Show WINST THE the big railroad strike Is 1 on old time railroad workmen are losing their wages and seniority rights which they have been years in acquiring but the trains are running and they will continue to run public sympathy Is always with the working man but when a single workman or a group of workmen aggregating hundreds of 0 thousands align themselves with leadership that attempts by threat to intimidate courts and set aside by might decisions ot of regular tory and judicial bodies they lose public sympathy which otherwise would won d be theirs As a result of the war we adopted a policy of public regulation of railroad wages As long as wages are going up everything was fine flue but it has been another story when regulation took a downward trend the agitator says the cost ot of living has not been reduced facts and figures disprove this statement let any man go into ft a grocery store and compare the price of food with the price quoted two years ago eggs butter flour rice bacon vegetables the same holds good with the price of shoes boos the price of a suit of clothes the price ot of an automobile the price of lumber and in fact the price of any basic commodity in the face taco of very substantial reductions duct ions in the cost of what we eat and wear railroad labor leaders deny that there Is sufficient grounds tor for wage reductions which have been made by the railroad labor board in its effort to equalize the cost of railroad operation to meet the sweeping t rate reductions which the interstate commerce commission has ordered the present strike is against the united states government and its decision as represented in the wage reduction ordered by the railroad labor board the public would not tolerate refusal of the railroads to accept rate reductions recently ordered by the earns same token it will not tolerate an attempt of railroad labor leaders to override the decision of the railroad labor board it is an axiom among strike leaders that no strike succeeds without force the slightest application in the present case of the methods by which other strikes have succeeded will amount to a declaration on the part of the railway men that the laws of the country have no dignity and that the central government does not exist such a gesture Is the signal of incipient civil war and must be treated accordingly the railroad men were ready enough to profit by the 0 of f the railroad labor board when it decreed an advance la in wages they are now obliged under the lan lam to acknowledge its authority when the situation has altered the united states railroad labor board after an exhaustive investigation issued ah an order effective july 1 1922 which while whilo reducing wages mages still leaves the hourly rates of pay of from 29 63 03 to 80 00 91 per cent higher than in 1917 as all shown own by the following the figures shown in the first column being tor for dec dee 1917 those in the second column for july 1922 1 machinists 61 70 boilermakers blacksmiths file sheet metal workers electricians molders helpers loco dept csc coach carpenters csc freight car carpenters car inspectors freight car repairers 33 carmen helpers apprentices average 39 since 1917 the rates of pay of railroad employed emp loyes have been fixed entirely either by the united states rail road administration or the united states railroad labor board both of them representing the government which after all Is the people during and in tact fact subsequent to the close ot of the war the pay of railroad labor was increased inci eased three times orders were issued making large increases until the labor cost of transportation con fumed more than 60 cents ot of over every Y dollar taken in by the WA wt ft 6 aw wa 1 l 1 ift t it 3 at A of living and that rates might elgh be reduced 4 business revived and the pay of railroad labor brought down near er to ft a level with that obtaining in other industries the labor board has ordered two reductions in rates of pay but the three increases previous ly received were so great that even after two reductions the rates of pay of shop and track labor are still about BO 30 per cent higher than la in 1917 whereas as shown by government reports the cost of living is but 17 per cent higher it III becomes railroad employed emp loyes now to strike against a reduction which still leaves their wages 50 per cent higher than in 1917 the pub uc lie through congress has provided means tor for wage adjustments orderly and just to all and all mus orderly conform to this arrangement the tha determination of the american people to have disarmament and peace does not stop at t aft borm 0 lit tl t |