PROCEEDINGS STATE AGRICULTURAL CONVENTION 143 



transportation law it would be to say to you that the whole wage system 

 needs revision; that the railroad should he given a right to go on the labor 

 markets of this country and buy its labor as any other industry buys it. 

 This it cannot do because of the restrictions of the Railroad Labor Board, 

 The public has been deprived of a hearing before the Railroad Labor 

 Board. 



Not only has the American Farm Bureau Federation asked to appear 

 on behalf of the farmers of this country but the national industrial traffic 

 league has asked that same permission and the National Manufacturers 

 Association has asked the permission. All have been denied the privilege 

 of speaking for the public of this country with regard to this important 

 item which affects our transportation. I don't believe the spirit of this 

 country or the thought of the people would ever permit us to go back to a 

 system that did not provide some board to stand between the railroad em- 

 ployee and the railroad in defense of the general public. And I do say to 

 you that one governmental body in Washington which regulates every cent 

 of the income of the railroads and another governmental body or com- 

 mission in Chicago which regulates sixty per cent of the expenditure of 

 that income cannot function in the interests of the whole people. I have 

 this in mind myself, it is my own individual thought, that the transporta- 

 tion act should be so amended that the labor board should be done away 

 with as it now exists; its functions should be transferred to the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission which already exists. That Interstate Commerce 

 Commission as a whole or in part or by additions to Its membership should 

 serve as a body to consider the evidence in case of an imminent strike 

 between the employer and employee and only then as it affects train serv- 

 ice, for that is about the only thing that concerns us as the general public; 

 that is a strike of right of way men would not result in general starving 

 on the part of the people of America. That this board in these cases 

 should make a thorough investigation, should give the public their informa- 

 tion and that it should be a high crime for any strike to be declared until 

 that information is in the hands of the public. 



I think that would go a long way towards a satisfactory settlement of 

 this important transportation item, since really this transportation question 

 is so big that nobody, I think, comprehends it. I am only giving you a 

 general conclusion. When some radical or half-informed fellow gets to 

 talking the railroad question the probability is that he has not investigated 

 the things which he is talking about. When anyone discounts the infor- 

 mation obtained by the Interstate Commerce Commission he is going 

 against the only reliable source of information in this country. If their 

 information be accurate it is my impression that we are headed very soon 

 directly into government ownership of the railroads or we are headed to- 

 wards a policy which will remove some of the restrictions of the com- 

 missions now regulating railroads. You know that no Board of Railroad 

 Directors can control more than five per cent of the income of the rail- 

 roads at this time. They are that nearly governmentally controlled. 

 They must either be given more personal initiative to work out their own 

 conditions, and that of course under a proper curb of government au- 

 thority, or they must come into the hands of the government. I really be- 



