Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-12-14
NILSSON BlAMEs OWNERS
| FOR TWO GREAT STRIKES
Declares Ultimate Responsibility for
Calumet Copper and Colorado Coal
Troubles Rests on Them.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR REPORT


Reviews Labor Disputes Successfully
Mediated During Last Year, and
Defines Principles Upon Which Ac-
ton Upon Snch Cases Is Taken.
WASHINGTON. December 13.-Sec-
fetary Wilson. of the Department nf
-abor, In his annual report, submitted
Today, expresses the conviction that
lad the owners OF the mine proper q es
n the Calument copper region and the
Colorado coal fields dealt with the
trike situations In their inception,
had they been on the ground and per-
fonally In charge, there is reason to
believe that no strike would have oc-
.urred."
Whatever may have been the re-
Fponsibility OF the workmen for the
ftriSe and it's Incidents" said Secre-
airy Wilson. "the LEGAL management
'annot be wholly acquitted; and upon
he elementary principle OF agency. az
found in morals as in law. ultimate re-
Fponsiblity must rest upon the own
hrs."
Principally Secretary Wilson'S re-
bort Is devoted to a review OF the labor
disputes the department has success
fully mediated during tho last year.
and 1t defines at some length the prin-
n such casen. or the mediation and
,oncill,tion work the report says:
OF all the functions OF the Depart
rent of Labor which 1t is yet possible
o administer. this one may be rea-
sonably regarded as the most import
Int. Suggesting with reference to Ia
Dor disputes e development of diplo-
matte duties In the Department of
Labor analogous to those in the De-
Partment of State with reference to in
#ernational disputes. it points to Fed
frai administrative system for pro-
noting and fostering Industrial peace;
&1ot n peace of the Warsaw order. but
pne of mutual benefit and good will.
MUST CONSERVE
INTERESTS OF WAGE FARMERS
! Primarily the Department OF La
poi must conserve In industrial dis
putes the interests OF the wage earn
PRS OF the United States. Such is It's
duty under the law OF Its creation. the
FIRST section OF which charges 1t with
responsibility for their general well
fnre. while tho eighth makes this re-
sponsibility specific as 20 labor dis
putes. And those interests are ex-
fcept!onal in their magnitude. Not only
do wage earners constitute in num-
Der more than third OF our total
population. but in financial respects
also their aggregate interests are vast
j
'csts represented In our government
Isystem exceed in volume or public inn
.portancc those OF the wage earners of
1the United States.
"E though the Department OF La
8hor represents primarily the wage
earning interests In labor disputes, its
Ideal is to make it's representation
Fimilar In character TO that Of the De-
jpartmcnt OF State, which, while repre-
sentinR the interests OF this country in
disputes between It and other countries,
8ioes SO with fairness toward all coun-
tries. Accordingly. the policy of the
department of Labor, though II exc
|cutes its mediation and concilis ton
Functions as the governmental repre-
Sentative OF wage-earning interests, is
TO do without partisanship or pre-
Ijudice. but with fairness to every In
Iterest concerned.
cit should be Understood, therefore,
that mediation does not mean arbitra-
! tion. compulsory or otherwise. Nor Is
III In any other sense n judicial func-
ation. The function is one OF negotia-
Ition. Neither the secretary nor COM
pensioners of Cancellation whom he ap-
points are arbitrators. Though they
Imay propose arbitration when circum-
stances seem to call for it. they do not
themselves act as arbitrators. and II
lis contrary to- the policy OF the De-
apartment OF Labor for them to do so.
SEEK TO BRING EMPLOYER
AND EMPLOTE TOGETHER
What the commissioners of concili-
latiOn seek to do ia to bring employer
land cmploye together, SO that they
Imay work out their differences between
themselves peacefully and amicably. as
business men with legitimate differ
ences to adjust. When commissioners
fail In that way to get employe and
employer together. mediation Is re-
sorted to. The commissioners negoti-
ate between representatives OF the
lemployer In an effort to ind some
mutually satisfactory basis of agree
ment Falling also in that. the COM
|missioners endeavor to get the con-
hicting parties to agree to a basis OF
arbitration. the award to decide moth
Ing but the points actually In dis
pute. Any OF those three courses is
preferable to strike.
When tho department is unable,
whether through commissioners OF
cancellation or otherwise, to get the
parties 10 meet and work out their
own problems. or to agree upon an
adjustment by way OF mediatorial me-
gotiation, or to adopt arbitration by
|arbitrators Of their own choosing. then
there is nothing further the depart
ment can do than to give to the pub
lie the information necessary to en-
HDie IL 10 pass 1alr judgment upon
the merits of the dispute.
1T will be seen, therefore, that the
qualifications Of commissioners of con-
Citation are not at all judicial, and
that criticisms of their having or hav-
ing had partisan Affiliations are based
upon misapprehension of the duty the
statute has imposed upon them and
upon this department. 1t Is not a
reasonable objection to a commissioner
of Cancellation that he belongs to a
workers organization. nor that he be-
longs to an employers organization
His important qualifications are not
Ignorance of, or indifference to, the
interests of either party or both, but
tact. fairness and good feeling In ne
gotlatlons In addition to competency
with reference to technical aspects of
the matters in dispute. Those qualif-
cations among persons having no affili-
ations with either side are too rare
for the practical purposes of media
tion and conciliation