Wilson's Eight-Hour Day Plan Draws Railroad Pushback
As a national railroad strike looms, President Wilson clashes with industrial magnates over the fundamental rights of labor versus the stability of interstate commerce.
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 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. In a telegram, the president declared he holds firmly to arbitration as a principle and that his plan strengthens rather than weakens it. E. P. Ripley, president of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, said, 'President Wilson’s so-called plan for adjustment of the questions at stake is no more than an invitation to the railroads to surrender.' When asked if he had any hopes of a settlement, Mr. Ripley replied: '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.'
“If a small number of men can block the country’s business the country ought to know it.”
This 1916 standoff over the 'eight-hour day' and the power of organized labor mirrors modern debates over the gig economy, transit strikes, and the federal government's role in intervening in private-sector collective bargaining to prevent economic disruption.
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