The most startling shift has been, of course, in the railway men's
organizations, which have changed from a pronounced conservatism to an
advocacy of a socialistic plan of railway nationalization under the
Plumb Plan. The Plumb Plan raises the issue of socialism in its
American form. In bare outline the Plan proposes government acquisition
of the railroads at a value which excludes rights and privileges not
specifically granted to the roads in their charters from the States. The
government would then lease the roads to a private operating corporation
governed by a tri-partite board of directors equally representing the
consuming public, the managerial employes, and the classified employes.
An automatic economy-sharing scheme was designed to assure efficient
service at low rates calculated to yield a fixed return on a value shorn
of capitalized privileges.
The purpose of the Plumb Plan is to equalize the opportunities of labor
and capital in using economic power to obtain just rewards for services
rendered to the public. In this respect it resembles many of the land
reform and other "panaceas" which are scattered through labor history.
Pages:
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381