Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1917-12-14
ELIMINATING PREJUDICES.

One of the illuminating and of course one of
the most important features of the annual report
of the Secretary of Labor, William b. Wilson,
has to do with that recourse to prevent industrial
disorder of which we have heard so much in this
Northwest-conscriptiO of labor. The striking
part of such a proposal is that those upon whose
lips it is heard most frequently, those to whom
it appears to be the only solution are likewise
those who see only one side Of the question and
put all the blame on the men. To these it may
appear somewhat startling that Secretary Wilson
should recommend that, if the government finds
it necessary to conscript labor to prosecute its
war industries, it also commander the factories
in which those men will work, making them en-
ployes Of the government. 1t doesn't appear at
all surprising, however, to any one who contem-
plates all the phases of the situation.
In nearly every case in which there has been
an industrial disturbance since the United States
entered the war, investigation has developed the
fact that at the bottom of it all has been the
belief on the part Of the that their employer
was piling up huge war profits and that they
ought to share in this big money" This is not
true in every instance of course-some branches
Of organized labor have been playing the game"
stronger than most Of the constituent organza-
tions approye--but in the shipyards, the lumber
camps and the like, that belief has been found
to have been the compelling motive in nearly
every case To conscript the one without COM
Wandering the other to squeeze the fat out Of
the one while letting the other pile up big mar
gins and expect to settle industrial difficulties in
that fashion, would Of course be ridiculous, as
veil = unjust.
But Secretary Wilson does not anticipate that
transcription in any form will be necessary-he
does say, and emphatically, that capital and
labor must each lay aside the pride and preju-
\ dice which now keep them apart and must sit in
council and settle their disputes, $50 this govern
ment may 60 forward to success And here he
touches upon the same theme that formed an i'm
portant part Of President Wilson's address to
I. the annual convention Of the American Fedora
ton Of Labor when he urged common counsel,
coneiliation, as the means Of reaching solution
md minated very strongly that there would be
no industrial CONSUMPTION Of any kind when he
declared that no man had right to interrupt
the ordinary processes Of labor until all else has
failed
Pride and prejudice, open hostility, coercion
on the one side 81 the other, and desire to ''get
even,v are the Influences which are disturbing
The Industrial fabric today and making condi-
tions more unsettled because labor has stronger
weapon than it has had before through the short
age Of workers. Heretofore the civilization-old
contest has been generally one-sided, the en-
ployer being on that side; today the contestants
are more evenly balanced. In such cases mutual
agreement is the only method which will produce
stability unless resort is had to that drastic
weapon which savors strongly of mixture Of
socialism and paternalism- CONSUMPTION Of both
contending factors.