The Washington herald., 1915-08-29
INDUSTRIAL DATA
PROVES COSTLY
Nation Wondering What Con-
gress Will Do with Reports
on Soial Unrest.
HALF MILLION, WASTED
Janslins Conclusions Reached by. the
Commission Members Present
Puzzle. ,
HALF MILLION, WASTED

When Congress meets In December one
of its most puzzling. II not pressing
questions will be what to do with the
jangling Industrial Relations Commission
reports.
Should there be any action?
II there 10 not. 1t will mean that the
most costly investigation of social con.
ditions ever undertaken by any nation
will have come to naught.
More than half a million dollars will
have been poured out without commeas-
urably benefiting the United States.
Many Industrial wrongs will have been
exposed, but as to the cure no remedy
will have been found.
For two years the six men and one
woman composing the commission, to-
gether with large staff of investigators
and clerks. took testimony. They held
meetings throughout the country. from
Los Angeles to New York.
The range Of their inquiries was %
wide that most Of the public must have
pose the commission existed
Object of Inquiry.
The exact object of the inquiry ID
shown in the creating act of Congress.
approved August %. 1912, which directs
the members to inquire into:
!. The general condition of labor in
the principal industries of the United
States. including agriculture. and espe-
cially in those which are carried on In
corporate form.
2 The existing relations between en-
ployers and employees.
3. The effect of industrial conditions on
public welfare.
4. The rights and powers of the COM
munity to deal with the relations be-
tween industrial conditions and the pub
lie welfare.
3. The conditions of sanitation and
safety of employees and the provisions
for protecting the life, limb and health
of the employees
6. The growth of associations Of en-
ployers and of employees and the effect
of such associations upon the relations
between employers and employees.
I. The extent and results of methods Of
collective bargaining
5. Any methods which have been tried
in any State or in foreign countries Tor
maintaining mutually satisfactory rela-
tions between employees and employer.
9. Methods for avoiding or adjusting
labor disputes through peaceful and con-
ciliatory mediation and negotiations.
10 The scope. methods and resources
OF existing bureaus OF labor. and posi-.
BILE ways Of increasing their usefulness.
IL, Questions Of smuggling or other IL
legal entry of Asiatics into the United
States or its insular possessions and the
methods by which such Asiatics gain
such admission.
L. The underlying causes Of dissatis-
faction in the industrial situation.
Many of the troubles of the commits
sion were caused by the dislike which
several OF the members developed for the
methods Of the chairman, Frank P.
Walsh. a Kansas City tMo) lawyer.
Mr. Walsh is an avowed enemy Of
wealth. He admitted time and again his
hostility for men of great fortune. His
remark that he could not approach the
subjects before the commission with
judicial poise made even his friends gasp
and drew from ex-President Taft the
remark: What is meant by judicial
poise? Merely that an investigator is
trying to find out the truth
Several members Of the commission.