The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-09-11
FOR INDUSTRIAL PEACE.

A proper and effective method of
dealing with the strike problem al
the subject of a Labor Day address
by Senator Carter, at Missoula, the
speaker expressing the opinion that
compulsory arbitration offered the
only effective solution of the trouble.
After discussing the operation OF q
compulsory arbitr alton law in New
Zealand, and the good results oh.
tanned from it, the speaker urged its
adoption In these remarks:
In the near future we will have
fo~rty-nine or fifty states in the federal
union. Many Of these states have
larger natural resources, and greater
productive capacity, than some OF the
so.called fret powers Of the old world.
It vas the fond dream Of the fathers
who framed Jul government, and it is
the patriotic desire Of every good
American citizen today, that this com
bination of states, bound up into q
federal union, should become not only
the greatest but the most peaceful and
enduring of all the nations known, or
to be known to history. This consum-
nation cannot be reached II we
thoughtlessly permit the people to be.
come permanently aligned in hostile
camps or warning factions. The up.
building of distinct, antagonistic
classes will surely mark the down.
ward trend of the national life. The
baneful influence of class distinctions
and contentious will injuriously affect
not only the state but individuals in
all walks Of life, and none in greater
degree than laboring men under whose
auspices WI are here assembled.
This is the lsboring mans country.
In every avenue of endeavor men work
to the close of their days. There seems
to be q universal desire to die In the
harness. 1t would probably be better
If the disposition to retire and to have
more holidays should obtain, and as
the country grows older we will prob.
ably learn to live less strenuous lives.
That reaction is for the future, but the
present, pressing, vital demand is for
growth along lines of prosperity and
industrial peace. Every hours delay
adds to the difficulty to be overcome.
On all sides We hear words of bitter.
ness passing back and forth between
employers and employees. Labor I'M.
ions are denounced and great strikes
are called in their struggle for recog-
milton. Capital is combined and is
combining and the men of the unions
are unsparingly denouncing the COM
bi%nations. Yet in truth an5 fact every
man in his sober senses will admit
that the laborers of the country have
q perfect right to form unions and to
maintain them for their own protec-
ton.
Capital has the right and it is gen.
orally beneficial to combine in cor
pOratiOn or other forms where the re-
quirements of q business or operation
demand aggregations of capital. The
great railroads extending across this
continent could only have been built
by the contribution of hundreds OF
thousands, yea millions, of people,
and their concentrated capital furn'
ished employment to labor and per
formed a legitimate service of meal
culable value to all mankind. How
absurd it is for the combination o
capital to insist that the laborer who
only has his labor to sell shall render
himself utterly helpless by refusing t
cooperate with his fellow laborer il
an honest effort to secure fair pay
reasonable hours aud decent treat
ment. Neither the capitalists 0 tn
laborcr, organized or unorganized
has anything to gain by continuing tt
settle disputes under the rule of nigh
rather than the rule Of reason. Or
ganized capital is here to stay, an,
organized labor is here to stay. 1t l
the high duty of those charged witt
the enactment of laws and the admin
istration of justice to make most tire
less efforts to substitute peace for wa
in the relations of these mighty forces