Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-28
TIE LATEST LABOR CONFERENCE.

THE ATTEST LABOR CONFERENCE.
All who understand the great i'm
portance of industrial peace will be dis
posed to encourage every rational and
practical effort looking to that end. The
conference held at Minneapolis during
the past week was earnestly intended
by its promoters to bring about better
relations between employer and EN-
ploye, but it was not very successful
in bringing together representatives Of
these interests, so that the deliberations
were to II very large extent academic.
Fol this reason the conference com-
manded less attention than it perhaps
merited, for much that was presented
in the addresses of men who have
given the labor question careful study,
or have had large experience in dealing
with labor, is certainly entitled to con-
sideration.
For example the address Of Mr.. Job,
chairman of the Illinois board of arbi-
%tration, pointed out the benefits of
the system In that state In a way to
SAA66SD NhHt " Va nan WIN OC
found generally advantageous. The
Illinois law makes the nearest approach
to compulsory arbitration found in any
Of the laws of the various states relating
to the subject. When a strike or lock-
out occurs affecting the public interests
and the parties &c it decline to submit
the matter in controversy to the arbi-
tratiOn board, that body having first at
tempted to effect a settlement, the board
is authorized to proceed of It's own mo-
ton to make an investigation of all the
facts bearing upon such disturbance and
make public it's findings, with such
recommendations to the parties involved
as in its judgment will contribute to a
fair and equitable settlement. In
prosecuting such inquiry the board has
the power to issue s%ubpOenas and com
pei the attendance and testimony of
witnesses. Mr.. Job said 1t had been
found that public opinion invariably
brings the guilty party to time. He
expressed the opinion that Cancellation
can do ten times as much as formal
arbitration. Cancellation and getting
people together to talk their own troubles
over will, in almost all cases, accomplish
the desired result. A formal arbitration,
where it is settled not by the parties
to the controversy, but by some third
party, is never as good as a bargain
made by the contestants themselves"
An interesting fact noted by the chair
man of the Illinois Board of Arbitration
is that a great many employers and
employees who formerly were the last to
even think of the matter of Cancellation
and arbitration are now the most eager
to take the matter up. This is very
conclusive proof of the wholesome in
huence and effect of the Illinois arbi-
tratiOn law and should commend 1t to
the careful consideration of the legisla-
lures of other states.
Mr.. Carroll ID. Wright, United States
commissioner of labor, took a somewhat
pessimistic view, remarking that he
could not see in arbitration a solution
of the labor problem. Arbitration, he
said. means simply the interference OF
the public In the relations Of the EN-
ployer and the employe, yet he admitted
that 1t might prove to some extent
remedial. This has certainly beer
demonstrated in some of the states, no
tably Massachusetts and Illinois. which
justihes the belief that 1t would be
found so in other states. There is nc
more mOmentous problem than this Of