The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-12

IUe UlVtIlllS VI tIiV ~ II I'NNi oti'hp
which closed on Wednesday after three
days session. was PROFESSIONALLY OF
very great, perhaps the very greatest
public value, arising not from any
new suggestion for the attainment OF
greater industrial peace, for nothing
Of the kind developed. but from the fact
that the debate disclosed the debaters
to be without any scheme which they
would substitute for that now in Use.
Moreover. the essential principles on
which business is carried on in this coun-
try were So cleared of the rubbish of ac-
Cumulated sentiment and delusion and
deception that the force that is rightfully
theirs must necessarily be felt again.
In saving that the discussion has
been of public benefit we would have
it understood that none of that ac-
crues to labor or capital They know
their business, and this week has taught
neither of them anything for the more
advantageous management of it. But
TO a public impressed with the belief
that the sociologists and friends of man
needed but opportunity To prove merit
in the dreams they had inspired or
that they would divulge secrets of social
betterment until then unknown, the
meeting was as good as brim full of in
struction, because it left all such agi-
tating and dssatisfying expectations
withered aud gone,
To two speakers the thanks of the
public are due particularly, for enlight-
eminent as to the facts of the industrial
situation. One is the president Of the
American Federation of Labor, Mr..
SAMUEL GOMPERs. He brought all
floating theories on arbitration heavily
and finally to the ground when he de-
clared in the name of his followers that
compulsory arbitration was not to be
thought Of. Organized labor will not sur
render its liberty for the problematical
help of an arbitration board clothed
with power to fix the workingman's
conditions and coerce his labor Capital
seeks no such despotic control Of itself.
and with labor and capital thus in agree
ment, compulsory arbitration need not
be looked for
That being so, we leave it to Brother
HANNA and his colleagues to consider
whether the activity of the Civic Fedora
ton in intervening to settle disputes
between capital and labor against the
wishes of both or one of the proper parties
to them is good or bad in its effects.
The second useful speaker was Arch
bishop IRELAND, who, in cross-examin-
ing Mr.. GOMPERS concerning organized
labors abuse and restraint Of non-union
men, got Mr.. GoMPERS to admit that or
ganized labor has its own code" The
code Of the mass Of people is the law Of
the land, and in so far as organized labor =
code is peculiar. it is a code Of law
lessness. The usefulness of Archbishop
lRELAND'S services on this occasion will
be the more apparent if we put the con-
fession Of Mr. GoMPERs by the side Of
various acts by organized labor, such
for example. as the expulsion of MEM
beers for being militiamen, or the resolu-
ton Of the United Mine Workers re-
corded in the preamble to their Consti-
tuition, to render it impossible, by
legislative enactment in every State, for
Nooi otCial'iS W tiiipioS kudIu 10 TAKE
armed possession of the mines, in case
Of strikes or lock-outs" On the authority
Of its highest officer organized labor j.
at odds with the law and the rights Of
others. That exposure should be as
beneficial as it il wholesome.
No doubt there are many who will be
disappointed at the Civic Federation's
failure to solve what is fashionablv
known as the problem of labor and
capital; but disappointment is short
sighted. Labor and capital are to-day
operating along the lines on which, out
side of human slavery, they have oper-
ated since the beginning Of the world,
while human feeling, striving with ardor
that could never be cooled or disheart-
ened, has found nothing better. But the
world, notwithstanding, grows steadily
richer more humane, more peaceful and
nearer the ideal