People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1894 — MADE PUBLIC. [ARTICLE]

MADE PUBLIC.

Report ot President Cleveland's Special Labor Commission. (The General Managers’ Association Scored ’ —Pullman Company, Its Workmen and Tenants—Cleveland’s Attitude Justified—Specific Recommendations. The report of the special labor comfcnission appointed to investigate the causes of the recent railway strike has {been made public. It is signed by the (federal labor commissioner, Carroll D. ■Wright, and his fellow-investigators, D. Kernan, of New York, and INicholas E. Worthington, of Illinois, and is addressed to President Cleveland: The report says the capitalization ot the [twenty-four railroads directly represented In the General Managers' association was $2,108.562.617. The number of employes was 221.097. In its constitution the object of the association is stated to be “the consideration of problems of management arising from the operation of railroads terminating or centering at Chicago.” “Until June, 1894. the association s possibilities as a strike fighter and wage arbiter lay rather dormant. Its roads fixed a ‘Chicago •caie’ for switchmen, covering all linos at Chicago. In March, 1893, the switchmen demanded more pay from each road. The association concluded that they were paid enough; if anything. too much. “This seems to show that employes upon association roads are under subjection to the General Managers' association.” The report, after detailing the action of the association in establishing agencies and employing men, adds: “This was the first time when men upon each line were brought sharply face to face with the fact that in questions as to wages, rules, etc., each line was supported by twenty-four combined railroads. This association likewise prepared for its use elaborate schedules of the ■wages paid upon the entire lines of its twenty■four members. The proposed object of these schedules was to let each road know what other roads paid. “The distribution of these schedules alone enabled the report to be used with efficiency as an ‘equalizer.’ As the result during 1893—it being then well understood that as to wages, «tc., it was an Incident of the General Managers' asssociatioa to ‘assist' each road in case ®f trouble over such matters, one form of assistance being for the association to secure men enough through its agencies to take the places of all strikers—reductions were here and there made on the different roads, the tendency and effort apparently being to equalize the pay on all lines. “It is admitted that the action of the association has great weight with outside lines and this tends to establish one uniform scale throughout the country. The further single step of admitting lines not running into Chicago to membership would certainly have the effect of combining all railroads in wage contentions against all employes thereon. The commission questions whether any legal authority. statutory or otherwise, cun be found to justify some of the features ot the association which have come to light in this investigation. If we regard its practical workings, rather than its professions as expressed in its constitution, the General Managers’ association has no more standing in law than the old ■trunk line pool. It cannot Incorporate be■cause railroad charters do not authorize roads to form corporations or associations to fix rates for services and wages, nor to force their acceptance nor to battle with strikers. “It should be noted that until the railroads set the example a general union of railroad •employes was never attempted. The unions ihad not gone beyond enlisting the men upon ■different systems into separate trade organizations. These neutralize and check each other to some extent and have no such scope or capacity for good or evil as is possible under the universal combination idea inaugurated by tbe railroads and followed by the American Railway union. The refusal of the General Managers’ association to recognize and deal with such a combination of labor as the American Railway union seems arrogant and absurd when we consider its standing before the law, Its assumptions and its past and obviously contemplated future action ’’ Pullman Company and Its Town.

"This Is a corporation organized in 1867, with a capital of $1,000,000. It has grown until its present paid up capital is $36 001,000. Its prop«rty has enabled the company tor over twenty years to pay 2 per cent, quarterly dividends, acd in addition to lay up a surplus of nearly £25,000 000 of undivided profits." V Speaking of the town of Pullman, of which tthe report states the company is owner and landlord, the commission says: “The conditions created at Pullman enable tthe management at all times to assert with great vigor its assumed right to fix wages and rents absolutely ana to repress that sort of independence which leads to labor organizations and their attempts at mediation, arbitration, strikes, etc. On the other hand, it is an economic principle generally recognized that the shutting down of such a plant and the scattering of its forces usually result in a greater loss than that exhibited by the continuance of business. The Pullman company could liardly shut down for seven and a half months -fit a cost and loss of less thau 1 por cent, upon its capital and surplus. To continue running ■was for its obvious and unfair advantage so long as it could divide losses equally with its labor. The men at Pullman claim that the company, during 1893-94, set the pace through ■experts so that with forced loss of time an average man could earn little more than the rent of his home owned by the company. The company alleges that it simply readjusted piecework prices to suit the necessities of the times. “During all of this reduction and its attendant suffering none of the salaries of the officers, managers or superintendents were re•duced. Reductions in these would not have been so severely felt, would have shown good faith, would have relieved the harshness of the ■situation and would have evinced genuine sympathy with labor in the disasters of the times. “If we exclude the esthetic and sanitaryfeatures at Pullman, the rents there are from 20 t 025 per cent, higher than rents in Chicago or surrounding towns for similar accommodations. The esthetic features are admired by -visitors, but have little money value to employes, especially-when they lack broad. “While reducing wages the company made mo reduction in rents. Its position is that the two matters are distinct and that npne of the reasons urged as justifying wage reduction by it as an employer can be considered by the •company as a landlord. “The company claims that it is simply legliitnate business to use its position and resources to hire in the labor market as cheaply as possible and at the same time to keep rents up regardless of what wages are paid to its tenants, or what similar tenements rent for elsewhere: to avail itself to the full extent of business depression and competition in reducing wages and to disregard these same conditions as to atents. No valid reason is assigned for this position except simply that the company had «he power and the legal right to do it. “The demand of the employes for the wages Of June, 1893, was clearly unjustifiable. The business in May, 1894, could not pay the wages •of June, 1893. Reduction was carried to excess, /tout the company was hardly more at fault (therein than were the employes in insisting upon the wages es June, 1893." As to the great railroad strike proper the re;port says: “It is apparent that the readiness to strike sympathetically was promoted by the disturbed andopprehensive condition of railroad ■employes, resulting from wage reductions on different lines, blacklisting, etc., and from the ■recent-growth of the General Managers’ association, which seemed to them a menace." The report declares the arrival of the troops at Chicago was opportune, and says that poMcemen sympathized with strikers rather than with the corporations cannot be doubted, •or would it be surprising to find the same •entiment rife among the military. These forces •are largely recruited from the laboring classes. The President Is Upheld. The commission disposes as follows of the natter ol the use of federal troops: •iSectioti lof artieJo 4 of the federal consti-

tutlon reads as follows: 'Th* United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them against invasiqn, and on application of the legislature, or the executive (when the legislature cannot’ be convened), against domestic violence.’ United States troops were not sent into Illinois upon the application of the legislature, nor of the executive, against domestic violence, violence affecting the state and its government as such. The president ordered the troops to Chicago: 1. To protect federal property. 2. To prevent obstruction in the carrying the malls $. To prevent interference with the interstate commerce. 4. To enforce the decrees and mandates of the federal courts. “He did this under the authority of section 5.298. of the revised statutes of the United States, which provides: “ ‘Whenever, by reason of unlawful obstructions, combinations or assemblages of persons, or rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States, it shall become Impracticable in the judgment of the president to enforce by the ordinary course of judicial proceeding the laws of the United States within any state or territory, it shall be lawful for the president to call forth the militia of any or all of the states and to employ such parts of the land or naval forces of the United States as he may deem necessary to enforce the faithful execution of the laws of the United States or to suppress such rebellion in whatever state or territory thereof the laws of the United States may be forcibly opposed or the execution thereof forcibly obstructed.’ Other statutes tend to confer authority in the same direction.’ Debs and Associates Exonerated. “There is no evidence before the commission that the officers of the American Railway union at any time participated in or advised intimidation, violence or destruction of property. They knew and fully appreciated that as soon as mobs ruled the organized forces of society would crush the mobs and all responsible for them in the remotes t degree and that this meant defeat. The attacks upon corporations and monopolies by the leaders in their speeches are similar to those to be found in the magazines and industrial works of the day. From the testimony it is fair to conclude that strikers were concerned in the outrages against law and order, although the number was undoubtedly small as compared with the whole number. Permanent Commission Advised. In conclusion the report says: “Some of our courts are still poring over the law reports of antiquity in order to construe conspiracy out of labor unions. We also have employers who obstruct progress by perverting and misapplying the law of supply and demand, and who, while insisting upon individualism for workmen, demand that they shall be let alone to combine as they please and that society and all its forces shall protect them in their resulting contentions. “The rapid concentration •of power and wealth, under stimulating legislative conditions, in persons, corporations and monopolies has greatly changed the business and industrial situation. Our railroads wore chartered upon the theory that their competition would amply protect shippers as to rates and employes as to wages and other conditions. Combination has largely destroyed this theory and has seriously disturbed the natural v.’orking of the laws of supply and demand, which, in theory, are based upon competition for labor between those who demand it as well as those who supply it. For instance, as we have shown, there is no any competitive demand among the twenty-four railroads at Chicago for switchmen. They have ceased competing with each other: they are no longer twenty-four separate and competing employers; they are virtually one. “However men may differ about the propriety and legality of labor unions, we must al 1 recognize the fact that we have them with us to stay and grow more numerous and powerful. Is it not wise to fully recognize them by law; to admit their necessity as labor guides and protectors; to conserve their usefulness, increase their responsibility and to prevent their follies and aggressions by conferring upon them the privileges enjoyed by corporations, with like proper restrictions and regulations? The growth of corporate power and wealth has been the marvel of the last fifty years. Corporations have undoubtedly benefited the country and brought its resources to our doors. Il will not be surprising if the marvel of the next fifty years be the advancement of labor to a position of like power and responsibility. “When railroads acted as judge and jury in passing upon the complaints of shippers the people demanded and congress granted a government tribunal where shippers and railroad* could meet on equal terms and have law adjust their differences. In view of the Chicago strike and its suggested dangers the people have the same right to provide a government commission to investigate and report on differences between railways and their employes to the end that interstate commerce and public order may be less disturbed by strikes and boycotts. “The commission therefore recommends: “First, That there be a permanent United States strike commission of three members, with duties and powers of investigation ana recommendations as to disputes between railways and their employes similar to those vested in the interstate commerce commission as to rates, etc. “(a) That, as in the interstate commerce act. power be given to the United States courts to compel railways to obey the decisions of the commission after summary hearing unattended by technicalities, and that no delays in obeying the decisions of the commission be allowed pending appeals. “ (b) That whenever the parties to a controversy in a matter within the jurisdiction of the commission are one or more railroads on one side and one or more national trade unions, incorporated under chapter 567 of the United Slates statutes of 1885-6 or under state statutes. upon the other, each side shall have the right to select a representative, who shall be appointed by the president to serve as a temporary member of the commission in hearing, adjusting and determining that particular controversy. “This provision would make it for the interest of labor organizations to incorporate under the law and to make the commission a practical board of conciliation. It would also tend to create confidence in the commission and to give to that body in every hearing the benefit of practical knowledge of the situation on both sides. “(c) That during the pendency of a proceeding before the commission inaugurated by national trade unions or by an incorporation of employes it shall not be lawful for the railroads to discharge employes belonging thereto except for inefficiency, violation of law or neglect of duty: nor for such unions during such pendency to order, unite in. or aid or abetstrikes or boycotts against the railways complained of; nor for a period of six months after a decision for such railroads to discharge any such employes in whose places others shall be employed, except for the causes aforesaid; nor for any such employes, during a like period, to quit the service without giving thirty days’ written notice of intention todo so; nor for any such union or incorporation to order, counsel or advise otherwise. “That chapter 567 of the United States statutes of 1885-83 be amended so as to require national trades unions to provide in their articles of incorporation and in their constitutions rules and by-laws that a member shall cease to be such and forfeit all rights and privileges conferred on him by law as such by participating in, or by instigating force or violence against persons or property during strikes or boycotts, or by seeking to prevent others from working through violence, threats or intimidation; also that members shall be no more personally liable for corporate acts than are stockholders in corporations. “Contracts requiring men to agree not to join labor organizations or to leave them as conditions of employment should be made illegal as is already done in some of our states. “The commission urges employers to recognize labor organizations; that such organizations be dealt with through representatives with special reference to conciliation and arbitration when difficulties are threatened or arise.