The Washington times., 1903-05-17
Parry the Firebrand.
An Employer Who Wantonly Incites
Social Disturbances.


AT time when there is the gravest
need of cool-headed counselors. Pres.
ident David NJ. Parry, of the Nation
al Association of Manufacturers, !:
working vast harm to the interests OF
the employers of labor by his incen-
diary speeches against trades-union-
ism. AT the recent convention of the
Piano Dealers and Piano Manufac.
turers' Associations at Detroit, he
was even more violent than in his
earlier utterances at New Orleans.
Mr.. Pa1y's personal quarrel will
Senator Hanna is of little moment
Neither of them shows to advantage
IN indulging in personalities in thu
discussion of the great principle:
which underlie the relations of CAPT
tai and labor When, for instance
Mr.. Parry imputes to Senator Hanna
the single desire to further his politi.
cal fortunes by preaching the doctrine
of mutual helpfulness, he offends al
once against good taste and fair play
and reason, and comes dangerously
near practicing the methods of black
guardly fanaticism.
Senator Hanna's Republicanism
even to its worst faults, is beyond
question. He has proved his title IL
the past to the leadership Of a great
political party by notable achieve
ments, whereas Mr.. Parry's brief am
bition to attain to the Vice Presiden.
tial nomination on the Republican
ticket has exposed him only to disap,
pointment and ridicule Senator
Hanna could not turn the Civic Fed
Grafton into a Republican campaign
committee if he would, for in it!
makeup that body is severely non
partisan, as it must be TO compe
public confidence. Can as much b,
said Of the National Association OF
Manufacturers, from which, as it
president, Mr. Parry temporarily
borrows the right to speak as some
thing more than an obscure indi
vidual?
Mr.. Parry's great grievance agains
the Civic Federation, for which h,
personally holds Senator Hanna re
sponsible, is that it stands for thu
common sense principle of arbitra
ton. Organized labor, in his mind
represents "the enemies of social or
der" He cannot conceive that wages
can ever be too low, the hours of labor
too long, or the conditions of employ
ment unjust and oppressive. The EN-
ployer, as such, can never be wrong
and the trades unions, as such, car
never be right. He SCOTS bitterly al
the idea that the Golden Rule has
anything TO do with the question OF
wages. Catch a workman with a bare
back and a lean stomach, is appar
emily his rule of action, and pay hin
as little as his necessities compel hin
to accept. "The arbitration scheme
he says, lis made only to give a show
of fairness to the demands Of unior
labor, and the employer who gets
tangled in it will be fortunate if he
escapes with a whole skin"
What, then, would Mr.. Parry sub
stitute for this "coneiliatory arbitra
tion," at which he never tires of rail
ing? Starvation and force, it nigh
be inferred from his address before
the Detroit convention.
Gentlemen" he concludes, 'if an,
of you are called upon to arbitrate
may / ask you to keep in mind thai
you are called upon to arbitrate OF
fundamental rights supposed to b.
guaranteed by the Constitution; tina
you are asked to accept as gospel the
doctrine that wages must be artificial
" determined in order that the end
of humanity and justice be subserved
that you are expected to give you,
sanction to the program of strike,
and violence now being carried OF
under the leadership of Socialists
and that you are, in other words
called upon to become particeps Grim
inis in the most dangerous movement
that had yet threatened to pull down
the pillars Of the social order"
What an extraordinary tumble o.
contradictory political, legal and eco
nomic notions to come from a MAJ
who believes - t'-o t--;ff. the trusts