THE FIGHT for the Railway Labor Act, which
was inaugurated in 1923, was one of the most critical
battles over labor legislation ever waged in Congress.
At the time such fundamental questions as the right
of labor to organize, to be recognized by management,
to engage in collective bargaining, and to establish
trade agreements binding throughout a trade or in-
dustry were all bitterly in dispute. The country had
just experienced the first and only nation-wide strike
of railroad employees, and tremendous public antag-
onism and much fear of any increased power in organ-
ized labor had been aroused. The American people
were just coming out of the first post-war depression
and in no mood to be tolerant of labor disputes which
interrupted production or distribution. Indeed, the
strongest argument which the railroad employees had

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