Wilson Pushes Eight-Hour Day in Railroad Talks
President Wilson faces a potential national rail strike as executives and labor unions clash over the eight-hour workday and the limits of arbitration.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Washington, Aug. 21.—While the negotiations took no actual forward step yesterday, the president replied indirectly to contentions of the road officials that the principle of arbitration would be endangered by his plan for putting the eight-hour basic day into effect while a commission investigates its practicability and passes upon other points at issue. In a telegram made public at the White House, the president declared he holds firmly to arbitration as a principle and that his plan strengthens rather than weakens it. He also said that some means must be found to prevent the existing situation from ever arising again. President Wilson’s so-called plan for adjustment of the questions at stake is no more than an invitation to the railroads to surrender, said E. P. Ripley, president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. When asked if he had any hopes of a settlement, Mr. Ripley said: 'Yes; I have hopes. I hope the men will strike. If a small number of men can block the country’s business the country ought to know it. The sooner the better. That condition ought to be defeated at once and decisively.'
“If a small number of men can block the country’s business the country ought to know it. The sooner the better.”
This 1916 labor conflict over the eight-hour workday reflects the perennial tension between organized labor and corporate management in the Pacific Northwest, mirroring contemporary debates about gig economy work hours and the right to collective bargaining in transportation sectors.
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