ABSTRACT
The prevention of the railroad strike has caused bitterness, but it is insignificant when compared with what would have happened had the strike taken place. English, French, Italian and Belgian experience was a foretaste, but not a measure of what an American strike would have been. No nation has dealt with industrial conflict over so large a territory, and no nation where strikes have occurred is so dependent as we are upon the railroads. The only difference between "arbitration" and the present method is that three or four arbitrators would have had to guess on no experience and on no principle, while Congress has guessed and provided a way for testing the result. Congress still has to provide a better method for the future, but its organization can proceed calmly and with the good will of labor. That is an infinitely better mood in which to build than in the aftermath of violence, ruin and hatred.
