The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-12-14

of the department of labor for them Ia
do so.
what the commissioners OF concilla-
tion seek TO do is TO bring employer and
employe together, 80 that they may work
out their differences between themselves
peaceably and amcably, as business men
with legitimate differences TO adjust,
When commissioners fail in that way TO
get employee and employer together, me,
diation is resorted to. The commission.
ers negotiate between representatives of
the employee and representatives OF the
employer in an effort To find some mu
tually satisfactory basis of agreement.
Failing also in that, the commissioners
endeayor TO get the conflicting parties TO
agree 10 q basis of arbitration, the award
to decide nothing but the points actually
in dispute. Any of those three courses
is preferable TO a strike.
"When the department is unable,
whether through commissioners OF con-
citation or otherwise, TO get the parties
to meet and work out their own prob
lens, or to agree upon an adjustment by
way of mediatorial negotiation, or to
adopt arbitration by arbitrators of their
own choosing then there is nothing fur
Their the department can do than to give
TO the public the information necessary
TO enable it to pass a fair judgment upon
the merits of the dispute.
at will be seen, therefore, that the
qualifications of commissioners of concli-
alton are not at all judicial, and that
criticisms of their having or having had
partisan affiliations are based upon n
misapprehension of the duty the statute
has imposed upon them and upon this de-
partment. 1t is not reasonable obiec-
ton to a commissioner of Cancellation
that he belongs to workers organiza
ton, nor that he belongs to an employers
organization. His important qualifca
tions are not ignorance of or indifference
to the interests of either party or both, |
but tact, fairness, and good feeling jim ne
gotiations in addition to competency with
reference to technical aspects of the mat
tiers in dispute. Those qualifications
among persons having no affiliations with |
either side are too rare for the practical
purposes of mediation and Cancellation.
at is, then, the policy of the depart
ment of labor, and has been its custom.
to appoint in important cases two or
more commissioners of Cancellation of the
kind Just described, so that the secretary
may be intelligently advised OF the mer-
its of the dispute from all angles on both
sides.
This was done in the case of the Col
oradO coal strike, one of the commission
ers in that case being, as already stated,
a miner whose labor affiliations pointed
to possible sympathy with the strikers.
the other being mine operator whose
business affiliations pointed possibly to
sympathy with the mine operators But
both were fair-minded as well as techni-
cally competent men. Their Joint recon-
approved by the department
and the president and accepted by the
strikers, is confidently submitted as EVIL. .
dence of the good faith OF the depart
ments commissioners of Cancellation and
Of the wisdom of its general policy in
and Cancellation work
Although the department seldom of
'ers mediation in labor disputes unless :
solicited to do so, and although this stat ]
tie empowers the secretary to act when
4yer. in his judgment, the interests of in /:
iustrial peace may require il to be done
md conditions are conceivable in which I
t would be advisable for the department !:
o offer its good offices though neither J
,arty requested or desired it. In the
ase, for instance, of strike of such bit !
erness as to inspire both sides with
determination to fight to the bitter end
nd of such magnitude as to prejudice !
ther industrial interests or to disturb :
he public at large, it would doubtless be I
he duty of the department of labor to j
intervene"