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Show PRESIDENT HARDING 10 USE HIS POWER RESOLVED TO USE FEDERAL POWER FOR MAINTENANCE OF TRANSPORTATION Holds Esch-Cummins Act is Inadequate Inade-quate and Seeks a New Plan to Make Rulings of Board Effective Washington. President Harding Friday told congress and the nation that he was resolved "to use all the power of the government to maintain main-tain transportation and sustain the right of men to work." "Government by law must and will be maintained," the president said, "no matter what clouds may gather, no matter what storms may ensue, no matter what hardships may attend, or what sacrifice may be necessary. Stating that sympathetic railroad strikes had developed and impaired interstate commerce seriously, the president said that trains deserted in the Western desert had "revealed the cruelty .an contempt for law on the part of some railway employes who have conspired to paralyze transportation." transpor-tation." Assserting that the striking unions in some instances had not held their forces to law observance', Mr. Harding Hard-ing said "there is a state of lawlessness lawless-ness shocking to every conception of American law and order" and announced an-nounced his intention to invoke laws, civil and criminal, forbidding conspiracies conspira-cies hindering interstate commerce and requiring safety in railway service. ser-vice. In declaring positively for the right of men to work the president said that in both the coal and railroad strikes this right has been "denied by assault and violence" and in some cases winked at by local authorities. He added add-ed : "It is fair to. say that the great mass of organized workmen do not approve but they seem helpless to hinder. hin-der. These conditions cannot remain in free America." "Surely the threatening conditions must impress the congress and the country," the president went on, "that no body of men, whether limited in number and responsible for railway management, or powerful in numbers and constituting the necessary forces in railroad operation, shall be permitted permit-ted to choose a course which so imperils im-perils public welfare." The president declared a national investigation for constructive recommendations recom-mendations as to the conduct of the coal industry to be imperative and recommended a government commission commis-sion to advise as to fair wages and conditions. Immediate legislation to establish temporarily a "national coal agency" with necessary capital to purchase, seel and distribute coal also was urged by the executive. Stating that the Esch-Cummins act in establishing the railroad labor board was inadequate, being with little or no power to enforce its decisions, deci-sions, the president recommended action ac-tion to make the board's decisions "enforceable and effective against carriers and employes alike." Other legislation recommendations were for "better protection of aliens and enforcement of their treaty rights," through a measure to give! federal courts jurisdiction in protecting protect-ing aliens. ! In discussing the coal situation the president referred to what he termed j the "shocking crime at Herrin, 111., which so recently shamed and horrified horri-fied the country" and added the incident inci-dent was "butchery of human boings wrought in madness." |