Semi-weekly Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1897-1901, 1901-08-16
comn,,lsory Arbitration.

thinking along the line taken by Rel
: resentative Livingstone of Georgl
) when hs declares that the country
entitled to protect itself by inter
IyenIng in such contests. !"
great trusts" he says 'tnat are
shane to hold up business, or to cor
troll business to large extent are TN
combinations of manufactures an
labor. The masses of the people, VIII
ARE the direct sufferers by the man
euyres of these combinations ought
have the means of relief
basis of settlement lodged in thei
hands The interests OF the trust
and the labor organizations should no
be permitted to have full sway ant
ieopardize the interests Of the Rrea
mass of the people, who are not di
rectly interested in either OF thes
two warning combinations. "
This is more plainl! true in thu
Pacific coast trouble than that of the
steel industry, for out thers all mean
of transportation of fruit, etc, have
been stopped by the strikers. The
results will ruin tho fruit growers,
and set the state back ten years. The
perishable fruits 10 California are
on the height of their season. AS
they ripeu they must be shipped
without delay or they are lost.
But they cannot be shipped while
| the strike lasts, so that the loss on
the years crop will cripple thousands
Of farmers 1t is worse than loss
by frost, for they have been put to all
the. preliminary expenses of raising a
CROP for which many are in debt.
Such men cannot pay their debts.
They cannot buy more goods. The
teamsters cannot haul the produce,
for it will have rotted. They can
never haul the merchandise which the
proceeds would have bought. The
merchants and the transportation
companies suffer also. Trade suffers,
labor suffers, and the fruit growers
may lose everything.
The only way the public can pro.
tect itself is by compulsory arbitra'
ton. Why does not that come fairly
within the purview of the federal
power to regulate commerce between
81 ,pI ~ OF lonicl Ia
for trouble confined within its liIess
1t is easy enough for one side or the
other to say, as they commonly do,
that there ia nothing to arbitrate y
If there is not, then the arbitration
can do no wrong to that side, and 1t
can and will save innocent outsiders
from a great and unjust loss Such a
compulslou involves an assumption Of
power that is OF course
to be avoided, if there is any other
way Of saving the rights of innocent
third parties. But is there any
other wsy9 If not, the good old
of individualism that each |
man rights end only where the
rights of others begin is rot violated. |
Australia and New Zealand, which |
have furnished the world so many
useful lessons in government, throw
an instructive light on this question.
The latter colony has an arbitration
law, devised by Mr. Reeve, after a
study of all the similar laws in the
world, from which he concluded that
from the nature of the case an arbi-
.ration law that is not compulsory
must be, in the long run, failure.
What would tax laws amount to,
asked Mr. Reeve, if they were not
Under his law when
;he arbitration courts have made
heir decision, no attempt to force
he workmen to 60 to
york or to compel manufacturer to
start up his works The men can
emain idle so Ions as they please,
lad the employer can keep his plant
die if he chooses, but the law pro-
ides that when they do 60 back to
york, or when the mill is started up,
he resumption of work must be on
he basis laid down by the courts
nd it is found practically that this
roves efficient From motives of
elf-interest the two sides to the
abor controversy resume at once,
'hen the courts decision has been ,
endered, simply because delay would
OF help matters FROM the stand :
ONT of either. j..
1t is at last matter worth think
lg of. And thought dissipates ;,
God many of the difficulties that at ;,
rst view seem so form liable. If :
orkmen should refuse to resume, ,
fter such court decision, there could :,
e no question of the right and duty !,
the state to stand with its Whole ;,
over behind the men who take their :,
Iaces. If the corporation should :,
fuse, temporary receivership m ight :,
ut be out of place, to continue until :;
lie corporation consented to resume :,
5 management on the basis decided :,
' the arbitration tribunal The ~
ew Zealand system, apparently does N
1T go so far as this, and no case has m
eveloped yet where such action is ra
,cessary.
The profits on the Filipino trade u