The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-01-29
20 seek FOR FACTS
In THE LABOR WORLD
Important Work. of the H.
dustrial Commission.
Economic Conditions to BE Laid
Bare for Study.
S,Iinhi on Vital Topics Distributed
throughout the Country to Sc
cure RcIiablc Information.

The attention of the public has been
attracted TO the work of the United States
Industrial Commission through the three
syllabi or topical plans of enquiry. which
have already been published. These plans
of enquiry foreshadow the Wilderness OF the
range as well as The far-rCaching impor-
lance OF the Investigations upon which
the commission is now prepared 10 enter.
The topical plan OF enquiry is the printed
form mapping out the endless ramifcations
of the commissions enquiries. IL sug-
gests topically. the countless points at
which the commission is 10 thrust its
probe into Industrial economic conditions
and philosophy. Those prepared by The
commission indicate purpose to sweep
with scrutinous thoroughness into every
little corner of the labor world-to learn
where there are conditions TO be con-
fronted. facts to be revealed, diSconlentS
10 be eased, or evils TO be abated. In
vested by the act of Congress creating it
with ample authority 70 force the attend
ance of witnesses and the revelation OF
facts and 10 devise methods for the i'm
. proYement of industrial conditions that
are not as good as they should be, the
commission is destined by its work 10
arouse the keenest interest in every cor
ner of the land.
History OF the Commission.
The commission comes into being by an
act of Congress approved June is. 1898.
and that, in the title, authorizes it Ito
collate information and to consider and
recommend legislation TO meet the prob
lens presented by labor, agriculture. and
capital The original bill was prepared
by Representative Phillips of Pennsyi-
vania and Henry b. Martin, formerly OF
Minneapolis, but at present citizen OF
New York. Beth Messrs. Phillips and
Martin devoted many years OF untiring Ia
Dor to the framing and enactment of the
bill creating the commission. The act was
put through the Fifty-fourth Congress, but
was vetoed by President Cleveland. 1t
was taken up In the last Congress and
passed with few amendments, receiving
the approval of President Mckinley.
For the Guidance of Statesmen
The commission grew out of a demand
for definite and authoritative data for the
guidance OF the statesmen of the nation
in dealing with economic questions. In
the fields of agriculture, in the shops, in
the mines, IN the counting houses OF the
nation there are scores of frictions that
can be eased. If not removed. by an under
standing of their causes and the applica-
fion of remedy that is scientifically cor
rect. Those who best know how correlated
and how inter-dependent capital and labor
are, feel that there must be somewhere
hitherto undiscovered economic principle
that Will exactly adjust them TO each other
and make their relations as cordial as their
interests are one.
The report of the House Committee on
Labor, urging the creation of the commits
sion, stated that in the six years between
1880 and 1856 the single item of strikes had
cost SSS, Sc .S5S to employers, employees, and
their organizations directly. The enor-
nous incidental losses are not estimated.
They are of great magnitude. The loss
caused by strikes in the year 1894 has been
estimated by one writer AT $50 600, GOO, and
by another at sl0e. 00o, GOO. These stagger-
ing figures are lesson in themselves, and
Tell how important il is for the peace and
prosperity of the nation that, if there is a
common ground upon which master and
servant can safely stand in their economic
dealings with each other, no time be lost
in finding il
II must not be forgotten in the cOnsid-
Grafton of this oveTshadowing topic that
the relation Of the wage-earner to the en-
piOyer has changed essentially during the
last TWO or three decades. Time was when
the wages of the workers were regulated
b. the ordinary law of supply and demand.
II was even thought that no form of legis-
lation could modify the operation of that
law in that direction. But the country has
seen economic conditions weld to legisla-
tion designed for the betterment of the
condition of the industrial classes: and
while the law of supply and demand is still
primal factor in regulating pay, the other
law that gives the worker a share in the
value OF the thing be produces is coming
10 be recognized as of almost equal force.
Importance of the Work.
The work of the commission will not
be confined 10 figures alone. essential as
they are 10 economic relations 1t will.
besides, investigate conditions and sug-
gest remedies for their Improvement where
they are found 10 be out OF gear with the
progress Of philosophy and spirit of the
age.
Such questions as the relations OF the
employer to the employed. the frictions
between skilled and unskiIled labor, inmi-
grafton, organized labor, etc, will be care
fully investigated.
Questions for investigation.
Other questions 10 be Investigated are
how can the principle OF arbitration be
effectively applied 10 the settlement of
industrial differences? Is compulsory ar
bitration possible. as some say, and is IL
advisable. even If it is possible? How can
the "stOre-oTder system" which robs the
ill-paid mine hands, for instance at the
other end OF the line, be modified. if not
wiped out? Should the injunction be
eliminated as an Interference in the set
Element of labor differences? What has
machinery done for the industrial classes (?
Has II helped them more by bringing new
comforts within their reach than il has
hurt them by closing old fields of activity
TO then2 Or is the trend the other wav2
And then, beyond, are the subjects of
womens prevalence in the industrial fields
and the employment OF children TO chesDen
wages, and that all-absorbing topic of
convict labor. II the prisoner must not
be condemned to maddening idleness in
his cell, how can he be employed 10 mini
mize the harm of his competition with
The free labor? What. too, of the over
Swallowing trusts? Are they crowding the
smaller factors out of business. and is
the loss compensated for in the reduction
of the prices Of the staples they provide?
These questiOns-even that concerning
trusts-go largely into the economies OF
farm production, rs well as into that OF
manufacturing. There are corners in
wheat as there are in sugar and bonanza
farming in the West that is to the agri
cultural what the department store is 10
the mercantile community
ProhIcIns of TRANSFORMATION.
The transportation service furnishes an
enormous variety OF topics for inyestiga-
ton. That one OF the discrimination OF
freight rates that goes into the economies
of all productive energy is alone sufficient
10 engage the elosest attention OF the keen
est minds
Even the great railroads sometimes
IF.sl