The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-05-02
A step BACKWARD
What a Return to IndividuaIiSm
Would Mean.
TREND is TO C0LLECTIvlSM.

The Trade Union Idea of Arbitration
Most Logical Method of Settling In
dustriai Disputes-8ased on Common
Sense and Social Sanity.
AT the recent dinner of the Brockton
Economic club General President To
bin of the Boot and Shoe Workers un-
ion delivered an address reported in
the Brockton Times in part as follows:
The present day solution Of problems
of labor is the best and most logical
form of trade union formed on the
platform of the American federation,
Offering a logical, peaceful, business
like vehicle Of adjustment for the is
sues that arise between employer and
employee, preserving and bettering the
earning opportunity Of those who work.
the business of the employer and pros.
perity for the community The right of
labor to organize has been conceded
Wise men agree that has come to stay.
We are in the infancy of the move
ment.
Brockton offers one of the most nota-
BILE examples in the world Of the bene-
fits a community derives from a safe
and sane form of trade union, protect
ing the wages of the workers and at
the same time presenting an obstacle
r. tbr e+o4,ro az, ,,e ,,,o.rly Will, fj,o oov
sequent loss OF earnings for the work
ers, business for the employer and the
tremendous economic loss that indus
trial warfare imposes on a community
We have but to point back few years
to offer Brockton's present prosperity
as an Illustration of the benefits that
come to an industrial city by the ap-
plication of logical trade unionism
My friend MFR. Hugo, who is to
speak later, runs an open shop in Bos-
ton; hence his interest in the prln-
ciples that are opposed to what we call
the better way of treating with indus
trial issues. He is one Of the type Of
employer who opposes organization of
employees. This type of man is wrong
for the reason that 1t is an inherent
right of mankind to organize. Labor
that opposes organization Of employers
simply on the ground of antagonism to
the organization of employees, and the
| employer that opposes organization of
his employees are equal blunders In
present day society Such factors are
! inconsistent and Illogical
Long study by those who gave birth
to the idea of the American trade
union and who piloted its practices in
days gone by have led to arbitration as
the most logical method of solving
present day problems of industrial re-
lations. Arbitration is based on com
mon practices of business dealing, and
| 1t is an unsound program that attempts
| to knock down arbitration and set up
| In the place Of compromise theory on
a pedestal and call it the principle of
| individual liberty Trading horses is a
form of arbitration agreeing to a bar
| gain is arbitration or compromise, and
when employer and employee are un-
| able to agree on the extreme demands
of one side or the other as the basis OF
adjudication, then compromise or q
| middle ground is the natural, logical
method of settlement. based absolutely
on the law of common sense and social
sanity.
Before the days of collectivism or
collective bargaining of the trade union
idea, as fostered by the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor, employers associa-
tions like that which Mr.. Hugo repre-
sents did the thinking for those who
worked, and the workers had nothing
to say as to the standard of their wage
or of the conditions under which they
should be employed. That was In the
days when the individual liberty of