The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-05-25
TRUMAN IN APPEAL 10
 TRAINkEN
Says Go Back 10 Work or Army Will Be Used :
 10 Run Trains

WhSalN1tONs May zo.-rfeSl- dent Truman's direct appeal to the striking railroad workers and his ultimatum he was ready to use the army to run the trains failed to start a general back to work move ment today and the Chiez Execu- tive broke off further government efforts to mediate the dispute.
 Only very few of the 25o,o00 striking locomotive engineers and railroad trainmen had returned to their posts in response to the Chief Executives appeal and the only dnicn representatives who would comment predicted the men would net budge" unless ordered to do so by their union leaders.
 A Presidential announcement. di- .ecting the breakoff of mediation sfforts with the striking unions, said efforts would be made to reach an agreement with the other IS non-striking rail brotherhoods.
 me0lAtl01l OIA Shortly before the President or dered mediation efforts discon- tinued, survey showed only an infinitesimai fraction of strikers had returned to their posts.
 L. A Weiss, General Chairman of the Southern Pacific in Texas and Louisiana said the men will not go back to work on this ap- peal" Chairman S. R. Clark of the Florida East Coast Railroad Train mems Union said the men won't budge until told to do so by the union chiefs" He termed Mir. Tru- mans radio appeal to the strikers and his summary of the dispute slap in the face"
 New Negotiations
 The Presidential announcement said the negotiations with the other Is unions, representing more than 100000 railroad employees. would be started at once. They will be on the basis of Mir. Trumans com promise proposal for a wage in- crease of 18z cents an hour with changes in working rules deferred for year.
 The announcement said these utI~ ions should not be penaNzcd for the failure of the two unions to ac- cept the compromise proposal
 Truman's UItimatum
 As the second full day of the paralysis in rail operations threat ened to further imperil all phases of business and industry, MT. Tru- man, in stern ultimatum, told the strikers that if they did not re- turn to their jobs by pm. EST. today the army would take over the trains.
 Even as MT. Truman spoke to tile nation last night, troops were be- ing moved to strategic locations" in anticipation of orders for protec- tion of workers obeying his request to return to work.
 The p.m., deadline set by MT. Truman also was the time he was to appear before an extraordinary joint session of Congress to report on the rail crisis.
 There was no comment from AL yanley Johnston and A. F. Whitney, presidents of the engineers and trainmen, respectively. after they had listened to MT Truman's ra- dio sp.kach. the President, who charged they were responsible for the strike. directed his back-to- work appeal to the rank and file.
 Effects Widespread
 The President said that the ef- fects of the strike were widespread, creating shortages in fuel and raw materials and threatened to bring chaos to food distribution. He as- serted that the nations welfare must come first and that if service is not resumed immediately thou sands will starve.
 Service on the nations 227,335 miles of tracks was slowed to a trickle as the office of defense transportation struggled to mobil- ize all non-rail transport facili-