The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1946-06-07
NEWS AND VIEWS
BY ALEXANDER S. LIPSETT
(An ILNS Feature)

By the time this column appears in
print the railway conflict will have
been solved. The wheels of transpor-
tation, industry and commerce will
nave again. Yet the memory of the
railroaders' walk-out will linger It's
consequences. political and otherwise,
are bound to be felt for long time
This seems neither the right time
nor the occasion to opportion blame
for the events that have taken place.
But this much we know. The railway
strike-soming as it did after nearly
one year Of fruitless negotiations
proved the aimlessness, of the Tru-
man Administration at it's worst. Per-
haps that fact should have occasioned
no surprise among thinking people.
But it also proved beyond doubt the
unworkability Of many of our labor
laws and the need for their revision.
Finally, it revealed deep and dis
quieting fissures in the structure of
organized railroad labor. President
Truman was on sound ground when he
condemned the refusal of the 2 strik-
ing brotherhoods to sit down in Joint
conferences with the 3 other brother
hoods and Is incorporating unions to
find joint answer to their common
problems.
These are not the main issues of
concern at this moment. With unin-
formed labor critics having a field
day, it will do well to recall the state
ments of the heads of the 2 recalci-
trant brotherhoods in a letter to the
President May %. 1t is bitter let
ter. Much should have been left unsaid
But it also focused light on some easily
overlooked facts by STANG:
"The improved changes in
working conditions !. :. :. is the most
important issue in our. present
controversy The suggested
1872 cents amounts to less than II
percent increase in pay i. Your
emergency board knew and you
should know that our transpOrta-
ton employees have slipped since
1886 from second position to
twenty seventh (bottOm) position
in percentage raises in hourly
compensation. 1t is this maladjust-
ment that we seek to correct :.
Many Americans are not cognizant
of these facts. They have joined the
chorus condemning the accused, sight
unseen. Others, who should and do
know better, deliberately distort the
truth. Whatever the reasons, the AM
erican public had better face the truth
and do some constructive thinking, in
stead of foaming at the mouth
What then brought the nation to
this pass? How come that the United
States SO glorious in victory has fallen
so low as to be an object of scorn even
among the mighty of Moscow and their
satellites? Nowhere has the situation
been more scholarly analyzed and the
answer more clearly given as in an
address by one Of the trusted stalwarts
of the American trade union move
ment. l refer to John P. Frey, presi-
dent of the Metal Trades Department
of the American Federation of Labor,
as fearless and constructive labor
statesman as the American workers
movement has had the good fortune
to call its own.
On October 81, 1945, Mr.. Frey in a
nationwide broadcast prophetically
foresaw the conditions that have aris-
en- today. And after stating bluntly
that ''in connection with prices and
wages we have been looking through
the wrong end of the telescope and
placed the cart before the horse" he
summed up:
''No economic system is sound
when the workers real wage is
not maintained :. Labor cannot
of itself alone control prices and
what takes place in our distribut-
ing system, but labor is most as
suredly on sound ground when it
insists that it will not accept
lower real wage, and will insist
upon lower prices. President Tru-