The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-14
SECRETARY WILL SON BLAMES OPERATORS FOR ALLOWING
 COAL AND COPPER STRIKES

caption, as it's principal owners (Messrs. Shaw and Agassiz,) might have done had they been on the ground and personally in charge, there is reason to believe that no strike would have occurred. But the local superintendent, doubtless an ex- cel1ent property manager, appears by the reports to have been 8 poor man ager of men.
 .tWhen the employees solicited a conference with him, in order to pre- sent grievances, their request was ep- tireIy ignored It appears to have been this treatment that precipftated the strike and kindred treatment that prevented subsequent negotiations Tor terminating it fairly. No rights of the company could have been injured, nor any prejudice to it's business incurred, by courteous reception of complaints from the employees, followed by re- moving grievances if real or explain ing them away is mistaken.
 seWhatever may have been the re- sponsibility of the workmen for the strike and it's incidents, the local man agement can not be- wholly acquitted; and upon the elementary principle of agency, as sound in morals as in law, ultimate responsibility must rest upon the owners
 Of the Colorado strike the secretary says.
 ssThe coal strike in Colorado, which has necessitated the use of Federal troops, is another conspicuous in stance of industrial warfare in which, however heavily the responsibility
 may rest upon the stri1z it must ar- tach also to the local management Of the property involved and therefore to the responsible owners. in it's early stages this strike could, as stated in the first annual report, have been set tied upon fair terms had the proposals of the Department of Labor for arbi- Itration by an unbiased board chosen by mutual agreement been promptly t7accepted.''
 Excess in the supply of labor over
 demand for it is cause of labor dis
 putes which ranks high in omportance Iff indeed it does not rank as the cause. In conoquial terms the s1ob- less man puts all wageworkers at a
 disa adVantage in bargaining with em- ployers. The sman1ess Job is a cor
 responding co11oquia1ism. If there
 were profitable 'mapIess job for avery s5ob1ess. man the complete rem l edy for industrial disputes would be
 to bring the two together; but whether so complete g. correspond dence exists Tor not. no one at all familiar with tn e problem of seasonal employment and
 of accidental displacements of wage earns can doubt that it exists in some l degree. There were snanles5 jobs for sjob1ess' victims of the Salem fireN and
 this department helped to bring Sthe l two together; there gre emanless jobs of the seasonal kind on our farms and elsewhere to which this department I has been able in some instances tc I bring sjobless mem In so far as de lpartmental work of this kind can be limproved and expanded; and with ref erence to such work the coop peratior of Congress is urgently solicited
 What is needed is timely and wide. lspread information concerning labor I conditions in every part of the coun.
 try.
 I By systematically bringing some IeJobless man and some .nnanless jobs together on a national scale, the nee. Iessary first steps will have been taker toward complete removal of what ii perhaps the most potent cause of la
 Dor disputesl@-involunta funemploy ment Even in the taking of those
 first steps the modifying effect vii
 be progressively realized from the be. l ginning
 .ouf course, the labor problem cal
 not be solved by ameHorative pIani .f such as are here proposed unless th, j causes of involuntary unemployment are unbelievably supperficiaI ant vulnerable; but with seasonal var-ia.
 lions of employment nationally ad
 Justed, with accidental disturbance
 to employment nationally providet sl for, with indivi dual sdelinquencies il respect of employment better under i stood by national public opinion, ant 1 with such aneIiorations of in d1lstris
 distress this department is nov z preparing to offer, a right beginnin, will have been made. This work vii : at least clear the way for dealing eff ' fec4vely with the deeper-rooted an more stubborn and general causes O involuntary unemployment wFaicl : thoughtful observers of modern in dusTfal conditions seem to recogniz , in one form or another''
 Secretary Wilson renews his las r7lyear's recommendation that Congres prohibit interstate transportation a 2 armed private police or guards fo either side in industrial disputes.