Denver labor bulletin., 1916-04-29

away from either employer or employe;
it is only temporarily withheld while
the Commission investigates.
fc) The one thing the Commission
does is to actually compel both sides to
bargain collectively; it enforces and COM
pels the exercise of the very right that
some labor leaders say has been taken
away by the law. Thus their objection
is refuted by the very terms of the Law
itself. When We reflect that in many
instances employers have refused to treat
with their employees or with labor unions
and have said there is nothing to arbi
trate," we must certainly admit that if
there was anything labor needed, it was
this law, which eompels employers to ar
bitrate, at least to the extent of bar
gaining collectively before the Commits
sion. If the law provided for compuls-
DRY arbitration then indeed could men
say that it provided a form of compul-
! sion. which took away the right of in
dependent bargaining. but the law does
not do this, the findings of the Commits
sion are not binding unless both sides
choose to accept them and make them So
/ The findings of the Commission are
merely persuasive.
As to Importing Strikebreakers.
| The other objection made to the law
!
employer by enabling him to bring in
strikebreakers during the waiting pc
riod and hold them in readiness for aii
Ianticipated strike. The best answer to
this objection Is that the law has not
worked that way. On the contrary. II
has worked the very opposite. 1t has
done more to keep working men in their
jobs than anything else could have done.
The conferences before the Commission
tend to draw the parties together. not
apart, and in all of the disputes which
have occurred not one employer has
sought to offend the Commission or dis,
regard the spirit of the law by bringing
/ in strikebreakers. But there i, in
my opinion. 4 better answer to this OBJ
! lection. which is that there was nothing
which prevented an employer from bring
/ ing in strikebreakers before the law was
passed. The situation OF the laboring
man who has a job is no worse now
than IL was before; on the contrary. it
rs better. 1t il idle to say that an en-
ployer might bring in strikebreakers dur
/ ing the thirty day waiting period pro
I yided by the law, when a. a matter OF
I fact he could bring them in at any time
preceding the thirty-day period under the
law.
Right to Examine Books.
I
objections against the law. Their chief
objection has come from the fact that
the law gives the Commission the right
TO examine their books to determine in
any given dispute whether they are max
ing such a reasonable profit as affords
just grounds for an increase in wages.
/, But without such power the Commission
could never pass upon wage dispute.
The question of whether or not the
Colorado Commission will be a fair Com
mission is an individual and personal
question with that Commission, depend
ent upon their own personal prejudice.,
sense of fair dealing. and of obligation
| to their state. II any man he disposed
to criticise, We ask that Judgment be
withheld while we do our utmost to
work out this great problem.
Speaking l know / do for my col
leagues and myself. | declare that we
are an impartial Commission. and that
we stand squarely between the opposing
sides in every dispute: that we have n
high sense of obligation and duty to the
state of Colorado. that We seek to deal
only with fairness and justice. and We
have a high and honorable ideal. which
inspires in us the ambition to promote
industrial peace.
Makes for Industrial Peace.
There can be no higher ideal for any
man than that he desire peace. Peace
with justice. And it must be forever
true that what is right and what is fair
can better be determined by the peace
ful processes of friendly, calm and rea.
sonable negotiations than by the bitter
processes of hate. strife and industrial
| warfare.
Working men and employers have lost
/ more by the bitter clash of warfare than
| they have gained. Both sides will gain
far more in the future by reasonable
mediation and friendly conciliation thru
an Industrial Commission than they can
ever gain by the strike, or by the lock
out. In any individual dispute. one
side or the other may feel that they have
not secured by bargaining as much as
coercion. They are probably mistaken.
but even il they be right, in the long run
they will secure more by bargaining
than they will by force
| Is it too much to expect that we are
entering upon new industrial era, both
in my beloved state of Colorado and in
every state of this Unionl | think all
signs point toward new, better, a
faifer condition in industry. | believe
that all hopes and aspirations of men
are toward peace; not peace of mere
weakness and negative, but a construc-
tive peace peace of mutual self respect
and esteem; peace based upon fairness
and justice. and clear recognition of
the superior value of resorting to reason
rather than force for the settlement of
all disputes.
the settlement of all disputes.
Dawn of Brighter Day.
| | look to future day when all oppos-
| inr nartics in industrial disniifns In all