Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 201, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1916 — The President’s Apeal. [ARTICLE]

The President’s Apeal.

“The country cannot live if the means of keeping alive its vitality are interfered with. The lives and fortunes of 100,000,000 men, women, and little ones —many of whom may die — depend upon what may be done in this room. “I appeal to you as # one American citizen to another to avert this disaster.” —Woodrow Wilson to the railroad men. Washington, August 21. —President Wilson and the unions, on the one hand, and the railroad executives, on the other, are deadlocked tonight in the railway wage dispute. Events within the next forty-eight hours, it is expected, will determine whether tjiere is to be a general railroad strike on the 225 transportation lines of the country. There remains the feeling that in the end the roads, pressed to the limit, will submit to the president’s dictum. The president called the executives, together with the new arrivals, to the white house this afternoon and uttered an appeal that was as impressive as he could make it to accept the eight hour day settlement plan which he has presented to the carriers with the approval of the unions. “We are both acting as trustees of great interests,” he said. “I am willing to allow this matter to go to the great American jury and let them assess the responsibility.” - 7 “The responsibility of failure, he added defiantly, “will not rest with me.” The railway officials departed from the white house without expressing any opinions to the president and after a protracted conference among themselves issued a public statement which while voicing objections to the terms proposed by the president does not reject them. The executives contend in their statement that public opinion will indorse their stand on the principle of arbitration, which the president has set aside.