The Interstate Commerce Commission is proposed by the railroads as the public body to which this issue ought to be referred for these reasons:
directly to the employees as wagest and the money to pay increased wages can come from no other source than the rates paid by the public.
The Interstate Commerce Commission, with its control over rates, is in a position to make a complete investigation and render such decision as would protect the interests of the railroad employees, the owners of the railroads, and the public.
A Question For the Public to Decide
The railroads feel that they have no right to grant a wage preferment of $100,000,000 a year to these employees, now highly paid and constituting only one-fifth of all the employees, without a clear mandate from a public tribunal that shall determine the merits of the case after a review of all the facts.
The single issue before the country is whether this controversy is to be settled by an impartial Government inquiry or by industrial warfare.
No other body with such an intimate knowledge of railroad conditions has such an unquestioned position in the public confidence.
The rates the railroads may charge the public for transportation are now largely fixed by this Government board.
Out of every dollar received by the railroads from the public nearly one-half is paid National Conference Committee of the Railways.
ELISHA LEE, Chairman
P. R. ALBRIGHT, Gen'l Manager.
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.
L. W. BALDWIN, Gen'l Manager.
Central of Georgia Railway.
G. L. BARDO, Gen'l Manager,
New York, New Haven &  Hartford Railroad.
B. H. COOPER, Vice-President
Allway.
T. E. COTTER, Gen. Manager
Wabash Railway. 