The Washington herald., 1913-09-15

vi AobtSA lSlE, congress passed an
act ito create Commission on Industrial
Relations" consisting of nine members,
three representing employers, three or
ganized labor, and three underlined
On December II, 1912, President Taft
nominated nine members of the commits
sion. These the Senate failed to con-
firm.
On June q OF this year. President vii.
son, In turn, made nine nominations, fouI
of them the same as nominated by Presl-
dent Taft. The Senate Committee on
Education and Labor has now decided
to report the nomination favorably,
| The act creating the commission rem
ders 1t obligatory that it shall make its
final report by August 3, 1915. Ii will
thus be seen that more than one year
Of the three has passed unproductiveIy
Furthermore, the first appropriation Of
$4,000 Is not available for this year $
work, as II pertained only to the year
ending June 30, 1918. The commission
will, therefore, have no funds available
| for its work until some time after the
regular December session Of Congress
begins. Practically eighteen months will
have elapsed before the commission, au-
thorized in 1872, can undertake any Of
the great task assigned to it.
| What is the task? One so vast In its
scope that II seems impossible to an
any research relative to today will seem
inadequate ten years from now just as
is the case with the industrial commits
sion of 1s9S-19O2, referred to later, whose
researches are relegated to the waste
heaps Of human endeavor.
The Task Ahead.
In 1911 there were in the United
States more than I,6OO,O employees of
railroads, according to the Interstate
Commerce Commission. In 1909 there
was an average of 6,5O0,OO0 employed
in manufactures, according to the CEN
sus. There are more than 3O,0OO.O00
men. women, and children "Sainfully
occupied" in the nation. The above
three sentences, taken together. form
only one feature of the task that con-
fronts the newly appointed Commission
on Industrial Relations.
There were 26S,49l manufacturing
establishments in 1909, OF which 1856
900, or more than One-half, employed
only one to fve wage-earners: one
fifth OF all the establishments employed
only six to twenty. There are more
than 300. 900 corporations in the United
States, every one representing a per-
sOnsl desire to perpetuate a business
after the death OF the organizer or
organizers; for that is the secret Of
our corporate activity. The capital in
vested in these corporations ap-
proaches $4,000. 900, 900. The above SEN
tence gives a second idea OF the bur
den of inquiry laid upon the Commission
on Industrial Relations.
By the twelfth census there were
shown TO be l,2644ll boys between ten
and fifteen years OF age employed as
breadwinners, and 4s5,767 girls be-
tween the same age limits. The same
~
all women over sixteen years Of age
to be employed as breadwinners. In
the twenty-five years succeeding 1881,
strikes occurred in 36.75T cases, affect
ing lS1.4O7 establishments and S703.-
s24 workers. In the same period there
were 1916 lock-outs. throwing S25, So
workers out OF employment. Labor
unions ordered 1888 strikes. out of
which 1913 per cent succeeded. There
were 11.3S4 strikes not ordered by Ia
Dor unions, and 1886 per cent succeed /
ed. These sentences form item num-
Der three Of the Investigations to be |
made by the Commission on Industrial |
Relations.
The Relations of Each TO All.
We are a nation Of nearly 1OOuOO.OpO |
people. FoFty-eight per cent Of our peo-
pie are in the cities: 50 per cent are ir |
our people are between six and twenty |
years of age. All our rural population |
can be counted upon s interested in aC-
riculture; 6.sl5.0i6 OF our people are en- |
ployed In manufactures which by the |
average method of calculating family !
accounts for the maintenance of be- |
tween 100000 and 10000 people. In |
the formal words of the act the task Of |
this Commission on Industrial Relations !
is to Inquire into the general conditions
of labor in the principal industries of
the United States, including agriculture"
or, in other words. to find out all that !
can be learned relative TO the activities
CT our entire population except the small
proportion that can be regarded as the
leisure class. II has altogether eleven
comprehensive duties as broad as the
one indicated above. ending with this in
structiOn- The commission shall seek to
discover the underlying causes of dis
sc tisfaction in the Industrial situation
and report its conclusions thereon" This
means an attempt to classify discomfort
" herever found and, TO be properly done. ]
would involve giving voice to every form
Of discomfort existent in America
whether in union or non-uniOn labor or
In the competition between cor
DoratiOns or individuals in productive
lines
Among others Of its broad duties. iti
IS to report on any methods that have
been tried in any State or in foreign
for maintaining mutually sat ,
sfactory relations between employees and !
employers. In addition to all these, the
question of smuggling or the illegal en- ,
ry of AsiatiCs into the United States Is
ilso to be taken up by the commission, .
hough a sharp decline In the number OF ,,
chinese in the United States has taken
olace in twenty years.
The conviction Is overwhelming that q.
he original plan Of providing a commits
lon to consider the complicated relations
I labor and capital as outlined in the
residents message of February 2, 1872,
as been weighted down by so many
ines of research as 10 foredoom the
commission to failure IL ii attempts
and TO useless endeavor II
attempts anything less. {