The weekly examiner., 1901-08-24

no longer private matters. Tn early
 times the private interest was indeed
 the dominant one, because production
 was chiefly an Individual matter. Not long ago over large section of the
 civilized world the ideal was the econo-
 mic self suficiency of the household.
 Production and exchange are now
 social processes and are no longer ca
 pablo of regulation by individual
 action. Consolidation of railways has
 been proceeding rapidly for more than
 a generation, and now closely con
 nected with this consolidation we have
 our epoch making so called trust move
 ment. It has now come to pass that
 a few men-so few that theJ can easily
 be gathered together in a single room
 control considerable percentage of all the capital of the United States and
 direct the employment of a large frac- tional part of the labor power of our country. This means economic solida- rity such as the world has never known before. The difference in de-
 gree comes to mean a difference in
 kind. The new social character of in- dustry is recognized alike by the most conservative economists and the most thoughtful masters of men.
 The prevention of strikes means sim ply this: We must open our eyes to the clear implications of our growing economic solidarity. The orderly and peaceful operation of our industrial mechanism is matter of public con- cern and must be secured by social action of one sort and another.
 First of all, 1t is. suggested by the writer, we should classify businesses with respect to the degree of public concern in their continuous operation. Naturally railways, telegraph lines and generally the agencies of transporta- tion and communication, together with lighting plants and other so called local public utilities" belong in the class in which the social interest as- serts itself most vigorously.
 Here clearly the interest of society Is paramount, and the duty of preserving the continuous operation of the indus tries providing these services is like that of the prevention of crime In other words, in these particular cases we should have courts of conciliation and arbitration, with adequate power to settle disputes without recourse to private industrial warfare. So far as other industries are concerned we could have further classification into those with a very large social interest, as coal mining, and those in which the social interest in any one economic con- cern is relatively small-e. g., mercan- tile pursuits, those ranking just below the railways. Cancellation and arbitra- ton boards should be furnished with sufficient powers to gather together all the facts in regard to disputes between employer and employed, to make rec to the parties concerned and to inform and educate public opinion.
 No board of this kind should ever be clothed with so little power as to be contemptible. and the reasons why 8 feeble board can accomplish nothing are similar to those which would rend- CT Judges Of little use if contempt of court were permissible.
 We have had strikes in model estab- lishments, and the recent case of the National Cash Register company, at Dayton, O., is especially painful to all inclined people. Yet It was never reasonable in our democratic age to suppose that benevolence alone could avert strikes. The development of ideas of justice and the establishment of agencies to secure mutual justice between employer and employed must be placed in the first rank. Let benevo- Ience then be added to justice!
 One thought more: The era of indi- vidual bargaining has passed away in and it Is very nearly a thing of the past in all large scale pro iuction. We must adjust ourselves to collective bargains between organized abor on the one hand and organized capital on the other. Not suppression of organization, but regulation of or yanization must be our watchword.-l Professor Richard T. Ely, University | ,f Wisconsin.