The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-03-20
The Ancient Struggle in New Forms

what Is just, refusing to employ I'M
fair means even to attain worthy
ends, faithfully obeying law and
seeking the permanent prosperity of
industry. 1t will gain in power every
day. Bot every instance of unwis-
dom In the demands made by labor.
of lawlessness In its methods, of un.
fairness or unreasonableness in the
measures to which il resorts, sets
back the cause oforganized labor and
weakens the influence If labor organ
izations. When a President comes
ins as = reformer. one had appoint
ment deliberately made hurts him
Beyond measure. Organized labor
begins by protesting against the in
Justice of existing regulations. 1t
comes as reformer. If it does In
justice or violates law, 1t destroys Its
only claim to the confidence of the
workers themselves"
The molly Maguires" of the coal
regions once had terrible power.
The organization used that power
against law and against justice, and
public sentiment stamped it out of
existence. Who can remember all
the labor organizations that haye
since arisen, seeking TO weld the
same great power for the benefit of
wOrkingmen Hundreds have start
ed with high hopes and grand prom.
ises, but soon have vanished. Others
linger to-day only in form, having
lost power with workingmen them.
selves or with the public. A few re-
main strong, and have steadily grown
In power and in public confidence.
The few remain because they have
faithfully tried to ojustice and to
obey law. The many have gone
down or gone out because they have
made unjust demands. or resorted to
unfair or lawless methods.
e"Is this quite fair ?" the worker
asks. "Can an organization of men.
not at all educated or trained, be ex.
pected from the first to avoid all err
rors of judgment or to restrain all
unwise advisers or turbulent ele.
ments ?" Hardly, and yet in under.
taking to dictate to employers and
workingmen alike, the organization
claims almost superhuman wisdom.
prudence and justice. For it says to
the workers: Surrender individual
freedom to an organization that has
more wisdom in defence of your in
terests than you have yourselves"
1t says to employers: 1.-The dicta-
ton proposed is, in the long run,
hest for your interests also your sell
fish policy is short-sighted the or
ganization knows what you ought to
do better than you, with your blind
ing hunger for immediate profits,
possibly cam" If that proves true,
the organization is blessing to all
but if 1t proves not true, if unwis-
dom or injustice rules it, then the Or
ganizatiOn Is curse to all. The
greater its pretensions and its power
the more its need of almost super
human sagacity and impartiality.
Thus the path is cleared for arbi.
tration. Organized labor has not
shown superhuman sagacity or i'm.
Partially it has formed leagues and
chapters by the thousand, only to see
them crumble to pieces because they
were not found equal to task requir.
ing wisdom and fairness more than
human. Labor cannot escape from
the binding influence of selfishness,
any more than capital. 1t is as like
~ to err in one direction as employ.
ers are to err in the other. Dictation
by either ends in wrong and in loss.
The impartial decision of trained ar
biters who hear both sides is infinite.
ly more likely to be correct than the
one-sided and unavoidably selfish de-
mand Of either party to the contro-
versy.
So far II is rot difficult to see. Sc
lection and enforcement are the
Scylla and Charybdis of that voyage.
If arbiters be selected by the interes
ted parties, there is prospect that
their finding will command no con-
ddence, and so can be enforced only
by the extreme measures to which
the contesting parties now resort with
great loss. The bill pending at AL
bany illustrates both those difficult
ties. A trades union Is to select two
arbiters. 1t is proposed will it try to
choose fair and unprejudiced men ?
Clearly not, because 1t will not ex-
pect such men to be chosen on the
other side 1t will select men as stiff
aud ,uncompromisingly on -sided as
possible. The finding of such men
will have no weight with employers;
the finding ofsimilar men selected by
the employers will have no weight