The Brunswick news., 1916-12-20
No Warfare in Industry

4
In discussion at the Economic Club
dinner the other plight in New YORK.
the subject was the determination Of
the basis of wages In railroad service.
One speaker advocated the Canadi-
an plan Of settling disputes by
thorough investigation OF the facts and
determination Of what is fair and just
with legal prohibition Of strikes and
lockOuts before decision is reached.
Thereupon the president of the
Brotherhood of Railway Conductors
assailed the Canadian plan as a form
of slavery and declared in favor OF
gaining the ends of labor by in
dustrial war;" which he said, is Eek
actly like international war" BY in
,dustrial war, according to him, the
American workingman has fought his
way to his present position and has
suffered and died just as soldiers do
on battlefields. His idea seemed to
be that the only method Of acquiring
or establishing rights in production is
to fight for them and conquer the en-
ployer as an enemy who is trying to
enslave the workman.
The New York Journal Of Com
merce in verify observes that "this is
just as absurd as the idea that trade
is war in which som gain by the.
losses of others. Capital and labor
or employers and workmen, are in
effect partners in production. or I'M
the processes Of distribution and ex-
change of products, and should be-
sharers on fair terms in the porceeds.
What constitute fair terms depends
upon the degree to which the efforts
OF those concerned contribute to the
results. 1t Is thing to be deter
mined by lawful methods and not by
fighting. There is no more sense in
INDUSTRIAL war then monumental
war. There is an obvious difference
between the processes and purposes
OF production and those of destruc-
ton"
The conception OF industrial war
fare Is repugnant to the spirit of our
institutions and contrary to our form
of government. There is no Inherent
difficulty in the settlement of in
dustrial questions that place them
upon different plane from other
types OF controversy. That sort of
dispute can and should be settled by
! pacific methods. just as other dis
putes are settled. II arbitration is an
affective mode of determining con-
troversies between persons outside of
the sphere of capital and labor, 1t
, should be equally efficient in cases in
which capital and labor are parties.
/ There Ia no more reason why labor
/ should fight capital than there is why
the plaintiff in a civil cases should
| fight the defendant, instead of sub
/: mitting the question to the courts.
Trial of an issue by combat in which
! the victor was adjudged right. re-
! gardless of the merits of the controv
ersy. was the crude system of mediae-
I valism and was discarded centuries
ago.
! Force and coercion can never per-
! manently dispose of disputes between
capItal and labor. By Cancellation
and arbitration such strife may be
composed. but never by intimidation
! Under the law capital and labor each
have either respective sphere of
rights and the courts, reinforced by
public opinion. will see to it that each
Is protected. II is lawlessness when
ever an attempt is made to attain a
lawful end by unlawful means. The
/ American people will never tolerate
such state OF affairs as is contem-
!, plated by those who mutter threats Of
J industrial warfare"
/ The Year Fades Awayi