Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-11-21
labor and capital and thereby strengthen
tbs c,r.os ~ tho onerators with respect

labor and capital. and thereby strengthen
the cause of the operators with respect
i to fighting recognition Of he union.
| And 1t must be confessed that these
tactics have not been altogether unsuc-
cessful While on thy whole Mitchell has
| proved a good witness. and stood the
ordeal well. he has been betrayed into
some admissions and given vent to some
views very damaging to his own conten-
tons touching the underlying principles
land motives Of his organza ton. He has
been allured into saying much that would
have better been left unsaid-into an en-
|. dorsemer1t. apparently, oz'theories held by.
some advocates Of organized labor which
strike at the very foundations of our IN
st.:utions and CT personal liberty.
Counsel for the operators have not failed
10 make the mos, of this By seeking to
use it to the prejudice Of organized labor
in general, and the United NIineWorkers
in particular and one&of the results has
fLeen that up to date all else has in great
measure turned on recognition" or mon
T recognition" That hasa been made the
starting point. and the issue has grown
with the friction and elimination and re-.
elimination on which itshas, fed or been
fed. =
But Notwithstanding the fact that the
operators, both by the voluminous testl-
mony gathered by their agents and the
admissions they have drawn or provoked
{t,a lot
| defense of the union, the former are still
more than Mitchell ins.the position of
blocking "a ri,itration." Whatever may be
the sins and the perncious theories of the
United Mine-Workers. or any other, labor
union, it must be recognized that the prin-
ciple of organized labor has come to stay.
No thoughtful man can shut his eyes to
the fact that labor organizations In some
shape are institutions to be permanently
reckoned with. And when the operators
undertake to ignore tlisth align them
selves against the inevitable. In the pres
ent instance the untenability of such an
attitude is accentua tedrby the non-union
miners themselves The precept of these
and of the operators is that each working
man Is separate and distinct Individual
unit who should deal directly with his
fellow workers and his. employer or en-
ployers. But what have the non-union
mine-workers in Pennsylvania practiced?
Before the arbitration commission they
have moved for an increase of wages and
other concessions. This proceeding has
! been taken through counsel. and every
where in their. paper is used the word
we" 1t is I'VE protest I'VE insist"
I'VE believe" Eve demand.". etc. and the
paper concludes as follows: 1--WE hereby
guarantee to abide by the decision of the
commission all questions decided by them,
and agree that, whatever conclusion it
reaches. the same shalt be final and con-
elusive" Here in its. last analysis is
found as strong adherence to the prlncl-
pie of organized labor US can be found in
any union.
7: No, the operators cannot avoid conced-
ing the principle, II the chief work for
which the commission was organized is
to be accomplished. That work. as it has
been tersely but comprehensively summa-
rized. is as follows: To ascertain what
the proportion of wages paid is to the pro- .
I ductive value of labor and whether or not
sthe worl. of miner is mea sured justly,
to establish by its Judgment relations be-
tween employer and employed as nearly
equitable as the existing industrial sys-,
TEN permits: to reach, if possible a basis
dents for the settlement OF future dis
agreements between labor and capital, in.
vo,ving much to the great public and
their interests.
In the forcing Of the question of recoG-
milton or non-recogniton to the front after
the manner it has been forced there, be-
ginning has been made at the wrong end,
valuable time has been wasted and the
opportunity lost for an understanding re-,
.garding the issue Of unionism, which
would have meant much less humiliation
for the operators. 1t is plain to us that
the investigation has failed to sustain
much as to unionism that Mitchell has
tchamponed, yet we cannot but believe
from his general course in the matter
that the other differences adjusted ne
would have been prepared to take less
exacting grounds as to! recognition. and
the way to the operators agreeing to the
inevitable would have been rendered more
pleasant. So we could wish to see. rub
out and a fresh start, believing as we do
as we think, indeed is, incontrovertible-
that all interests would be best served by
such step.
----------=
Current Comment.
Two OF the most successful candidates