Evening star., 1908-01-11

IL
for free silver. great many wage-earners
in that campaign of education were en-
abled to see that while the serious i'm
pairment of the standard of value by
going on to a free silver basis might work
| advantageously for the debtor class. the
laboring man belonged to the creditor
class.
The wage-earners had no debts of any
amount to pay; they were benefited by
having their wages paid in the best cur
rency possible. and they were directly
Interested that their employers with capi-
! tai should Collect the debts due them in
the same medium in which those debts
| had been contracted. The truth was
| that the wage-earners were in effect part
Of the moneyed classes of this country in
| the sense that their interest and that
of the capitalist was identically the same
in requiring the honest payment of debts.
When Labor Unions Are Necessary.
But while it is in the common interest
of labor and capital to increase the fruits
of production, yet IN determining the
share of each in the product their inter-
ests are plainly opposed. Though the
law Of supply and demand will doubtless
in the end be the most potent influence
in fixing this division, yet during the
gradual adjustment to the changing mar
kets and the varying financial condi-
tons capital will surely have the advan-
tage unless labor takes united action.
During the betterment of business condi-
tions organized labor, If acting with rea-
Sonable discretion, can secure much great
er promptness in the advance of wages
than if 1t were left to the slower opera
tion of natural laws, and in the same
way, hard times come on. the too
eager employer may he restrained from
undue haste in reducing wages The or
ganiZation of capital into corporations
with the position of advantage which this
gives it in a dispute with single laborers
over wages makes it absolutely neces-
sary for labor to unite to maintain ITSELF
For instance. how could workingmen
dependent on each days wages for living
dare to take stand which might leave
them without employment If they had
not by small assessments accumulated a
common fund for their support during
such emergency. In union they must
sacrifice some independence of action. and
there have sometimes been bad results
from the tyranny of the ma jority in such
cases: but the hardships which have fol-
lowed impulsive resort to extreme meas
ures have had a good effect to lessen
them Experience. too. is leading 10
classification among the members, SO
that the cause of the skilled and worthy
shall not be leveled down to that of the
lazy and neglectful. This is being done.
l am told. by what is called the maxi
mum and minimum wage.
Wise Attitude of Capitalist.
What the capitalist. who is the employ
er of labor, must face is that the organi-
zation Of labor-the labor union-is a
permanent condition in the industrial
world. 1t has come to stay. If the en-
ployer would consult his own interest
he must admit this and act on it. Under
existing conditions the blindest course
that an employer of labor can pursue Is |
to decline to recognize labor unions as
the controlling influence in the labor |
Ill iy,c.rf i1rv ltyr
with his particular employees. Time and |
time again one has heard the indignant |
expression of manager of some great
industrial enterprise that he did not pro- |
pose to have the labor union run his |
business: that he would deaf with his
own men and not with outsiders.
The time has passed in which that at |
titude can be assumed with any hope of
successfully maintaining 1t. What the
wise manager of corporate enterprise en- |
ploying large numbers of laborers will
do is to receive the leaders of labor |
unions with courtesy and respect and
listen to their claims and arguments as
they would to the managers of any other
corporate enterprise with whom they |
were to make an important contract af- |
fecting the business between them. AT
times some labor leaders are intoxicated |
with the immense power that they exer- |
else in representing thousands of their |
fellow workers and are weak enough to
exhibit a spirit of arrogance. Dealing
with them is trying to the patience of
the employer. So, too. propositions from
labor. unions sometimes are so exOrbitant |
in respect to the terms of employment as
literally to deprive the manager of the |
control which he ought to retain over the |
laborers employed in his business. This |
is to be expected in a comparatively new |
movement and is not to be made ground
for condemning it.
Arbitration.
This brings me to the question of arbi |
tration. 1t goes without saying that
where an adjustment cannot be reached
by negotiation it is far better for
the community at large that the diff
ferences be settled by submission to an
impartial tribunal and agreement to abide
its judgment than to resort to a trial Of
resistance and endurance by lockouts and
strikes and the other means used by the
parties to industrial controversies in
fighting out the issue between them. |
Not infrequently one side or the other
but generally the capitalist side-wll say
in response to a suggestion of subms-
sion to arbitration that there is nothing
to arbitrate; that their position is so i'm
pregnable from the standpoint of reason
that they could not abide judgment
against them by any tribunal in matter
subject to their voluntary action.
In such case arbitration as a method
of settlement is impossible. unless the
ed. 1t is a very Serious question whether
under our Constitution a decree of a tri- |
bunal under a compulsory arbitration
law could be enforced against the side of
the laborers. 1t would come very close |
to the violation of the thirteenth amend |
ment, which forbids involuntary servitude. |
1t has been frequently decided that no
injunction can issue which will compel |
man to perform his contract of en- |
ployment, and that on the ground that |
while the breach of his contract may give |
be compelled, except in the peculiar en-
ployments of enlistment in the army and |
service on ship, specifically to perform |
a labor contract. Hence, compulsory ar
bitratiop does not seem to be the soIu- |
tion
Evil of Strikes.
We can not have a great labor contro- |
versy or great strike without its af-
fecting injuriously a great many other
people than those actually engaged In
it. The truth is that the class of capital |
and, the class of labor represented on |
the one side by the managers of the |
great corporations and on the other side |
by the leaders of the great labor unions |
do not include all the members of the |
community by a great deal. In addition |
to them are the farming community the |
small merchants and storekeepers the
professional men, the class of clerks and
many other people who have nothing to
do either with manual iabor-skilled or
unskilled-and who do not own shares in
the stock Of industrial or other enter
prises requiring capital to carry them
on. These are the middlemen SO to
speak in the controversy. The views OF