God grant that the dawn of
that day of frank dealing and of settled peace, concord, and cooeperation
may be near at hand!
THE DEMANDS OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES
[Address delivered at a joint session of the two Houses of Congress,
August 29, 1916.]
GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS:
I have come to you to seek your assistance in dealing with a very grave
situation which has arisen out of the demand of the employees of the
railroads engaged in freight train service that they be granted an
eight-hour working day, safeguarded by payment for an hour and a half of
service for every hour of work beyond the eight.
The matter has been agitated for more than a year. The public has been
made familiar with the demands of the men and the arguments urged in
favor of them, and even more familiar with the objections of the
railroads and their counter demand that certain privileges now enjoyed
by their men and certain bases of payment worked out through many years
of contest be reconsidered, especially in their relation to the adoption
of an eight-hour day. The matter came some three weeks ago to a final
issue and resulted in a complete deadlock between the parties.
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