New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-03
Division.

Mr.. Shonts asks. "Shall New
York Street Railways be run for the
people of New York;" Evidently he
means for the people who ride on
them and expects an affirmative
answer. But there is no more rea-
son why they should be run for the
people who ride on them than for
the people who own them or those
who work for them. They should
be- run for all three. No party
of the three can afford really to take
more than is fair, and if one party
does it will ultimately suffer. That
seems very clear and simple, but IN
nractice it is difficult because there
are no rules of division, no tests by
which to determine statistically what
is fair. The least intelligent body
OF the three is usually labor. 1t
sees. or imagines. an increase in the
amount 10 be divided. and demands
all that il can get It's faith Is not
in argument but in coercion, and 1t
is faith we'll founded, for wages
have been raised more by that
method than by any other since la
Dor learned the power that lies in
concerted action.
The trouble with the rapid tran
sit employees in New York City is
svmptomatic. Labor everywhere is
exacting and receiving more, trading
on a demand that exceeds the sup
ply. The more or less academic
fact that a street railway company's
wages are limited by regulation and
cannot go up will not appeal ire
sistibly to the employees who believe
that by striking they can get more
pay.
Elsewhere it is different. Profits
out of which to pay wages IN nearly
all unregulated industries, and even
in some of the regulated ones, not
ably the railroad industry, have sud
denly increased. That such prosper
ity may be temporary is no concern
of labor. 1t is skeptical, suspicious
and disbelieves in prophecy. EN-
ployers in many instances democrat
lied the labor market by Offering
fancy wage inducements on war
contracts. Common labor all at once
could command the wages formerly
paid to skilled workmen. Recently
circus cancelled its engagement in
a munitions town" for fear Of losing
all its men. In one New England
town the manufacturers have agreed
rot to print help wanted advertise
ments, as they found that they were
bidding against each other for men
who went from one TO the other.
After nearly two years, with no
increase in the supply of labor and
an undiminished demand, the effects
now begin to be cumulative. In the
wheat belt mobs calling themselves
international Workers of the World
followed the harvest north, burning
wheat stacks at night 10 signify
their general feeling toward the
curse Of work and their disgust with
what one could get in exchange for
ones labor, though it was more than
ever before. That was lawlessness.
The militia dealt with it. But here
now are the railroad brotherhoods
threatening to tie up the transporta
ton of the country, which is, in fact,
a threat to starve the people of the
cities, unless the terms Of division
are again revised agreeably TO their
demands. Never had people at
large so much money to spend for
clothes, and yet many thousands of
garment workers in this city. being
on strike. are appealing to the public
for charity. The garment industry
is in one respect no different from