The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-01-27
COMPULSORY ARBITRATION"
Not Only UndesirabIe. but
er Impracticable i'm the Unitea
States.

Governor Stone, of Pennsylvania,
wants compulsory arbitration. Per
haps he knows what compulsory ar
bitration really means. Perhaps, how
ever. like most other people, he doesn r.
Compulsory arbitration is more thar
compulsory arbitration. As DR.. John
Macgregor. OF Wellington, New Zea-
land, said in a letter to The Otdso
Daily Times. in September, 1901. it is
necessary to put aside altogether the
idea that our act is simply a .levica
for preventing strikes. 1t is nothing
OF the kind. 1t is a device for putting
the regulation of trades, occupations
and industries under the control of a
statutory curt" In other words, the
final result of compulsory arbitration
is to establish a cOurt-enforced mini
mann of wages.
This is d result which cannot be
evaded. The steps leading TO it are
plain. They will be identical with the
steps taken i'm New Zealand. Let the
court of arbitration be set up. There
will soon be a dispute in some trade.
The employer and the emplOye will
fail to come to terms. There will be
a strike. The public will complain.
There will be an appeal to the court
of arbitration. The court will decide
that the reasonable wage in the trade
is so many dollars a week. The en-
plOyer will be obliged to comply with
this decision. The line below which
he may not go in bargaining with his
employees Will be fixed. There will be
no line above which he may not go.
There will be n minimum. There Will
be no maximum. The capable man,
br ChnyrTn" thnr hn SC y.nrrh ,,,n-a
than his fellows. may command a
larger remuneration. His rent of
ability will be higher. 1t will be
made impossible. however. for any man
to fail to earn the wage established
by the court of arbitration as the low
est which the employer will be per-
mitted to offer. This minimum wage
system appeals to many people. 10
many other people it does not appel
at all. Such people should remember
that compulsory arbitration and MINI
mum wage are almost Synonymous
terms.
In Victoria. Australia, a method of
compulsory arbitration can be found
which, while it differs from the New
Zealand method. has the same uiti-
mate aim. New leland has boards of
| Cancellation in the seven districts into
which the colony is divided. When a
board of Cancellation fails to settle a
I dispute satisfactorily q central cOur
of arbitration is called upon to deliver
a final verdict. This court, therefore,
has jurisdiction over all trades. III
Victoria, on the contrary, there are
wage boards" which are formed at
the instance of the trades interested,
and which, each for its own trade. es-
tablish legal hours and wages. These
hours and wages are then enforced
by the factory inspectors. The New
Il - .-1 49, -A0~.
therefore, have different starting
points. but almost identical desIiha-
tons. The principle involved is ina
which, in all the majesty of capitals
is now known as the National Mini
mum.
The National Minimum means thai
the claims of labor are to be satisfied
before any further steps in industry
are taken. 1t CmoVeS . competition
among wage earners: that is. the kiL(
Of competition in which each wage
Garner tries to underbid his fellow
1t results, according to its friends. /,
diverting competition from cneaDnes:
to efficiency. from undertaking to out
doing. As a man will not be able t
secure Il place by working for les
to secure it BY working harder anC
better. Through all this, however
there looms the phantom of rigid stat
control. of inSidiOus state socialism
The American people are still too in
~GividuaIistic to look at such a ph4n
tom without terrnr-ChiCa%O Tribune