The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-07-20
MANKATO FREE PRESS

members; have power to buy or lease
land. Employers can summon their
working men only as members of
trade union, but employees can call in
dividual employers as well as associa-
tions of employers. Every precaution
is taken to prevent injurious publicity
of business matters and while usually
the hearings are public, so that the
public opinion may be properly in
formed, the court can at any time go
into secret session. Lawyers are not
allowed to appear before the court ex-
cept with the consent of both parties.
The proceedings are simple, informal,
cheap and expeditions. Decisions are
required to be made in one month.
The court of arbitration is a court
of ordinary and extraordinary powers.
1t can summon one party to dis
pute to appear, and if he refuses, can
proceed without him. 1t can enter
and investigate any premises and
question any person there without
warrant. 1t can compel any party who
might appear to have common inter
est in the matter, to join in the pro-
ceedings 1t can receive such evidence
as it thinks fit whether strictly legal
evidence or not None of the awards
can be set aside for any mere technical
informality. ''The courts decision is
to be such as they find to stand with
equity and good conscience.
There is provision by which all the
employers in the district or in the col
ony, in the discretion of the court, can
be brought in and be made parties to
the procedure and subject to the
award.
An award settles wage or other mat
tiers for two years if shorter time is
not specified by the court. Any mem
Der joining any union or association,
may be made subject to any award
which has been previously rendered.
Any workman may stop working and
any employer may shut down during
arbitration or pending an award pro-
viding he can show the court that he
did so for some good reason other than
to escape jurisdiction, but, if he
wants to resume labor or business dur
ing the life of the award, he can do so
only by obeying all of its terms EN-
ployers cannot escape by refusing to
organize for they can be brought up
singly. They can refuse to attend
only at the same risk as in other
rights of electing representative, the
state does it for them.
The workmen in any trade can keep
themselves out of the reach of the law
by neglecting to organize, but they
will have to be practically unanimous
in this, for any seven of them can
form union and bring everyone else
concerned, employer or employe, or
he ,,@
Violation of any award is not necess-
sarily an offence. 1t is left to the court
to decide whether such breach shall
be punished or not. Of course, as a
matter of FORM the court does, as a
rule, make disobedience of the award
an offence and Furnishes them.
A penalty as high as So, 500 may be
enforced against an employer for vio-
lation. Imprisonment as well as fines
can be inflicted for violation. This
law has now been in force about six
years and quite good many cases
have been settled by it. There has
been no bias shown either for or
against capital employee or employer
and in number of cases, the judge
has not hesitated to turn down labor
very emphatically when they have
been in the wrong.
At first there was great opposition to
the law on the part of the employers
No one has gone out of business on
account of any award Of the court, but
employers are finding out that it is a
law that cuts both ways and while
employers have rights which can be
enforced by the court, employers have
acquired rights as against other en-
ployers which they could not get in
any other way.
La the case of a noted strike of the
boot and shoe makers of the colony,
the employers and employees had
agreed upon private arbitration and
nearly all factories had agreed to it.
Seven factories, however, utterly re-
fused fearing the loss of certain ad-
vantages in paying less wages by
which they had been able to undersen
competitors. But, when the matter
was settled by the court, these seven
factories were compelled to stand upon
common footing with other manu-
facturers.
OF course such radical law has any
number of enemies who predict all
manner of distress and evil to grow
out of it. There has been great dis
cussion in British papers in regard to
it, probable effect. A great number
of distinguished men argued against
the law, but so far it has seemed to
work we'll, but Of course it is very
new. Inquiry on the part of recent
writer, as to whether or not the peo-
pie affected by the law were satisfied,
resulted in an answer something like
the following: ''For five years mas
tiers and men have been submitting.
They may not be satisfied Where,
anywhere are there satisfied capitalists
or employees; where is there an en-
ploye who would not like to pay less,
where working man who would not
like to get more. But they are all at
work, though not satisfied. %
''Our position in New Zealand is
this: Industry is joint enterprise.
We say to the capitalists, you and the
laborer and consumer and the public
are all interested; We, the state, are
the only agency known to society
which can perfect and harmonic all
these interests providing you cannot or
will not harmonic yourselves. In
this question of capitalists, laborers,
consumers and citizens, you, the en-
ploying capitalists, are very small