Evening star., 1900-10-11
Views of Federation of Labor on Com
pulsory Arbitration.
SIGNIFICANCE OF VOLUNTARY ACTION
Conditions in the Anthracite Mining
Regions Reviewed.
OFFICIA AL DE Ii Y z r A n e Z

The executive committee OF the American
Federation of Labor has recently considered
the subject of compulsory arbitration IN all
its bearings and has by an unanimous vote
declared against 1t. The position of the
council on the subject is set forth in re-
cent deliverance as follows:
I'VE are in favor of arbitration, but we
draw the distinction between arbitration
and compulsory arbitration. Arbitration
between two parties in dispute implies their
voluntary submission of the controversy to
disinterested persons.
This is invariably organized labor propo-
sition when efforts at conciliaton have
failed But it is submitted that the terms
arbitration and compulsory are the very
antithesis of each other. We have come To
advocate arbitration, and many men-yes.
some very well meaning men-have used it
as phrase often that they have con-
founded voluntary action with the desire TO
enforce cOmpuls4on, without understand. nS
its fun significance
Compulsory arbitration as the term is
generally understood, implies even more
than what appears upon the surface. If the
workers and their employers disagree as TO
the terms and conditions under when labor
shall be performed it IS presupp1sed. by
the term compulsory arb.tra ton. tnat both
parties shall be summoned before some tri
Eunal created by the state for the purpose
of hearing and determining the question a
issue and 10 make an award. The logical
sequence of an award made by such u tri
bunai implies its legal enforcement. Let
us suppose case not difficult to conceive.
IF the award he in favor of the workers.
and the employers refuse to abide, the state
would then exert its power to legally en-
force the award and decree. Would this act
not in itself be cOntiscatlon, or its aiterna-
tive, neutrality-suspicious.
Another View.
ION the other hand, if the award should
be in favor of the employers and the work
ers refuse to abide. would they not be COM
PEELED by the state to work against their
will, Judgment, under conditions which they
regard unjust burdensome, or suffer
incarceration in jail? In other words from
that moment slavery for them would ensue,
condition. we think no friend OF labor
would favor, and yet there would be no
escape from it.
AS between strikes on the one hand and
the results of compulsory arbitration on
the other, We are Conv need that reasonable
men, and certainly those who sympathize
with the cause OF labor, will not fail to
choose the former. We may be pardoned
for interfering here a few thoughts rela-
tive to strikes.
by reason of our position in life we ap-
precldte keenly the great hardships which
are borne by reason of strikes and lockouts
and organized labor has done as much, if
not more. than any other body to obviate
and avoid them. We realize that burdens
are borne and sacrifices are made during
these periods of industrial dispute; but as
much as they are To be deplored, we are
also conscious that there are worse poss-
bllLties than strikes and lOckouts For in
stance. d debaSed and degraded manhood.
I'VE do not enter into strikes because We
are fond of them; Frequently there is no AL
Tentative but to engage in for the pur-
pose of avoiding debasemeut and degrade
ton
Entitled to Greater Share
he
tive power of labor, the improved methods
of the production Of wealth and its con-
centratiOns unparalleled in the history of
man. the organized workers realize that
they are entitled to a greater share Of the
wealth they produce. They organize to
prevent a debasement and degradation and
to be constantly larger shdrers In the So
cial product, and If this cannot be secured
by any other means, as last resort they
strike, though they reluctantly take that
action.
Attention is called to the miners in the
Anthracite region. where the workmen are
required to live in huts and novels; where
young and innocent children, who ought to
be in the playground and school rooms are
eking out their young lives at the breakers
and in the mines where the men are com
PEELED to mine from three to four thousand
pounds for ton; where they compelled
to deal in the stores owned by the com
panies for which they work, and where for
the bare necessaries of life tools of labor
ard gunpowder, they are charged 100 per
cent more than the same articles can be
purchased elsewhere; where they are COM
PEELED to contribute 81 per month for a
doctor whose services they fear and in
whose selection they have no voice: whose
requests and petitions for hearing to rem
edy the awful wrongs from which they
suffer are denied; whose interests and well
fare are given no consideration, and whose
protestations are treated with silent con-
"A i've haN-
but 10 strike? And, though they them
selves and their belongings must suffer
they have been taught by their employers
how TO suffer while they toiled ceaselessly
in the bowels Of the earth.
No Desire to Strike
"OrganiZed labor does not desire to strike
but the workers understand that the best
means Of preventing such occurrences is to
organize and to prepare for them The
better the organization and prepare ton the
fewer the number Of strikes. Even un-
fairminded employers think twice and very
seriously, before provoking q conflict with
well-organiZed workers.
Where the workers are best organized
their reasonable demands acceded to
without strikes. The realization of their
responsibility is constant check to i'm
practicable demands. reference to the
reports of the bureaus of labor statistics Of
the various states, as well as the reports of
all trade unions, demonstrate these facts
We are confident that as the workers
continue to organize I'm trade unions in
greater numbers, they form national
unions of their respective trades and call
ingS and conform to the principles and
policies as advoca ted by the American Fed
Grafton Of Labor, We shall witness greater
progress. more enlightened public senti-
ment. nobler manhood and higher material
moral, political and social life, and to aid
In the achievement Of these purposes 1t
behoOves each OF us to do all that our op-
portunities afford. that we may feel conf
dent that we have performed our duty to
ourselves. our fellow -workmen and those
who are TO continue the struggle of life in
the years to come"