Evening star., 1946-05-25
NY fellow countrymen:

My fellow countrymen:
I come before the American peo-
pie tonight at time of great crisis
The crisis of Pearl Harbor was the
result OF action by foreign enemy
The crisis tonight is caused by a
group of men within our own coun-
try who place their private interests
above the welfare of the Nation.
AS Americans you have the right
to look to the President for leader
ship in this grave emergency. !
have accepted the esponsibility, as
II have accepted it in other emer-
gencies.
Every citizen of this country has
the right to know what has brought
about this crisis. 1t is my desire to
report to you what has already
taken place and the action that l
intend to take.
Two Refused to Arbitrate.
Negotiations between the unions
and the railroad operators started
in accordance with the Railway La
Dor Act. Twenty unions were in
volved. Eighteen of these unions
agreed to arbitrate the wage ques-
ton and an award was made. Al
vanley Johnston, president of the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi-
neers, and A. F. Whitney, president
of the Brotherhood of Railway
Trainmen, refused to arbitrate the
matter for their unions and instead
| took a strike vote. An emergency
board heard the case of these two
unions and recommended the same
wage increase awarded to the other
18 unions. Mr.. Johnston and Mr..
Whitney, however, rejected the
emergency boards recommendation
in its entirety.
| l began comforting with Mr.. Whit
ney and Mr. Johnston as far back
as February 2l, 1916, in order that
every effort should be made to avert
rail strike When it became evi-
dent that the parties themselves
were unable to agree. submitted a
compromise proposition to all the
parties involved.
Negotiations were made consider
ably more difficult by the attitude
of Mr.. Whitney and Mr.. Johnston
in refusing my request that they
meet with the operators and the
other 18 unions in joint confer
ence in the Office of the President
of the United States. They agreed
to meet with the operators but not in
the presence of the representatives
of the other unions. Accordingly,
three separate conferences had to
be held in the White House.
Eighteen Unions Cooperative.
The unions had been awarded an
increase of Is cents per hour and
certain changes in rules by the arbi-
tration and emergency boards. I
recommended that they accept the
16-cent increase awarded by the
boards, plus 212 cents in lieu of
rule changes These rule changes
had been considered by the emer-
gency board, which recommended
that most of them be negotiated
by the parties.
A1tCl liilS
mise was accepted by the operators
and by 18 of the unions. Those 18
unions were cooperative. They
placed the interests of their country
first. The compromise was rejected
by the locomotive engineers and the
trainmen.
This offer of an increase of 1872
cents per hour was eminently fair.
1t would have resulted in actually
( increasing the take-home pay of the
union members above the greatest
take-home pay which they enjoyed
| during the war. In addition, these
| two unions are among the highest
paid unions in the country. 1t is also
important that the suggested in
crease of 1872 cents was within the
wage stabilization formula-and this
formula must be maintained.
Instead of accepting this offer as
did Is of the unions and the oper-
ators, Mr.. Johnston and Mr.. Whit
ney chose to reject it and to call
a strike of their unions. / assume
that these two men know the terri
BILE havoc that their decision has
caused and the even more extreme
suffering that will result in the
future. 1t is inconceivable that the
rank and file of these two unions
realize the terrifying situation Gre
ated by the action of these two men
Effects Felt Immediately.
The effects of the rail tie-up were
felt Immediately by industry. Lack
of fuel, raw materials and shipping
is bringing about the shutdown of
hundreds of factories. Lack of
transportation facilities will bring
chaos to food distribution.
Farmers cannot move food to
markets. All of you will see your
food supplies dwindle, your health
and safety endangered, your streets
darkened, your transportation IA
cilities broken down.
The housing program is being
given severe setback by the inter-
ruption of shipment of materials.
Utilities must begin conservation
of fuel Immediately.
Returning veterans will not be
able to get home.
Millions of workers will be thrown
out of their jobs.
The added inflationary pressure
caused by the drop in production
cannot be measured.
! While the situation in our coun-
try is extremely acute, the condition
in Europe is tragic. Most of our
friends today in liberated Europe
are receiving less than one-third of
the average American consumption
of food. We have promised to help
the starving masses of Asia and
Europe, and we have been helping
them. We have been exerting our
utmost efforts and it is necessary
for us to increase our shipments.
At this minute 100000 tons of
grain are being held up by the
strike of these two unions. UNRRA
has II ships scheduled to leave from
our ports with grain. These ships
cannot sail because the strike of
these two unions is keeping the food
from reaching the ports. If these
ships are held up any longer it
means that the bread supply of As
100000 people will be cut off within
one week.