Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1915-02-01

STRIKE POLICY
CALLED ABSURD
John Mitchell So Brands Col.
lective Bargaining Scheme
at Walsh Probe.
MAcKAYE AND PlNCHOT,
WITNESSES, ALSO HEARD
Former Advocates Government
Control of lndustries-Mor-
gan on Stand Later.

| NEW YORK, Feb. John Mitchell.
former president Of the United Mine
| Workers of America, and now g men,
her Of the State Workmen's Compen-
sation Commission, today told the
! Federal Industrial Relations Commits
| sion that the Rockefeller plan of set
ting labor troubles in Colorado was
simply absurd"
mo good can come out of such a
! plan" said he. 1.-THE unorganized
men can be depended upon to select
] to represent them only men the bosses
want. They may not be directly in
J, fiuenced to do this, but there will be
an indirect influence which they can
lot resist.
We nave gone through such a
thing before. The slogan We might
as we'll starve idle as starve working
will naturally be raised again just as
it was during 1900 in the anthracite
| felds.''
Mr. Mitchels reference was to the
plan of collective barga ming suggest
ed to the Rockefeller interests by w.
L. Mackenzie King, former commits
sioner of labor of Canada, who was
recently employed by the Rockefeller
Foundation to conduct an lnvestiga-
ION lnIO inuuSLTldl
Urges Referendum and Recall.
Mr.. Mitchell thought the referen-
dunn and recall was of advantage to
labor.
Speaking of compensation for work.
men, Mr.. Mitchell said it was effective
in more ways than one. When" said
he 1t costs more to kill a man than
1t does to save him the employers will
save their workers"
Mr.. Mitchell said that where men
are unorganized the death rate is
higher and the wage rate lower. For
instance" he said, "the death rate in
Colorado and West Virginia is about
six per 1000. In other localities where
the men are unorganized they are iu-
clined to take risks tnat organized
men will not take"
"0n the other hand" Mr.. Mitchell
continued, 1.-The great combinations
have done much harm to the work.
ingmen. For instance, many of the
big corporations refuse to treat with
organized labor. This is a great mis-
| take"
| Mr.. Mitchell said thsst it was the
denial of Industrial association that
caused industrial revolutions" in
Paterson, West Virginia, Lawrence,
| Mass. and other places throughout
| the country. There can be no indus
trial peace, he said, until all working
| people have the right to bargain for
the sale of their labor
"The working people do not want
benefactions or charity. They want
independence and the right to bar
gain collectively" the witness said.
Amos Pinchot was the first witness
He was permitted to finish the read
ing of testimony he had not concluded
while on the stand Saturday. but
which had been placed in the record.
In this he had accused the Associated
Press of partiality to the capitalistic
side OF labor controversies in the han
ding of news.
81 do not believe" said Mr. Pinchot,
after finishing the statement, that
the Associated Press will carry on its
wires dispatches concerning my testi-
mony here about it, There is a by
law in the Associated Press which
provides that any member printing
news derogatory to the Associated
CONTINUED on Page 6. Column 81