The Hattiesburg news., 1915-02-10
3 . 90 . . = = % Q Q Q Q 4
. EDITORIALS WORTH =
. READING =
AN ENTENTE CORDiALE
UNPARALLELED.

/ Ah'NSeaoobAohS iihO thal VI lhC lCu-
eral commission on industrial rela-
tions into the great philanthropic
foundations. which has been in prog
ress the past two weeks, often are JUS
titled not so much by their original
| purposes as by the unexpected results
| coming out of them. 1t is clear that
this particular investigation has been
| already indicated Not much that is
| new has been discovered about the
| Rockefeller foundation or it's relation
| to the Industrial system which the
elder Rockefeller personifies in the
! popular thought more than any other
American capitalist dead or alive.
| Scraps of opinion from various indi
viduals on economic and social ques-
tions may not in themselves be en-
| tightening; as for the foundations
| themselves, with their enormous Ell
dowments, the next generation will be
in better position than the present
one to pass matured judgment upon
their social utility in a democratic
country. For the present they are on
their good behavior, and even the hos
tile sentiment they now encounter is
rooted more in theory or prejudice
than in the lessons of experience.
But very tangible, even if overlaid
somewhat with the humorously pic
turesque, is the human touch this in
vestigation has now established be-
tween the mighty house of Rockefel-
Ter and the flaming extremists Of the
most militant section of labor union
ism. Mr.. Rockefeller the younger has
ers after talking personally with the
leaders of the striking miners in Colo.
RADIO; and even so impassioned an agl-
tator as Mother" Jones, after listen
ing for three days to the examination
of young Mr.. Rockefeller has publicly
declared that she had eltirely changed
her estimate of him. That she aud
her kind had terribly misrepresented
him." was her honest avowal after a
two-hours' private conference. All
this is delightfully."- human and cheer
ing, and yet it illustrates so simply
and forcibly most elementary fact in
the problem which has grown out of
modern industrial conditions. Nine
tenths of the hatred in the world is
due to the misunderstanding of people
by other people; and nothing reduces
the volume Of hatred so much as max
ing people of antagonistic interests
know each other in the flesh and blood
Of ordinary human contact.
1t is often the isolation of one sort
from another sort in social life that
embitters social relations; and in in
dustrial life how true it Is that the de-
tachment of the owners and even the
highest officials of our large corporate
enterprises from the employees has
made much the worse the difficulty of
reconciling the interests of labor and
capital. The actual distance between
the one side and the other is appalling
In the Colorado strike, ownership as
represented by the Rockefellers resid-
ed thousands of miles from the coal
fields and the acerbities of labor war
fare enveloped both sides with pas
sions SO bitter that nothing apparently
could pierce them with kindlier AID
more reasonable interpretations of
human motives.
Doubtless the establishment Of per.
sonal relations between the owners of
large enterprises and the labor force
is not always practicable, and it were
visionary to expect the final solution
of the industrial unrest of the time in
the human touch" alone. Yet the
entente cordiale so suddenly estab-
lished between the younger Rockefel.
! Ter and such an extreme apostle OF un-
rest and discomfort as Mother Jones'"
merely as the result of seeing each
other for three days, should suggest
to every employer Of labor on a large
or small scale the enormous advantage
to be derived from dealing with labor
never as a mere co modify" but al
ways as somethif wi.1 { SOUL
Springfield Repub.,
AUTOS EEEECT "a. RoAD