dent to draft into the armed forces
of the United States all workers
who are on strike against their
government"
While legislators howled their
approval for that, Senate Secretary
Leslie Biff1e leaned owe and
whispered to the chief executive.
Word has just been received"
he said, "that the rail strike has
been settled on terms proposed by
the government
That produced another tremend-
Gus outburst.
The basis of agreement wa a
compromise plan Mr.. Truman him
self had offered. 1t provides for
a pay raise of IS cents an hour re-
troactive to Jan. l, an additional
boost of 2 IL cents effective May
22-two days ago, when the strike
began-and no change in working
rules for a year.
The settlement was completed
three minutes before tie 4 p. m.
EST deadline the President had set
for strikers to give in. Otherwise,
he said, he would use troops to run
and protect trains.
Soldiers Ready
Soldiers were standing by at
railroad centers to do just that.
Government and railroad Of
ficials predicted rail service would
be nearly back to normal tomor-
row. How long the government
would continue to operate the lines
it took over last Wednesday re-
manned uncertain.
But it quickly ended some OF
the makeshift devices to which II
resorted when the trains quit OIL
ing. Restrictions on air travel n
mail came off quickly.
The civilian production admin
stration said il would take days to
estimate how much the tWo-oay
strike cost and then the figure
would be nowhere near accurate.
A. F. Whitney, president OF the
trainmen, glumly declared W
lost our case In San Francisco,
P. o. Peterson, general chairman
of the engineers on the Southern
Pacific railroad told a reporter:
"Our position still is that the
President has just betrayed Amer
lean labor-and the American pub
lie, as we'll"
Offered To Return
The striking brotherhoods had Of
fered to 90 back to work if they
got the Decent raise and seven
changes in working rules recon-
mended by a federal factfinding
board, along with assurances they
could negotiate with the Presi-
dent for more.
Mr.. Truman would not meet them
on those terms. Instead, he went
up to Capital Hill and walked down
the aisle of the house chamber
without SO much as a nod to an old
crony or a Pickering of a smile in
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