100 years ago in The Saratogian
Wednesday, March 14, 1917
Saratoga Springs will go under a freight embargo tomorrow night as the nation faces the prospect of a massive railroad strike this weekend, The Saratogian reports.
Under the embargo order issued by the Delaware & Hudson railroad, no freight except milk and cream will leave the city after the close of business on March 15. The local freight house will not receive any cargo with bills of lading dated later than the 15th.
Railroad workers have threatened to strike unless employers implement the Adamson Law granting them an eight-hour day. Ratified last year to prevent a strike, the law is under review by the U.S. Supreme Court after a lower court found it unconstitutional. The railroad unions are authorized to call a strike should the high court rule against the law.
Union leaders are watching the U.S. government’s moves toward war with Germany. Since they’re unlikely to initiate what would be an unpopular wartime strike, the unions hope to force a resolution and nail down the eight-hour day before President Woodrow Wilson calls a special session of Congress next month.
“The leaders of the Railroad Brotherhood are misjudging the temper of the American people and, we think, the sober judgment and decision of the large majority of their own members,” a Saratogian editorial warns.
“They think they have the country at a disadvantage and are willing to blackmail it. In truth they are going further than this; they are overriding the law, which is rebellion, and the government, under no circumstances, can permit it.”
The unions may think the war hasn’t started yet, but “this country, if not in name is in fact at war. At this time of national crisis to have the railroads, the arteries of the country, stop, would be a crime against the United States. It would be just what Germany is doing – making war on the United States. It would also be helping Germany.
“It is unbelievable that they should desire to jeopardize the country at such a time, and the rights and liberties of the other ninety-five millions [of Americans] will not permit of it.”
MANY SARATOGIANS GO TO COLLEGE
Approximately 60% of students from the last six graduating classes at Saratoga High School have gone on to college, school superintendent C. L. Mosher tells the Saratoga Springs Club of College Women this afternoon.
A total of 153 recent graduates have attended college classes, according to statistics compiled by High School principal E. B. Robbins. To Mosher this proves “the interest of Saratogians in general in higher education and their appreciation of its value.”