For the second time in seven weeks, U.S. railway unions used a swindler's trick in their tangled, two-year contract fight. The key switchmen who make up trains in pivotal rail yards began reporting sick again in droves—first in Chicago and Detroit, then in dozens of other cities, east, west and south, around the nation. The effect was even more devastating than it was last December when Christmas packages piled up.
In an elephantine gesture calculated to insure him against legal action, Union President William P. Kennedy sent an order to all locals. They were to remember their duty not to...