ured of his conclusions.

I unhesitatingly offered the friendly services of the administration to
the railway managers to see to it that justice was done the railroads in
the outcome. I felt warranted in assuring them that no obstacle of law
would be suffered to stand in the way of their increasing their revenues
to meet the expenses resulting from the change so far as the development
of their business and of their administrative efficiency did not prove
adequate to meet them. The public and the representatives of the public,
I felt justified in assuring them, were disposed to nothing but justice
in such cases and were willing to serve those who served them.

The representatives of the brotherhoods accepted the plan; but the
representatives of the railroads declined to accept it. In the face of
what I cannot but regard as the practical certainty that they will be
ultimately obliged to accept the eight-hour day by the concerted action
of organized labor, backed by the favorable judgment of society, the
representatives of the railway management have felt justified in
declining a peaceful settlement which would engage all the forces of
justice, public and private, on their side to take care of the event.
They fear the hostile influence of shippers, who would be opposed to an
increase of freight rates (for which, however, of course, the public
itself would pay); they apparently feel no confidence that the
Interstate Commerce Commission could withstand the objections that would
be made. They do not care to rely upon the friendly assurances of the
Congress or the President. They have thought it best that they should be
forced to yield, if they must yield, not by counsel, but by the
suffering of the country. While my conferences with them were in
progress, and when to all outward appearance those conferences had come
to a standstill, the representatives of the brotherhoods suddenly acted
and set the strike for the fourth of September.

The railway managers based their decision to reject my counsel in this
matter upon their conviction that they must at any cost to themselves or
to the country stand firm for the principle of arbitration which the men
had rejected. I based my counsel upon the indisputable fact that there
was no means of obtaining arbitration. The law supplied none; earnest
efforts at mediation had failed to influence the men in the least. To
stand firm for the principle of arbitration and yet not get arbitration