The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-05-18
CBy THE ASSOCIATED pREss)

| Time Eegan running out swiftly
 today on the p. m. docal Stan
 dard Time) nationwide railroad
 strike headline without promise
 from any quarter that the coun- try's 25o000 Trainmen and Engin-
 eers would heed President Truman's
 pea to stay on the job.
 A. F. Whitney, President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen,
 and Alvanley Johnston, head of the Locomotive Engineers, arrived in Cleveland from Washington confer ences with President Truman and
 parried all questions on today's pro-
 jected strike.
 In New York, Thomas J. Harkins. representative of the Eastern Diyis- lion of the Brotherhood of Lcccmo-
 tive Engineers, said the strike lis on' and that 'any hope of averting
 it ended when the union leaders
 left Washington to return to cleve-
 land"
 4 Quit Orders Giuen
 Whitney and Johnston have given orders to their Union members to quit operating trains at 4 D. m. to- day in each Standard Time zone l They told newsmen in Washington, !; after MT. Truman signed the order l, seizing the railroads, that they would not order their men to work
 for the government. Tn Cleveland
 today, they said they believed they
 were not permitted to talk about
 the strike, because of provisions of
 the Smith, Connally strike law. 1 Both opined earlier that because the strike call was issued before
 the roads were seized, they would not be in violation of the Smith,
 Connally Act if they simply failed
 to take any further action on the strike.
 To Obey Strike Call 1 The two apparently still had con-
 siderable--if not almost complete 'control over the functions of their members. Only a very few local
 union leaders would comment on their plans. These men said they were determined to carry out the
 strike call, unless 1t is rescinded by the national union chiefs.
 i A complete paralysis faf the
 country's economy threatened II the
 strike becomes effective tsfne up
 227. .335 miles of trackage. and cer-
 tain to be felt by all forms of brsi-
 ness and industry
 | The last countrywide railroad walkout was in 1922
 l President Truman. after ordering seizure of the carriers and placing their operation under control Of the office of Defense Transportation. appealed directly to the workers ito cooperate with the government :. by remaining on the job 1 ODT Director J. Mcuroe Johnson urged chiefs of the two unions sc recall their striks notice Ee as serted that if the 250.0oo employee leave their jobs there will be very perilous time in transporta- tion.' The ODT. he added, would continue to keep the trains oper- ating but at very much reduced rate"
 ODT ISSUES CALL WASHINGTON. May 18.-The Office of Defense Transportation, faced with railroad strike set for p. m. today, asked the Army and lall non-rail transportation svstenss to prepare to step into the breach. Airlines. water carriers, truck and bus systems were asked to assume. if necessary, what share they could of hauling the nations freight and passengers
 A union statement that the railroad strike is on dampened al- ready faint hopes that the rail
 transportation system of the coun- try might be spared an immediate crippling.
 Director J. Monroe Johnson of ODT conferred with representatives
 of non-rail groups, including the Armed Forces, but the brief an-
 nouncemcnt on the meeting carried
 no hint of the plans de, fred, if