United labor bulletin., 1909-12-31
COMPULSORY ARBITRATION.
(By Samuel Gompers.)

untary action of two parties of diverse
interests submitting to disinterested par
ties the question in dispute or likely to
come in dispute.
Compulsion, by any process. and par
ticularly by the powers of government,
is repugnant to the principle as well as
to the policy of arbitration. If organized
labor should fail to appreciate the dam
ger involved in the proposed schemes of
so-called compulsory arbitration and con-
sent to the enactment OF Law providing
for its enforcement, there would be in
troduced the denial of the right of the
workers to strike in defense of their in
terests and the enforcement by the gov
eminent of specific and personal service
and labor. In other words, under law
based upon compulsory arbitration. If
an award were made against labor. no
matter how unfair or how unjust, and
brought about by any means, no matter
how questionable, we would be compelled
to work or suffer the stated penalty,
which might be either mulcting in dam
ages or going to Jail; not one scintilla
of distinction not one jot removed from
slavery.
Arbitration is only possible when vol
untary. It never can be successfully car
ried out unless the parties to a dispute
or controversy are equals. or nearly
equals, in power to protect or defend
themselves or to infiict injury upon the
other party
II is our aim to avoid strikes, but /
trust the day will never come when the
workers of our country will have SO far
lost their manhood and independence as
to surrender their right to strike or re-
fuse to strike We endeavor to prevent
strikes. but there are some conditions
far worse than strikes, and among them
is a demoralized. degraded and debased
manhood. The right to quit work at
any time and for any reason sufficient
for the workman himself is the concrete
expression of individual liberty. Hence
any curtailment of this right by and
through the law or by and through con-
tract enforced by law is in a fact a mega
ton of liberty and a return to serfdom.
The Industrial conciliation and arbitra-
tion law of New Zealand. the law Great
ing and governing the Indiana Labor
Commission and Arbitration Board,
copied from the laws OF 1897 and issued
by the Indiana commissioners, and the
arbitration law OF Illinois, as well as an
act concerning carriers engaged in In
terstate commerce and other employees,
approved June l. 1898, along with other
information from this and European
countries show that the kernel of all this
species of legislation is a desire to pre-
vent strikes by Furnishing the strikers.
Our existing form of society is unques-
tionably based upon manufacture, COM
merce and transportation. and anything
that disturbs the industries is resented
and means are sought TO prevent re-
currence and to clothe 1t in such garb
that public opinion will accept IL and
permit its execution.
The industrial courts of France are,
as understand it, organized much in
the same way The bill to prevent strikes
which was introduced in the German
reichstag at the instance of the govern
ment had the same underlying motive,
and practically the same, of attaining
this purpose. In the law adopted by the
Hungarian diet we again meet the same
purpose to prevent strikes by Furnishing
the strikers. The question of extending
the master and servant laws of Sweden
to the industrial workers of that coun-
try was under discussion in the Swedish
ricksdag and was for some time fiercely
combatted by the lovers of liberty of that
country. but IL was finally adopted. and
the other day strike on the street cars
in Stockholm was suppressed by sending
several of the strikers to prison for long
terms.
Coming now to our own country we
find that a bill was introduced in Con-
gress which would admit of every train
being made a mail train, and which. un-
der the postal laws would have subjected
the strikers in railroad transportation to
Imprisonment for delaying the mails.
Through the efforts of the railroad
brotherhoods and the American Fedora
ton of Labor the bill failed. Then fol-
lowed the introduction of the Olney ar
bitration bill, which provided for arbitra-
ton. voluntary in submission In its ini-
tiatory stages, but with compulsory obe-
dience to the award: that is. the award
was to be enforced by direct penalty
for the individual violating the same.
The Indiana law has the following provi-
sions:
AN agreement to enter into arbitra-
tion under this act shall be in writing
and shall state the issue to be submitted
and decided. and shall have the effect Of
an agreement by the parties to abide by
and perform the award"
It will be observed that this may be
called voluntary entered into. The par