Mr. CowLES. Wait a moment, if you please. What I ask is to present a bill which really takes up the latter part of the present bill and does not deal with anything else. I have a copy of it here.

Mr. ADAMSON. If you have a statement ready you can hand it to the stenographer, or if you haven't it ready you may make it up and send it to the stenographer or to the clerk of the committee and it will go into the record and be printed.

Mr. CowLES. I will make a short statement and give it to the reporter, but I would also like to address myself briefly to this bill which I propose.

Mr. ADAMSON. The committee, Mr. Cowles, has a definite program. Mr. CowLES. It is a part of that program, sir. It takes up what you have in your bill after section 5.

Mr. ADAMSON. That is all we are considering. All we are considering is what we have included in our program. That program has been finished. We are not considering the other questions here. Mr. CowLES. I am not proposing that either. I am simply proposing a substitute commencing with section 5.

Mr. ADAMSON. Submit it, then. You heard the arrangement that was made with the other gentlemen to have remarks printed in the record. You may submit that and it will go in. Give it to the stenographer any time within a week.

Mr. ESCH. Is this additional to what you submitted before the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce?

Mr. CowLES. It is somewhat different. I should like very much to place in here a speech made by Frederick C. Howe at the recent meeting of the Economic Club.

Mr. ESCH. In favor of Government ownership?

Mr. CowLES. Yes. It is really in connection with this last proposition.

Mr. ADAMSON. It is not material to this consideration.

Mr. CowLES. Yes; it is absolutely material to this consideration, because it is presented as no other man in this country has presented it.

Mr. ADAMSON. You can present that to the Newlands committee. Mr. CowLES. Can I submit

Mr. ADAMSON (interposing). If you have anything to present here, Mr. Cowles, as to how to do justice to the men who operate our railroads and to prevent the disturbances of traffic due to strikes, we shall be very glad to receive it. The Newlands committee, however, are going to investigate the general questions you mention, including that of Government ownership. If you have anything under that head, present it to the Newlands committee, not here.

Mr. CowLES. The only possible way for you to do that is for you to determine the hours of labor and the wages of men.

Mr. ADAMSON. We have finished our program here and are about to adjourn. If you have anything pertinent to this inquiry, you may submit it, as I have stated. We are not going on now with any further hearing. The hearings are closed.

Mr. H. B. MARTIN, national secretary American Anti Trust League, Washington, D. C. Mr. Chairman, would you permit me to make one statement?

Mr. ADAMSON. Very well.

Mr. MARTIN. I was requested by Representative Buchanan of Illinois to make a brief statement on his behalf. He was unable to get here by reason of having some business at one of the departments, and asked me to read a statement to the committee, a statement which he has prepared and desired to present in person, but could not get here to do so. It is a statement dealing with the pending proposition.

Mr. ADAMSON. We will be very glad to have it printed.

Mr. MARTIN. I would like to read it to you, in accordance with. Mr. Buchanan's request. It would occupy only about 10 minutes of your time, and he asked me, if he was unable to return here before the closing of the hearings, to present it by reading it to you. Mr. ADAMSON. Is it prepared ready to print?

Mr. MARTIN. It is prepared, sir, and deals directly with the question under consideration-that is, whether or not legislation should be enacted at this time covering the question of compulsory arbitration.

Mr. ADAMSON. Do you mean you insist upon reading that now, or will you be satisfied to put it in the record?

Mr. MARTIN. Mr. Buchanan's request was that I read it to the committee personally. It won't exceed 5 or 6 minutes. Mr. ADAMSON. I think we ought to hear that. (Mr. Martin read the following statement:)

STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK BUCHANAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, the principal question involved in the proposed legislation now before this committee is whether or not Congress shall enact a compulsory arbitration law as respects railroad employees engaged in the operation of trains.

The opposition to a compulsory arbitration law on the part of the organized brotherhoods of the railroad trainmen, who comprise the great bulk of the men operating the roads, to the number of several hundred thousands, as well as the unanimous opposition to such legislation on the part of all other branches of organized labor, to the number of between two and three millions of workers, has been expressed to Congress in language of such strength and emphasis that it is, I believe, unparalleled in the history of this country and plainly indicates to Congress that if compulsory arbitration legislation of this character entailing involuntary servitude is enacted by Congress and attempted to be enforced, that it will lead to enormous strikes and industrial strife of such unparalleled extent and bitterness as to practically amount to civil war in the United States. Certainly such a catastrophe is to be avoided by every means possible that the legislative ingenuity of Congress can devise.

The question, then, before Congress is what action can be taken, what legislation can be enacted, that will avoid such a calamity and at the same time save the people of this country from the dangers, inconvenience, losses, and suffering that would inevitably follow a complete tie-up of the transportation industry of the Nation, such as was threatened last summer and fall by the dispute between the railroad managers and the railroad employees.

It is plain that this is a vast and difficult problem which now confronts Congress, and yet I am convinced that the solution of this question is not as remote or as impossible as it might appear at first glance. In fact, there is now pending before Congress and in this committee a very brief resolution, House joint resolution 302, which provides a simple and completely effective solution of the difficulties and dangers which the country faces from an attempt to compulsory arbitration and its concomitant and intolerable evil, involuntary servitude, as well as from the incalculable losses, inconvenience, and distress that would follow a nation-wide railroad strike. The provisions of House joint resolution 302 are as follows:

[H. J. Res. 302, Sixty-fourth Congress, first session.]

JOINT RESOLUTION Providing for Federal management and control of the railroads of the United States under certain conditions.

Whereas the maintenance of highways is one of the chief functions of government, one of the great essential attributes of sovereignty, of which no government can be divested without endangering the existence of the State itself; and

Whereas there exists at this time a dispute between the employees and the managers of the railroads of the United States which unless speedily settled may lead to such cessation of operation of these great public highways as will result in great inconvenience, loss, and injury to the public: Therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in case of any failure on the part of the managers of the railroads of the United States to operate said railroads or any of them with a full and satisfactory service to the public, then the President of the United States is hereby authorized and directed to immediately take over the management and operation of said railroads, so failing to operate. In so doing he shall, as far as practicable, employ the men now operating the roads, and the men shall work under the eight-hour day, with time and one-half for overtime more than eight hours per day at the prevailing rate of wages.

The commanding reasons why Congress should enact this joint resolution 302 into law at the present time are:

(1) That it would immediately remove for all time to come any possibility of a tie-up of all the transportation industries of the country by means of a railroad strike. Because there is no railroad corporation but what would greatly prefer to settle any dispute with their employees without a strike in preference to having the Government take over the management and operation of the road. And in case any railroad corporation and its management should drive their men to strike rather than make a peaceful adjustment of their differences as to wages, hours of labor, or working conditions, then in a single day, in a few hours, in fact before the strike had accomplished_any material damage to the business interests of the country, the President could appoint or secure the appointment by the United Statees courts of a United States Government manager or receiver for the road and immediately resume its operation on terms satisfactory to the public and the employees.

(2) The adoption of this joint resolution by Congress would itself remove any necessity for enacting the proposed compulsory arbitration legislation with its train of trouble and civil strife throughout our country.

(3) The enactment of the joint resolution 302 would be a salutary lesson and check to the overweaning and lawless pride and power of these giant monopolies of transportation who have so long and so ruthlessly ruled and robbed the people, and so brazenly defied the laws and the authority of the Government.

(4) It would lay down as a rule and guide for all future legislation on the transportation question the great and beneficent doctrine as to the right of the sovereign people to exercise complete control at all times over their public highways, whether they are of plain dirt, modern pavement, or lined with steel rails. The creation and maintenance of highways is one of the chief functions of government, one of the great essential attributes of sovereignty, of which no government can be divested without endangering the existence of the state itself. This is completely proven by the experience of our own Government in the last two generations during which it has abdicated its sovereignty over the rail, wire, and pipe-line highways of the Nation and permitted private corporations to usurp these great functions of government and thereby draw to themselves such a monstrous and intolerable power over the industries, lives, and business of our people and to accumulate in a few hands such unparalleled massing of wealth as to create an empire of money within this Nation that not only robs and enslaves our people but threatens the perpetuity of the Republic itself.

(5) It may be objected that the enactment of the Buchanan resolution would place the railroad corporations completely at the mercy of their organized employees, who would be able under this law to start a strike at any time to force such unreasonable conditions as to wages and hours that the railroad companies could not grant them without bankrupting the roads. The answer to this is that for more than two generations the railroad employees of the United States have refrained from any such abuse of the power of their numbers, and it is a gross slander on both the character and intelligence of a great body of patriotic, industrious, and patient men to say that their response to just and fair treatment by their Government would be to foolishly attempt to destroy the beneficent effect of legislation enacted for the protection of their own rights.

(6) It may be objected that there is no authority under the Constitution and laws of the United States which provides the President with means for carrying into effect the provisions of House Joint Resolution 302. The answer to this is that any corporation having a monopoly of a public highway which by misuse operates said highway in a manner so as to endanger the public interest or safety, or by nonuse fails to operate it at all, forfeits its corporate rights and subjects itself to seizure by the Government. Also, it is well-settled law and corporation practice that when a railroad corporation fails or refuses to pay its debts or defaults in the interest on its bonds, its creditors or bondholders can go into court and get a receiver appointed at once. Certainly the failure to operate its road at all is far graver reason for putting a road in the hands of a receiver than the mere failure of a corporation to pay a debt or the interest on some of its questionable bonds.

(7) However, if there is any shadow of doubt in the minds of any member of this committee as to the power of the President when au

thorized by Congress through this resolution to appoint a United States Government manager for a railroad corporation that fails or refuses to operate its road, or that the President may in the exercise of the power conferred upon him by House joint resolution 302, direct the Attorney General or any United States attorney to go into any United States court and ask for the appointment of a receiver for any such railroad corporation so failing or refusing to operate its road, then there is pending before Congress and in your committee H. R. 17683, introduced by Representative Taggart, of Kansas, which expressely confers on the President and the Attorney General the power and duty to apply for and the United States courts to appoint such receivers for interstate railroad corporations so failing and refusing to operate their roads. The following are the terms of H. R. 17683:

A BILL To provide for the appointment of receivers for railroads and railroad corporations in certain cases.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the word "railroad" as herein used shall include any corporation, firm, copartnership, or individual who is a common carrier engaged in carrying passengers and freight in interstate commerce. The words "interstate commerce" shall mean commerce by railroad across State lines, or to or from the District of Columbia, or across the boundary of the United States.

SEC. 2. That if at any time after the passage of this act any railroad fails or refuses for any reason to carry freight and passengers in interstate commerce to the reasonable satisfaction of the public it shall be the duty of the Attorney General immediately to direct the United States district attorney of the proper district to proceed at once before the judge of the United States district court for the district in which the principal office of such railroad is located and make application for the appointment of a receiver for such railroad. That it shall be the duty of such United States district judge immediately upon being satisfied that such railroad has failed or refused to carry freight or passengers in interstate commerce to the reasonable satisfaction of the public to appoint a receiver for such railroad. That in making such appointment he shall appoint preferably the president or some officer of said railroad if it shall appear that such officer is willing to accept such service and carry out the provisions of this act. And such receiver shall receive the same compensation as he previously received as an officer of such railroad.

SEC. 3. That such receiver shall, under the direction of the court, proceed to operate such railroad in the usual manner; that he shall retain in his employment all the present officers and employees of such railroad if they desire to continue in the service of such railroad, unless it shall be necessary for sufficient reason to discharge them; and the same rules of conduct formerly in practice on the said railroad shall apply.

SEC. 4. That a day's work on all railroads in charge of such receivers for men operating trains shall consist of eight hours, and the rate of pay for such employees operating trains for eight hours shall be the regular rate of pay per diem heretofore paid by such railroads for a day's work. In case it is impracticable to cease work at the end of eight hours, additional work shall be paid for as overtime at the rate of time and one half for the overtime so employed. SEC. 5. That in any case where a railroad is now in the hands of a receiver, the judge of the United States court for the proper district shall make such additional orders as are necessary to conform to this' act.

SEC. 6. That no employee shall be discharged by such receiver on account of any part he may have taken in any controversy with any railroad.

SEC. 7. That all rules, regulations, schedules, and tariffs, and all contracts, except for labor in operating trains, on such railroads as herein provided for shall remain in full force and effect, and such railroads shall continue to be operated in all respects, except as herein stated, as they have heretofore been operated.