The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-11-15
ARBITRATION DISCUSSED.
WRI0HTsREMARks
 ON THE QUESTION.


 ON THE QUESTION.
 He Says That the Lab ,r Question MeAns
 Simply . Struggle for . Higher Stan ard
 HLivins-Proprietorsh Can Solve tho
 Problem. ...
 Chicago. Nov. N.--Miss Jane Adams presided st the opening of the arbitra- ton congress this morning. She em- phasized the statement that this move- ment was not calculated to retard the labor revolution, but rather to help 1t along. ...A,.
 Joseph D. Weeks, editor of the Iron World. spoke on Relation Between Employer and Employe In Manufac- turing Affairs" He did not confine himself to his subject. but discussed rather the difficulties arising over mat ters of sentiment or what are called sympathetic" strikes. To prevent these and all other labor troubles Mr. Weeks would have a proper distribu- ton of the joint product of labor and capital. but how to accomplish this was a question he was not fully prepared to answer. Strikes and lockoGts settled nothing beyond that of which side could hold out the longer. The speaker did not think that what was fair days wages could ever be settled by legisla- tive enactment. He thought the true solution of the labor problem was only to be found in bringing public opinion to bear on the question and believed neither side would dare brave public opinion for long. Law itself, was sim- ply public opinion crystallized.
 M- M. Garland, president of the AmaIgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, followed on the subject Sliding Scales and Kindred Matters" He thought sliding scales step in ad- vance of any wage system yet tried and explained in detail, justifying the fact that limit is fixed, lower than which wages cannot 90 whether the price of the product goes lower or not.
 M. J. Carroll. editor of the Eight Hour Herald, presided at the afternoon session, sS The speakers were Labor Commissioner Carroll D. Wright, Henry c. Adams and Judge John Gibbons of the Cook county bench. MT. Wright's subject was of three-fold character. He discussed first the distinction be- tween compulsory and voluntary ar bitration: then the distinction between compulsory arbitration and public in vestigation of labor disputes and final ly the distinction between adjudication of past contrafts and settlements of future ones.
 Mir, Wright said in pert: ''The labor qnes4lonl broadly stated means simply . strtiGgie for higher standard of liv- ing. A,strfKe iH Itself Is simply 2 pro- test against changing conditions ad- yerseiy. It Is only through conflict that good ever comes in this world. So this labor conflict means the uplifting of laboring men and the bettering of their condition. The distinction between compulsory and voluntary arbitration is the distinction between a continued conflict and the supremacy of reason In all cases where the courts have juris- diction the question of arbitration en- ters. ,.,,t .---.. .
 "There should always precede arbi- tration the attempt lat conciliation Compulsory arbitration Is not to be thought of. If a law were made com- polling workmen or employers to ac- cede to a decree of the court under penalty 1t could not be enforced. A man should be ashamed of himself if he does not conduct his business in such a manner as to prevent strikes and if strikes occur believe he should be held in the same estimation as the convicted bankrupt"
 MT. Wright read from the report of the national committee in which per- manent committee is recommended which shall move quickly and fix the responsibility of any strike which it may have under Jurisdiction.
 Professor Adams, secretary of the in- ter state commerce commission, read a paper on "Econonics of Arbitration" 1" There could be, he said, no industrial liberty without industrial ownership of property He recognized but two class es of persons the property-holder and those who had no property. By be- coming property y-holder, and in this way alone. can one become his own master. Without proprietorship the labor question never could be solved.
 Judge Gibbons discussed the question of how far arbitration can be made compulsory without. infringing on pri- vate rights. ' 1ss !, suNs