Letter from William Odman to President Harry S. Truman

6-1 Wm Odman 2004 42nd Norh Seattle, Wash Dear Mr. President: I am sorry to read of your anti-strike bill. I believe that it is unconstitutional and reeks a little of facisism. The first thing Hitler did after getting the oath of loyalty from all German army officers was to smash the trade unions. I realize that a railroad strike would be disasterous not only to our own people but to those abroad, but big business is using this and the government to set back labor many years. The railroad workers should have got the wage increase they demanded in the first place and whatever safety regulations they deemed necessary. I never read anywhere in the press the hourly wage scale of all railroad workers or their weekly take home pay, but merely the daily increase they demanded. It reminds me of when I was in the army how a different course was taken to make the people more sympathetic to the service. The enlisted mans pay was published many times but never once did I see the pay and allowances of officers published in a large daily. I understand that the rail- road workers worked all through the war at the same hourly rate they got immediately before the war. I would be willing to wager that public opinion would have been different if the hourly wage rates were published so that all could see. The only recourse a working man has is to strike, he has no other weapon. It is his only protection. He can't even exercise that to its best advantage because what average workingman with a family can stay out of employment long? I believe Mr. President that it would be possible for the government to take over other industries that were threatened with strike and then maintain that the workers were strik- ing against the govt and people. I can think of no more effective