The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 22, 1926, Page 7

“sft Second Section: SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1926 Sunline ot THE DAILY WORKER. This Magazine Section Appears Every Saturday in The DAILY WORKER. Zz <ep 290 Paralyzing the Railroad Workers The railroad magnates of the United States, together with the reactionary bureaucrats of the railroad unions, have en- tered into a conspiracy against the interests of the overwhelming majority of the railroad workers. As a result of this conspiracy came the Watson-Parker bill, which was passed by the house and senate and has now been approved by the president of the United States. The bill has become law. Demand the repeal of the Watson-Parker law! A Law to Enslave American Labor wrt is this Watson-Parker Bill? Who is backing it? Who is championing its adoption into law? The Watson-Parker Bill is being backed and championed by the Association of Railway Executives. P. E. Crowley, president of the New York Central, is heartily in favor of the prompt enact- ment of the bill. Daniel Willard of the Baltimore and Ohio takes the same position. C, H. Markham of the Minois Central is a great friend of the Watson-Parker bill. And for the Association of Railway Executives as a whole speaks in favor of the bill. A P, Thom, its general counsel. In a statement issued by the Association of Railway Execu- tives urging the enactment of the Watson-Parker bill, we find the following: Demands for very large increases in wages are now pending and the carriers are looking to the proposed bill as the method of dealing with the situation now presented. Un- less this machinery is afforded, there will be no effective gov- ernmental machinery to deal with the situation and there can be no assurance against serious public inconvenience that may result. Crowley, Willard and Markham are greatly worried over the convenience of the public. They are getting gray as a result of their continual vigilance over the well-being of the masses, and this is why they are favoring the Watson-Parker bill, ~ But what is this “serious public inconvenience that may result” if the Watson-Parker bill does not become law. It is fric- tion between the railroad companies and their employes. Pos- sibly, a strike. And why a strike? Because there are now pend- ing before the railroad companies “demands for very large in- creases in wages.” ; The thing becomes clearer. The railroad companies are fac- ing wage demands from their workers. The railroad magnates are therefore demanding “effective governmental machinery to deal with the situation.” Hence, the house of representatives and the senate—true servants of American capital—are adopting a bill which fully protects the profits of the railroad capitalists by imposing upon the railroad workers @ regime of virtual slavery. Reactionary bureaucrats of the railroad unions also favor Editor | & The statement of the Association of Railway Executives : makes it appear as if the Watson-Parker bill has the support of the railroad workers. The statement says: - The carriers have the assurance of their employes that the machinery of this bill will be availed for the purpose of adjusting these (wage) demands, Who has given the railroad companies these assurances? Certainly not the membership of the railroad unions nor the thou- sands of the unorganized railroad workers. Not a single railroad union in the country can produce records to show that the mem- bership of any of these organizations had voted in favor of the Watson-Parker bill. These assurances were given to the railroad companies not by the workers, not by the rank and file membership of the rail- road unions, but by the reactionary officials of these unions. In fact, what we are dealing with here is nothing short of a conspir- acy against the railroad workers engineered by the railroad mag- oot jointly with the reactionary bureaucrats of the railroad unions. \ We find the evidence of this criminal betrayal of the inter- ests of the railroad workers in a news report published in: Labor, (Continued on newt page—page 2)