The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1918-08-31
(Written for tho Labor WORLDLY
BY FRANK p. WALSH.

oy IxIkANA VaA0Jus
This world war has provided the
beginning of splendid education in
democracy. Democracy has been our
great fighting slogan and we have
some Of us-begun to ealize democ-
racy and to find out, in the concrete
and in detail, what our slogan was.
In this REORGANIZATION the country
has discovered one thing at least
about democracy-that it must mean
more than old-fashioned political de-
mocracy. The old idea that when
everybody votes you have a .democ-
racy-that is pretty we'll exploded.
When one or two men, assisted by a
Wall Street bank or two, can silently
and secretly corner the steel supply
of the world and obtain. control over
terials of industry, as we'll as hun
dreds of thousands of workers in the
factories, raising prices and manip-
ulating markets at will, anyone who
is honest knows that that is not what
people mean when they talk about
American democracy and volunteer to
die for it.
1t Is Not Democracy.
When a labor man, convicted of a
heinous crime, by the use Of the black
est perjury, can be blocked for two
years in a nationwide demand, voiced
by the President Of the United States
himself, for a fair trial ON honest evil
dence, the thinking citizen knows that
this is not what the American people
mean by democracy.
Democracy surely means that people
shall control the condition Of their
lives. And no one knows better than
the trade unionist that the average
wage Garner has had very little, con-
troll over the conditions of his life,
especially over that part of his life
which is the core of all the rest Of
his job.
Dollars Value Declines.
The wage Garner sees the purchas-
ing power of his dollar diminishing.
ut is worth about 65 cents compared
with its value at the beginning Of
1850 In other words, he sees his
wage decreasing steadily and relent-
,lessly, month after month, while his
wife and children sink lower and
lower in the scale of living.
He asks his employer, let us say,
to receive committee representing
himself and his fellow workmen, to
discuss the matter. He is told that
the firm doesn't employ committees"
and won't deal with them. He sug-
gests arbitration. He is told there is
nothing to arbitrate'' And the sus-
picion begins to take root in his mind
that this is exactly the way he would
be treated if he were German subject
appealing to the kaiser for some po-
litical reform.
He begins to understand that he is,
in relation to his job, up against the
very thing that makes Germany hid
eous-autocracy.
Autocracy in Industry.
The country, promise you, is be-
ginning to understand that we may
| have 100 per cent democracy in the
form of our political government and
yet have autOcracy of the most des-
potic type in industry. 1t is a. fine
thing to elect our representatives to
legislative halls, but it is a more prac-
tical and useful thing to elect our own
representatives in industry.
1t is a necessary thing to have full
share in the varied political activi-
ties of the community, state and ma
ton; but it is infinitely more vital to
have a compelling voice in the indus
trial policies under which we work
every day n the year. :,
It is now clear to all understanding
men,, and especially to those who work
for their living, that to attempt to con-
troll the conditions of ones life
through the roundabout way of polit-
ical oratory and legislative action is
futile, and that this oil" fashioned at
tempted substitute for a direct and
common-sense control through the
workshop must be thrown into the
scrap heap of pre-war absurdities.
When Democracy Is a Delusion.
Political> democracy is delusion
unless builded .upo4Afa guaranteed
by a free and virile industrial democ-
racy. 49,:
Now, just as the people of the coun-
try, under the searching criticism of
war conditions, are becoming familiar
with the idea of industrial democracy,
so the industries of the country are
becoming increasingly familiar with
the new industrial dispensatlon. Under
the National War Labor board. scores
OF industrial disputes" have been set
tied in the last four months involv-
ing in the aggregate hundreds Of thou
sands Of wage-earning men and
women. And in every case where
collective bargaining has been denied
the workers heretofore. it has been
installed by order of the board.
Revolution One Plant.
In the Pittsfield (Mass.), plant of
the General Electric company for
example, no form of group represent
tation had ever. been permitted by the
company and men were hired under
an individual contract which in effect
prohibited union membership. The
board ordered these contracts abol-
lshed, at the same time protecting the
employees in their: right to join the
union of their trade.
Further the board itself Installed,
through a representative, the machin-
cry for collective bargaining in a form
acceptable to the men, form which
they will make their own and improve
upon in the future as their experience
suggests. The system introduced pro-
vides not only for collective bargain
ing in the restricted sense, but also
(what Is still more importantly for Sc
s q