The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1918-09-13

our great fighting slogan and we
have-some of us-begun to analyze
democracy and to find out, in the
concrete and in detail, what our slo-
gan means.
Industrial and Political Democracy
In this re-examination 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 democ-
racy--that is pretty well exploded.
When one or two men, assisted by a
Wall Street bank or two, can silent
ly and secretly corner the steel sup
ply of the world and obtain control
over one after another of the basic
materials of industry, as well as hun
dreds of thousands of workers in
the factories, raising prices and
manipulating markets at will, any
one who is honest knows that that
is not what people mean when they
talk about American democracy and
volunteer to die for it.
When labor man, convicted of
heinous crime by the use of the
blackest perjury, can be blocked for
two years in a nationwide demand,
voiced by the President of the. Unit
ed States himself, for fair trial
on honest evidence, the thinking cit
izen knows that this is not what the
American people mean by democracy.
Democracy surely means that peo-
pie shall control the condition Of
their lives. And no one kniSws bet
ter than the trade-unionists that
the average wage-earner has had
very little control over the condi-
tions of his life, especially over that
part of his life which is the core of
all the rest of his job.
The Diminishing Purchasing Power
The wage-earner sees the purchas-
ing power of his dollar diminishing.
ct is worth about 65 cents compared
with it's 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 re-
ceiye a committee representing him
self and his fellow workmen, to dis
cuss the matter. He is, told that
the firm doesn't employ commit
tees" and won't deal with them. He
suggests arbitration. He is told
there is nothing to arbitrate." And
the suspicion 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 political reform.
He begins to understand that he is,
in relation to his job, up against
the very thing that makes Germany
hldeouS-autOcracy.
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 representa-
tives to legislative halls, but it is a
more practical and useful thing to
elect our own representatives in in
dustry. 1t is a necessary thing to
have full share in the varied politi
cal activities of the community, State
and Nation; but it is infinitely more
vital to have a compelling voice in
the industrial policies under which
we work every day in the year.
It is now clear to all understand
ing men, and especially to those
who work for their living, that to
attempt to control the conditions of
ones life through the roundabout
way of political oratory and legisla-
tive action is futile, and that this
old-fashioned attempted substitute
for a direct and common-sense con-
troll through the wkorshop must be
thrown into the scrap heap of pre-
war absurdities.
Political democracy is delusion
unless builded upon and guaranteed
bv a free and virile industrial de-
mocracy.
The Growth of Collective Bargaining
Now, just as the people of the
country, under the searching criticism
of war conditions. are becoming ia
miliar with the idea of industrial
democracy, so the industries of the
country are becoming increasingly
familiar with the new industrial dis
nensation. Under the National War
Labor Board scores of industrial
disputes have been settled in the