New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-05
Walsh Has Produced Only Reports
and Publicity When a Perma-
Memt Commission That Is More
Than Picturesque Is Necessary
Labor Appreciates His Work.

errcr Of thinking that merely more laws will
cure present evils, quite overlooking. seeming
ly the fact that Congress, the state legislatures
and the courts have neither the time nor the
expert knowledge necessary to decide the thou
sznds of details in industry. Laws about hours
and sanitation, the right to form trade unions
and hundreds of other labor laws already exist
in abundance, bu: that does by no means sig
nifty that the workers get the benefit OF them.
An occasional visit from an Inspector, who
may be in the hands Of INSCRIPTIONS politicians
or the victim of fear, does not change condi-
tons much. but Commission, balanced by an
industrial council Of workmen and employers,
to whom the workers may take their griev-
a1ces, sure of an investigation, is very diff
ferent matter.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAW
AND OBSERVANCE.
review Of the Industrial Commissions
finding in recent strike history shows to what
an extent the lack OF such machinery Of sd-
justment is the cause OF violent strikes.
The State of West Virginia has one of the
most liberal constitutions in relation TO labor,
but the yawning chasm between the law and
its observance by employers was an under
lying cause of the tragic bitterly fought coal
strike then.
The Buffalo strike of streetcar men in 1892
was caused by the company's violating the
ten hour law.
Consider what would be the effect on you
if you were utterly unable to get protection
under the law, as are the poor. Thousands,
no, hundreds of thousands, Of such cases
could be compiled. Suppose a workman to
have been falsely arrested and kept in prison
during strike What remedy has hep
Suppose he is brutality attacked by gunman
and so disabled as to have dictors bills. What
remedy has he?
Suppose a workman dies from the assaults
of gunner as was the case with Peter Kramer
of Milwaukee. What remedy has his wife,
Suppose a workman is injured while at work
Can he employ the degree of legal skill to
secure damages that will be used by the en-
ployer to contest the claim?
Suppose the wrong to be only the case Of
wages withheld or of irregular payment. which
keeps the family in state of uncertainty and
disorganization, sometimes in actual want.
Can the poor man afford litigation to secure
his 81, So or $40, as the case may be'
BULLET OR BALLOT9
1t is the belsted condition of the law, which
does OF provide the working man with the
means Of securing such justice, that explains
the shooting, last fall, of the San Francisco
employer by a distraught workman, who had
returned to the shop after period OF illness
and been refused his back pay when he had
lteri lily nothing left with which to feed his
wife and children. This is the second shoot
ing that has occurred in that shop because OF
pay withheld. The history Of the case would
have been different had there been Com
mission to which he could appeal.
It is more or less humorous spectacle,
that of Chairman Walsh finging away the ju-
dicial robe presented him by Congress.
running away with the commission and shout
ing for the conhscation of the millions.
IF Commissioner Weinstock goes mad as
result of the blimber hotbed in which he has
had to have his official being for the past two
years, we know that he will wander about
babbling, The ballot, not the bullet. No, the
bullet, not the ballot No, the bullot, not the
ballet 1t is to be hoped that when
the noise dies down the careful, constructive
report of Professor Commons will gradually
stir us TO a realization Of the necessity for a
permanent industrial commission.
== ====5=z==========l