The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-08-27
An Industrial Court.
From the Chicago Tribune.

iioii llO SilIdSo 1tii,ulc.
American women. from Maine to Cali
fornia, wear are made by immigrant la
borers. II a ranchman from Oklahoma
or a villager from Wyoming were to be
present at a meeting OF the cloakmak-
ers' union In New York he would be be-
wi!dered. Speeches are made in a dozen
languages. Questions are fired back and
forth by scores of Interpreters. The Okla
homa ranchman or Wyoming villager
would no doubt conclude that there never
can be anything like order In an indus
try that employees such a lot of foreign
looking, foreign speaking, excitable men
and women.
Yet it is the cloak industry of New York
that is now setting before the country ar
example in industrial democracy which is
likely to have far-reaching effects. The
workers and the employers in the cloak
industry in New York maintain an ndus-
trial court which they term the board Of
grievances. This board is made up Of 10
members, five from the union of the
workers and five from the association of
employers. Each side of the board of
grievances has a clerk to receive com
plants from it's constituency. Tho minor
grievances are frequently taken up by the
two clerks themselves and settled. Mat
tiers of weightier import are taken up in
open court by the entire membership of
the board.
The United States department of labo..
has investigated this industrial court, and
the report of the investigation, which was
issued recently, speaks of it enthu5iastic-
ally. According to the governnlef : re-
port the board of grievances Of tn oak
industry in the brief span of its existence
it was organized in 1911-has accom-
pliShed marVels. 1t has aVerted strikes
without number. 1t was adjusted amicably
and to the satisfaction of both sides SO per
cent of the grievances that it was called
upon to settle.
There were some grievances that the
board could not adjust. This did not,
however, lead to strikes, as one naturally
would suppose. These more troublesome
matters went over to the higher and final
court of the cloalInakers union-the
board OF arbitration. The board of arbi-
tration is made up of three members-or.e
representing the union, one representing
the employers, and one representing the
public. This highest court of the cloak
industry disposes amicably but authorize
lively of the most rancorous difficulties.
Among the typical grievances the indus
trial court of the oakmakers Is called
upon to adjust is the complaint on the
part of the union that a member is dis
eliminated against or that an individual
has been ~wrongfully discharged by the
employer. The employers, on the other
interference in the conduct of the shop by
union officials.
To many employers the industrial court
OF the Cloakmakers' union and cloak
manufacturers in New York will no doubt
seem ruthless domination of an industry
by the workers. Others, however, will see
in this highly democratized labor institu-
ton a potent means for permanent ndus-
trial stability. There will be many to
whom the business no less than the hui
man aspects of this court in an industry
will appeal as a triumph of democracy.