The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1915-05-06
SUGGESTS REMEDY
FOR LABOR DISPUTES

CONTINUED from First Page)
Parliament of Great Britain, the pur
poses of the act were defined as fol
lows;
"''The simple purpose of the act IS
to insure thA recognition of the inter
ests of the public as a third party in
trade disputes, and the insistence that
that third party, through the govern
ment, shall have a voice in regard TO
a dispute affecting their interests, and,
according to the act, the recognition
extends to cases arising before or after
"a ~stoppage of work. While this prin
ciple of the recognition of the public
interest in trade disputes is ~emphasiz-
ed in the act, the actual interference
with the parties in the settlement of
their differences is sought to be re-
duced to a minimum by the act being
confined
"f1. To industries whose uninter-
rupted continuance is Of high import
anee to the well being of the nation
thinning, railways, shipping, and other
public utilities; and
"'2. To a brief suspension of the
right TO stop, as distinct from a COM
plete prohibition of stoppage.'
"And further on occur the following
views, which are as applicable to your
country as they are to Great Britain:
"'-and / think that it might be
feasible in the United Kingdom, with
advantage to both employers and EN-
ployed, to give opportunity for such
investigation and recommendation as
would bring into light the real causes
OF difficulties, and create in the public
mind and in the minds of employers
and employed the opinion that when
opportunity exists by law such oppor
tunity should be taken advantage Of,
and that strikes and lock-outs ought
not to be commenced. and certainly
nor supported by "sympathetic ,
strikes, while such investigation and
recommendation are pending. I~nvesti-
cation and recommendation would not
be necessary in all cases, and could
well be confined, at any rate in the
first instance, to cases in which the
public were likely to be seriously af-
fected.
From the point of view of the
public the advantage of such a course
is obvious. The public have no use for
strikes or lockouts, and such a course
might reasonably be expected to les
sen their number. While the public
might have much diicffulty in bringing
opinion to bear in favor of acceptance
or rejection of technical decisions,
which in man ytrades it would be i'm
possible for persons who had not ex-
amined the question to understand,
their support to the principle that the
ordeal of battle should give place 20
reasonable Judgment would probably
be emphatic and frequently effective.
From the point of view of the
employers such a course need not in
terfere with the administrative details
of business or discipline, but should
give better opportunity for regular and
consecutive business by reducing the
number Of strikes, by bringing strikes
to an earlier conclusion, and the pow
erful effect which / am convinced
would result in the direction of rem
dering unnecessary and Ineffective the
Of those sympathetic strikes
bv which employers having no quarrel
with their own workmen are now so
frequently disturbed
"Reports of the satisfactory opera
ton of the Canadian act, and a convic-
ton that like benefits would aecrue
through the adoption of some OF its
provisions in the United States, Undue
ed me to send an assistant TO Canada
in September, 1914, to learn at first
hand from the managers of Canadian
RAILWAYS and from the Canadian de-
partment of labor, their experiences
with the operation of the act. The
and of the commissioner of labor, was
opinion alike of railway executives,
that their disputes and investigation
act was satisfactory and very success
full in preventing lock-outs and strikes.
Tn discussing the results of our OBJ
servations with the executive heads
of some of cur important railway svs-
TENS the opinion was expressed. with
out exception, that the provisions Of
the Canadian act were most helptul IN
the interests of employers. employees.
and the general public. the three par