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Remarks Commending Management and Labor Leaders on the Railroad Settlement

July 8, 1948

I WANT to congratulate you gentlemen on this settlement. It is great for our country. I wanted to see this thing settled as it should be done, by bargaining and not in any other way. You did this on your own hook, and I feel very good about it. I congratulate all of you on it. I am satisfied that you would like to have this publicly known as a settlement on your own hook, and I am going to ask you gentlemen to go out of here and tell the press exactly what happened and what the agreement is.

Again I want to congratulate you.

NOTE: The dispute was settled when the unions agreed to accept a wage increase of 15 1/2 cents an hour for firemen and engineers and the railroads agreed to revise certain rules to the advantage of the employees. The agreement ended the 61-day period of operation and control of the railroads by the Army under Executive Order 9957 (3 CFR, 1943-1948 Comp., p. 701).