New-York tribune., 1916-07-04
Arbitrate!

For eight weeks the cloak and suit trade
here has been engaged in bitter industrial
war. Manufacturers. their shops closed
are losing money, and now, at a time when
should be the peak Of their year. some Of
them are said actually 70 be facing bank
ruptcy. Employees, maintained in part by
union funds. are nevertheless suffering Sc
verely. Their families are undergoing pri-
vations; their children are insufiicienuy
fed: illness abounds; evictions are fire.
ouent; cases of actual starvation have
come 20 light; if charity were not given
and relief funds contributed 10 by the pub
lie were not available, starvation cases
would be numerous.
These deplorable conditions-deplorable
for both sides-exist because the employ
ers, acting in a body, violated DEFINITE
agreement they had signed binding them
10 arbitrate trade differences. The en-
ployes, acting through the officers OF their
union. were then ready TO continue the ar
bitration in process before a committee
appointed by Mayor Mitchell; they are now
ready TO resume arbitration of ell the
questions at issue in this controversy.
Regardless of the merits of this fight
and it may be assumed that neither side Is
wholly right-there can be no question
where public sympathy must 90. Public
support must back up the workers, who
have at all times been willing TO submit
their case to the judgment Of an arbitra-
ton committee The public's condemna-
tion should 90, as in great degree it has
gone. against the manufacturers, who
showed lack Of faith in the merits Of their
case, because they were unwilling TO trust
further to the judgment Of an inde-
pendent body Of fair-minded representa-
tive citizens.
indications are that the situation is rap
idlv approaching a climax. The lamenta-
ble war. with its attendant loss and suffer
ing. could be prolonged. But unless the
EMPLOYERS association be wiped out en-
tirev. or the union smashed permanently
neither Of which events seems humanity
possible-there must come time when
manufacturers and workers must seek to
resume relations on some basis other than
complete, unconditional surrender. That
IS. after much loss and much suffering, the
two sides will find themselves entering ne
qotiations. a period Of arbitration, sit
uation about the same as that two months
ago. when the employers declared the lock-
out
That time should come soon. Arbitra-
ton should never have been suspended.
Having been suspended, it should now be
resumed in order that this miserable dis
pute may be stopped before it tries human
endurance too far. From all sides sounds
the call to arbitrate. Only the other day
the Chamber Of Commerce called on the
employers to submit the fight 20 arbi-
tration "under the auspices and rules Of
the Chamber of Commerce"
Mayor Mitchell, whose invitation to talk
matters over the employers once refused,
has this situation actively in mind. If
there exists any willingness for reconcil-
iation, he might again endeavor to bring
about mediation.
In view of all that is at stake, in view
of the general public condemnation of their
mistaken, anti-social position, wonld the
employers again refuse an invitation from
the Mayor or from a committee desig-
mated by him 10 arbitrate this quarrel,
which is hurting them, their former work
ers and the general public so severely?