Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-03-30 | Page 22 | Says Congress will Tie Unions Hand and Foot

SAYS CONGRESS WILL TIE UNIONS HAND AND FOOT PITTSBURG, Pa., March 29. "W. W. Atterbury of Philadelphia, president of I the American Railway association, pre- I dieted in an address before the Traffic club of Pittsburg, at the annual banquet ban-quet tonight, that the "public, through their representatives, will tie the labor unions hand and foot in as radical a manner as the railroads find themselves today." Mr. Atterbury said in part: "The sins of our Tailroad ancesters have been visited upon their children's children, and notwithstanding that those of us of the fourth generation have been honestly endeavoring to give the public good service, public distrust, the result of the sins of our forefathers, is the basis of irrational regulation. "Commissioners and other public officials of-ficials must be measurably responsive to public sentiment. The difficulty of regulation, as now practiced, is that popular opinion has been largely shaped bv sensational events, which have aroused indignation or misunderstanding misunderstand-ing and given ri6e to a popular feeling that punishment for past misdeeds should be the fundamental purposes of railroad regulation. "If the railroads suffer, the public suffer. If railroad service is improved, the public will benefit. The public should understand the fact and theory of railroad management and the effect of regulation. Speaking of the "aggression of labor unions," he continued: "The railroad managements have lived to rue the day of the 'public be damned' policy of a generation ago. Let the labor unions keep on with their present policy of damning first the public, pub-lic, then the president, then congress, and finally the supreme court, and I am satisfied the public, through their representatives, repre-sentatives, will tie the labor unions hand and foot in as radical a manner as the railroads find themselves today." Mr. Atterbury, in explaining the application ap-plication of the railroads for increased rates, said: "This step is being taken in order to give the railroads the revenue necessary neces-sary to enable them to resume their normal nor-mal rate of growth." He urged the representatives of the big shipping interests to go before the interstate commerce commission and ac-tivel' ac-tivel' favor such an advance.