The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-01

services and boast Of their impartial
decisions.
Once more we are confronted with
q problem that demands Il solution.
The government alone can solve it.
Therefore to follow out the just and
long established method, the govern
ment must select a board of men and
vest it with authority to terminate
these troubles.
Under compulsory arbitration the
very causes of labor troubles win be
eradicated. The disturbances will be
MINED in the bud Both labor and
capital will have the grand opportuni-
ty that we have long ago provided for
the individual city aud the State TO
settle their troubles fairly and peace
ably before : court of arbitration.
A great day will dawn upon our in
dustrial life when such ills are pre-
vented Both labor and capital will
enjoy n larger freedom and pTotec-
ton. We shall have put down a wide
spread system of anarchy ito enjoy in
greater sense that higher form of
freedom and protection which comes
alone through law and order.
J. X. Wilson for Negative.
Mr.. J. *. Wilson, second speaker on
the negative and last speaker on the
debate, spoke next using for his de-
Tense the folloWin5 outline.
My colleague mas shown that har-
mony is the principal essential to
peaceful industry, and that it could
not be secured by compulsory arbitra-
ton, because that system is opposed
to our American ideals. | shall show
you that in its actual workings, this
system would not be productive of this
spirit
Labor troubles are problems in the
field of industry or business, and are
the result of business conditions. For
there to be harmony between employ
er and labOrer these conditions must
be in conformity to economic laws ana
adjustable to economic changes. Our
industrial life is = dynamic one, and
subject to changing conditions. The
decisions of an arbitration board be
adjustable to these conditions, if they
are to bring harmony. But the awards
cannot be altered during the period
for which they are made, else the
board amounts to nothing; they could
not be adjusted to changes in business.
They could not, therefore, produce
harmony, nor settle labor troubles
This has been found to be the case in
voluntary arbitration, and the most
prominent economists, employers and
labor leaders Of the country declare it
unsatisfactory. In the anthracite coal
fields of Pennsylvania there is greater
hostility than before the great strike
of 1902 occurred. 1t is due to the
fact that conditions have changed
but that thee awards of the Strike
Commission remain the same. Boards
of arbitration cannot give decisions
that are adjustable to real business
and cannot produce harmony between
employer and employee, who will car
ry on business operations only in a
business way.
Moreover, the decision of a board
TO bring harmony must be enforced
equally against employer and working
man. Neither employer nor laborer
could be imprisoned for refusing to
obey them, for such a refusal could
not be a crime. The employer is the
owner Of property and could by civil
process, be made to abide by them
But the day laborer owns no property
and could ont be reached by a civil
judgment. These two are the only
ways of enforcing any law. In a COM
pulSory arbitration law both fail of
their efficiency against the labores He
could not be made 10 obey the deci-
sions of the board, though his en-
ployer could. Such class legislation
must always create function, instead
must always create friction instead
of harmony.
Harmony is the one essential OF
peaceful industry, and is destroyed by
compulsory arbitration. because that
system is opposed to the ideas of law
and government held by American
employers and working men, because
its decisions could not be adjusted to
real business, and because it would be
one-sided in it's enforcement. Com
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