the officers of the A. F. of L. to give their fullest assistance in arranging for speak ers. We further recommend that the subject-matter of this circular be discussed at each meeting of all state and city central bodies and the delegates urged to take the matter up at all meetings of their local unions and there urge the importance and immediate necessity of raising sufficient funds to properly conduct the kidnapping prosecution and the McNamara defense. Inasmuch as the Conference called by the American Federation of Labor and its departments has this day been held and has proven to be of interest and advantage, we recommend to the executive councils of the American Federation of Labor and of its departments to issue another call or calls for future conferences whenever and wherever necessary or advisable. The above address and appeal was unanimously adopted this 29th day of June, 1911, by the Conference of the executive officers of national and international unions of America, held in Indianapolis, Ind., and was ordered issued by the Committee on Ways and Means. SAMUEL GOMPERS, JOHN B. LENNON, Railroad Bonds for Wage-Earners. Corporation bond issues have never been regarded as constituting opportunities for investment for any but the wealthy. They are bought and sold and bartered amongst that exclusive class. Such advantages as they offer are not intended to benefit the citizen of small or moderate means, because they are issued in denominations usually so large as to be far beyond his reach. Under existing conditions his opportunities for investment are limited to the domain of real estate and of the savings bank, while bond issues that yield good returns-that ought to be free to the public-that should be open to participation by all citizens having twenty-five dollars or more to invest, are intentionally confined to the select circle of the very rich. Recognizing the evils resulting to corporations themselves from this condition of affairs, some men prominent in the commercial world are advocating the opening of this field of investment to the masses of the people. Such a plea is made by E. C. Simmons in an article in Collier's Weekly of July 1st. The fact that Mr. Simmons has for fifty years been at the head of one of the largest merchandising concerns in the country (The Simmons Hardware Co.), and that he has quite a reputation as a student and reporter of financial and trade conditions in the United States, gives special weight to his views on this subject. After dwelling at some length on the popular feeling of antagonism at present existing towards corporations and urging that the evils in their management which have occasioned same should be corrected in an orderly, judicial manner, Mr. Simmons continues: The public has been confused. There is lack of discrimination between the corporation which is honestly managed, with fair methods of doing business, and the corporation which resorts to unprincipled, vicious ways. The chief sufferers from this sweeping condemnation of corporations have been the railroads. We face a crisis today. By reason of the hostility of the public toward the railroads, capital-with which the country was never better supplied-hesitates to respond to the needs of railroad extension and betterment. If this unjust prejudice shall continue, capital will seek industrial and other investments-ignoring the needs of the railroads. We shall awake in a very short time to find our transportation facilities utterly inadequate our growth checked our business suffering a partial paralysis. If some means could be taken to induce the small investor, whom Brother Bryan calls the common people, to invest in the stocks or bonds of corporations, it would do a world of good in changing public sentiment. I believe that any man who holds stock or bonds in a corporation and gets his dividends regularly knows something about it-learns that it is fairly and honestly managed and truth-will be far more favorable to corconducted on principles of integrity and porations than he is now, to judge by the general trend of public opinion as expressed in the newspapers of this country. And if corporations-especially railroads would issue bonds of the value of $100, so as to put them within the reach of the small investor and encourage him to keep his money out of the saving institution, where he gets 3 or 4 per cent., and invest it in corporation bonds that pay 6 or 7 per cent., or even 5 per cent.. it would in a reasonable time do much to create a better understanding. ARBITRATION OF RAILROAD LABOR DISPUTES BY P. H. MORRISSEY, PAST GRAND MASTER B. OF R. T., The letter from President Delano of the Wabash, in your issue of April 7, 1911, pertaining to the labor situation on American railways, and his suggestion that a permanent court of arbitration should be created for the adjustment of labor disputes, is worthy of the best thought of the interested parties-the owners, the employes and the public. I will not comment on Mr. Delano's views as to the causes which contribute to the present situation. He finds reason for criticism of labor organization methods, of their increasing financial and economic power without corresponding responsibility to the public which, as he states, must eventually pay the bill. His views, though, are couched in moderate language and reflect his characteristic good temper. A representative of any responsible railway labor organization would, no doubt, from the employes' standpoint, easily justify the prevailing methods as necessary. Whatever objection may be urged against the present situation, it is my belief that the relations between the companies and their employes are better than they have ever been. If the Interstate Commerce Commission is correct, the carriers were never more prosperous than now, while on the other hand the leaders of railway labor, in emphasizing the success of the organizations, point out that the employes generally work under the best conditions that ever obtained. As a railway employe, and as a representative of railway employes in one capacity or another for over thirty years, I have been in fairly close contact with labor conditions on American railways. The history of the relations of railways and their employes during this time may be divided into three periods of a decade each. In the first, beginning in 1880, there prevailed the extreme idea of private ownership which did not acknowledge the *Second of a series of contributed articles and editorials on Arbitration of Railroad Labor Disputes appearing in the Railway Age Gazette, commencing with its issue of April 7. 1911, and which, through the courtesy of that publication, we will reproduce in successive issues of our Magazine until all have been presented to our readers. The first of these articles appears in our July number. rights of employes. This was a period of extra hazardous operation with little or no thought of safety devices or solicitude for what have since become ordinary safety measures. Such organizations of employes as existed were of but little influence; in many instances they were either ignored or actively opposed. The second period witnessed the development of organized effort among the employes with generally active resistance on the part of the companies and the beginning of the program of the employes to get redress through legislation of their grievances, this being principally directed to the securing of greater safety. The declarations of the employes' organizations almost uniformly were for arbitration during this time, in some instances going so far as to advocate compulsory arbitration, while as a rule the principle was denied by the companies. The third, and present, period finds the organizations in a highly developed state, representing practically all of the employes of their respective classes, militant, showing in isolated cases an arbitrary disposition, and broadening their legislative program to include measures which the companies claim relate to purely operating conditions and have no direct relation to the safety of the employes or the public. Arbitration is avoided by the employes except as a last resort, or when it is apparent that public sentiment would strongly disapprove of a strike. Now, when the companies are met with a serious wage or other labor situation they usually show a willingness to arbitrate, either under the federal law known as the Erdman act, or, as in many instances, voluntarily by mutual agreement with the employes. It is generally conceded that arbitration is a "safe and sane" method of adjusting disputes, as compared with industrial warfare. I understand Mr. Delano's objection is more to the methods at present employed than to the principle itself. Arbitration is usually the hope of the weaker interest in a controversy. I have represented employes at times and under circumstances when we were quite willing to arbitrate, but our proposals were de clined by the companies, evidently because they felt that they were entirely right and should not be compelled to resort of arbitration, or, right or wrong, that they could handle the situation. Later on, in the days of greater organization effectiveness, we have as adroitly avoided arbitration as we patiently sought for it in former times; and it would not be unreasonable to say that we were probably moved by the same motives as the companies in our change of attitude. However, there has been on the part of both the companies and the employes a growing appreciation of the public's rights in the premises; and when a tense situation in a labor dispute is reached neither side is quite as ready to say the final word as it used to be. I believe it can be accepted as a fundamental fact that the public favors fair wages and reasonable working conditions for the employes of the carriers, and that the same reasoning implies that the carriers should be permitted to earn enough to pay good wages as well as to insure a fair return to the stockholders. But public sentiment will not approve of any arbitrary or inconsiderate action on the part of either the employes or the carriers which shall seriously embarrass or prevent the uses for which these highways are created. Therefore, employes, or the labor leader representing them before declaring a strike of any consequence on any of the great railway systems of this country should be certain that the causes are sufficient and the action justifiable; the companies must also deal with labor crises on the same basis. It is doubtful if a fixed and permanent court of arbitration, such as Mr. Delano proposes, would bring the remedy that he hopes. To require by law the submission of disputes to such a court would be, in effect, "compulsory arbitration," which I do not believe is desired either by the carriers or their employes. It would mean government control over what is now private right. The United States Supreme Court said in the Adair case that a law passed by Congress prohibiting a carrier from dismissing an employe for joining a labor organization was an invasion of the carriers' constitutional rights. This decision, in effect, established the right of an employer to discharge an employe at will for good cause, or for no cause. Eminent counsel tells us that this same decision implies the right of an employe to quit the service of his employer with or without cause. If such are their rights, then, if required by law, as proposed, to submit their differences to a court of arbitration, they might do so, but it would not prevent the employer from discharging all of his employes and filling their places with others, if able to do so, or correspondingly, all of the employes quitting the service of the company at an appointed time and stopping the operation of the road, the effect of which would be the same as a strike. Even if arbitration were made compulsory a permanent board or court of arbitration would not be without objection. A vital one, the political feature, is mentioned in your editorial. A few decisions regarded as unfavorable by one side or the other would easily furnish the grounds for refusal by the stronger party to submit further cases for adjustment to the court. The Canadian law requiring conciliation and hearing of labor disputes wherein public service corporations are involved has not operated wholly to prevent strikes on railways, street car lines and in coal mines, which, I understand, come under the law. It might be regarded as significant, though, that in every case where there has been a railway strike following the operation of this law, the employes have emerged from the contest in a more or less battered condition. It is my belief that eventually the wage rates and the essential working conditions of railway employes will be uniform throughout the country for their respective classes, except where influenced by unusual living or operating conditions, and that no company will be asked to change its wage conditions by its employes, or vice versa, until all other carriers similarly affected are placed in the same relation. We are gradually working toward wage uniformity, as in other vital things. It will have its advantages in relieving individual lines and their employes of the constant annoyance of local adjustments, and when a wage matter is taken up for an entire territory it will involve so much for the weal or woe of the contestants, as well as for the public, that the responsibilities of those who deal with these great questions will be so overpowering that settlement of them by means other than resort to strike impresses me as certain. As long as railways are privately owned they will in some degree be subject to conditions arising out of inherent differences between cmployer and employe, and in my judgment no artificial measure will permanently eliminate this. Railway companies and railway employes are in a better relation today than they were ten years ago, and ten years hence those relations should be better than they are today as a result of natural development and a higher appreciation of each other's rights. Make War on Poverty. Contributed Consider the public life of one of our public citizens who seeks a public officewith what delicate calculation he lays his plans to gain the good-will of those to whom he has to look for support! What ceaseless labor! What unflagging energy he devotes to obtaining his coveted prize! He spares neither time, talents, health nor influence, nor does he lose any opportunities. All his resources are bent in one direction, and with what care he proceeds. His every word, his every public utterance, is weighed and balanced lest he might unwittingly ofend the most delicate sensibilities of the diverse interests to which he looks for support. Contrast his course of action with the attitude of the average workingman in civic afairs and the railroad man in railroad affairs and in railroad Brotherhood matters. Look at the bad laws we have in Pennsylvania--the worst laws of any State in the American Union, and I base my opinion on a thorough knowledge of laws in general as affecting labor in the United States. Look at the number of voters in this same State. How long would this condition exist if we would all vote for good laws? In the city of Pittsburg, Pa., only one-half of the men entitled to a vote register and only about two-thirds of those who register vote. In some European countries men are dying in prisons because they have asked for the privilege that the American ignores or rejects. It is a deplorable fact that if it were not for this indifference on the part of our labor ing people we would not be witnessing the brutal arrogance of our courts. If it were not for this indifference to good gov ernment on the part of workingmen, we would not have members of Pittsburg's city council under indictment today. Men have little or no regard for the courts; even attorneys have very little respect for them. I stood only five feet from a prominent attorney the other day. He is a great corporation lawyer and a candidate for the bench himself, and I heard him refer to a district attorney as a scarlet man. Now that district attorney is an officer of the court. If this is the honest opinion of a savior of our courts, what is the average man to think? In 1996 politicians advocated a gold standard as an essential to prosperity. In 1300 we were advised to become a world power, and were assured that great things would follow. In 1904 we were told there were no trusts. Later, we were told there was an ice trust and later on that there were good trusts and bad trusts, and now we are informed we must have reciprocity. While all these things may have some merit in themselves, let us all, regardless of party affiliations, make war on poverty-the parent of crime. A workingman should never talk about being true to any party except in so far as that party is true to him. Parties have no regard for the workingman only to use him, and the greatest party a workingman has in this country is his own manhood, and in my humble estimation that is the party that is in danger from all other parties. The workingman Report of Shop Employes' Strike Committee, Pennsylvania Railroad. The shopmen of the Pennsylvania Railroad System being forced to strike on May 1, 1911, for refusing to sever their union affiliations, were compelled to request financial aid from the lodges of the different crafts throughout the country. Up to and including July 7th, the following contributions have been received from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen: Lodges 398, $10; 89, $10; 235, $50; 601, $50; 574, $5; total, $125. Amounts received from are as follows: all sources Order of Railway Conductors. Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Helpers B. of L. F. and E. Man Mayor of an Illinois City. J. M. Raymond Lodge 49 feels highly honored in the election of our worthy brother, Daniel F. Dinneen, to the office of mayor of the city of Decatur, Ill., which occurred on April 18, 1911. Mayor Dinneen is one of the best hustlers in the Brotherhood. He wears a "booster" button at all times. He was educated in the Decatur schools and has always lived there. At the early age of fifteen he secured a job as locomotive fireman on the He made good, and Wabash Railroad. $27 00 39 75 MAYOR DANIEL F. DINNEEN Decatur, Ill., Member Lodge 49 Total |