The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-28
PARRY ON LABOR.
He Spoke Mt the Meeting of Furni-
ture Men.

He Spoke ut the Meeting of Furni-
ture Men.
New York, July 27.-Labor and ad
Vertising were the themes discussed
by the Furniture Association of Amer
lea at to-nights session of it's annual
convention. The principal address of
the evening was made by David M.
Parry of Indianapolis, president of the
National Associa ton of Manufacturers.
Mr.. Parry spoke on the necessity for
q national organization of employers,
which would be representative of all
employing interests. He referred in
cidentally to the new constitution
which is now under consideration by
the Executive Committee of the Ma
tional Association. This constitution
admits to membership employers other
than manufacturers and also provides
for a representative membership from
national, state and local associations.
who can take note of the frequent
violations" said the speaker, "of the
rights of free labor and free contract,
without earnestly wishing there might
be some means whereby the present
ways of Socialistic and anarchiStic i'm
pulse can be checked. In the philoso-
ply of unionism, there is no such thing
as natural law shaping the destinies of
the race. and organized labor appears
to lose sight of the difference that ex-
lists between individuals. One might as
well try to make ugly men handsome
and vice versa. as to try to equalize
the mental inequalities of the race, and
as long as one man is better endowed
by nature than another. just so long
will there be an unequal distribution
of wealth. The existence of organiza-
tions in the field whose work all tend
to undermining of the pillars of the
government calls for the creation of as
strong a counter. organization as can
be built up. If forces spring into ex-
istence that tend to swaV them along
lines that lead to folly and destruc-
ton, they cannot be expected to act
the part of wisdom unless counter
forces are brought into play"
Mr.. Parry cited the proposed inves-
tigation and publicity bill, as an in
dication of what he regarded as the
dangerous drift of public thought in
this country. He explained the purport
of the bill as being that of govern
mental investigation of labor difficult
ties through commissions appointed by
the President.
"A more atrocious piece of legisla-
ton" said the speaker, has not been
suggested for some time. The bill os-
tensibly asserts the superior sovereign
ty of the government over the sover-
eighty claimed by organized labor
but by implication 1t recognizes the
right of the unions to shut down fac
tories, and to deny to men the natural
right to work. 1t goes further. 1t
provides a means whereby the govern
ment can supplement the efforts of the
unions. The unions say that they pos
sess the wisdom to fix the rate of
wages off hand; but the bill says in
effect, that this Is not scientific; that
it should be first ascertained whether
the proposed wage would bankrupt the
employer. The logical results of such
legislation would be the multiplication
of the demands of organized labor and
as public opinion would not be able to
bring it's force to bear on all cases, it
would be but the precursor of compu-
sorry arbitration, for when the recon-
mendations of the commissions proved
ineffective the government would be
asked to step in to compel their en-
forcement AS an entering wedge for
socialism the publicity bill would serve
very we'll"
Mr.. Parry also gave a few of his
characterizations of strikes, saying
that they were violent attempts to
override natural law and that the on
ly thing they succeeded in doing was
to dislocate industry, reduce produc-
ton and lower the rates of real wages.