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Show oo GOVERNMENT MUST FIX WAGES. No one can honestly take exception excep-tion to the conclusions reached by Dr. Charles R. Van Hiss, president of the University of Wisconsin, who, as chairman of the board of arbitration which decided the conflict between the locomotive engineers and the eastern east-ern railways In 1912, made these observations: ob-servations: "The balance of power In the control con-trol of wages, which was first with the railroads, has now passed to organized or-ganized railway labor. The railroad operators, under the control of national na-tional and state commissions, and under un-der the control of public opinion, are weaker than strongly organized unions un-ions The latter, without any control through commissions are of course affected by public opinion, but not so directly. "From the viewpoint of the public it Is an Intolerable situation when any group of men, whether employes, or employers, whether large or small, have the power to decide that the whole country shall "undergo great Iosb of life, unspeakable suffering, and the loss of property beyond the power of description, through the stoppage of a necessary public service. serv-ice. "For the public utilities, however, there are not only two parties to the controversy the railroads and the employes but a third, the public. As already mentioned, the railroads, one of the parties to the controversy, are subject to national and state commissions, commis-sions, which commissions are entrusted entrust-ed with the special duty of protecting the public interests. Advances in rates cannot be made without the con' sent of the proper commissions. The railroads are not only subject to the commissions in rates, but are subject to them In regard to maintaining adequate ade-quate servioe. The employes of tho railroads are not subject to control through commissions; although in common with all organizations they are Influenced by public opinion. "Tho disparity of status suggests the creation of national and state wage commissions or labor commissions, commis-sions, which should exercise functions regarding labor engaged at work in public utilities analogous to those 'now exercised with"1 regard to capital.. by the public service commissions already al-ready In existence. "Tho problem for which tho above plan is a suggested solution iB a complex com-plex and difficult one. The suggestion, sugges-tion, however, grows out of a profound pro-found conviction that the food and clothing of our people, tho Industries and the general welfare of tho nation, cannot he permitted to dopond upon the policies and the dictates of any particular group of meu, whether employers em-ployers or employes, nor upon tho determination de-termination of a group of employora and employes combined. The public utilities of the nation are of such fundamental Importance to the whole people that their operation must not be interrupted, and tho means must be worked out which will guarantee this result." Eventually, tho government will he forced to fix a minimum scale of wages on all railroads. |