The Alaska daily empire., 1918-02-26

When speaks of the labor problem it also includes the problem of capital in fact of our entire social life President Wilson has realized this more perhaps than any other public official. At least he has been active in searching out real causes and effects with view of bringing about better understanding and equitable adjustment between la bor and capital than is of any other executive official The commissions he appointed to inyesti- gate the Mooney case the copper and lumber and other working agitatons in the Went went into the work thoroughly of the underlying causes and remedy for the labor For instance, the commission CTS in making their report to the President concern ing the copper strikes, among other things, said:
 About 2S per cent of the total copper out put of the United States is produced in the four copper districts of Arizona dealt with by the commission In the early summer of 1917 strikes became widespread in these centers resulting, through the total and partial shutdown or the mines extending for period of over three months in a loss of 900 pounds of copper. Neces sarily such industrial disturbance results in continued dminution of copper for considerable time following any settlement of difficulties.
 "The occasions for such shocking dislocaons of basic industry varied in the different mining camps. Behind and controlling, however the factors which immediately led to the strikes are the underlying labor conditions of the mining industry of the State, which devoid of safe guards against strikes and in fact provocative of them.
 Distant ownership, wholly apart from it's tendency to divorce income from the responsible ity for the conditions under which it is acquired creates barriers against the opportunity of under standing the labor aspects the human problems of the industry, and solidarity of interest among the various owners checks the views of one
 liberal owner from prevailing against the auto cratic policy of the majority The resident agement of the mines is wholly traditional in it's effect, however sincere in it's purpose. The man agers fail to understand and reach the mind and heart of labor because they have not the aptitude the training the time for wise dealing with the problems of industrial relationship. The man. s,o agers are technical r1 men a mining negneers of executive whose sole function it is to deal with labor problems In fact it has hardly begun to be realized that labor questions call for the systematic attention and understanding and skill do engineering problems.
 The employees in their turn. present factors of special difficulty. Labor turnover is appalling ly large, with all the economic and social evils that such condition signifies The striking phe- nomenon of migratory labor has not been wholly evil in its effects. It has helped to spread ideas of liberalism into our industrial life however undiscriminating this educative process fly has been. But any benefits conferred by mi gratory labor are wholly offset by its costs, both economic and social. large migratory working force IS economically an intolerable waste. So- cially it is dsintegrating element in society. It signifies. too often, men without responsibility of home or home making possessed of feeling of injustice against lack of conformity of employ ment serving as infammabie material for beguil- ing agitaors to work upon This large labor turn. over is accepted too much the plaques of old, something irremediable There is only the faint est beginning of realization that labor turnover is an evil which can be substantially reduced if not wholly eliminated, and that the responsibility for its elimination is duty confronting both the industry and the Government
 The polyglot character of the workers adds the difficulty of racial diversities In one camp 26 and in another many 32 nationalities were represented The industry contains within itself the Balkan problem a small scale In other camps, even where there not great rae ial diversity large numbers were non English speaking, particularly Mexicans. The seeds of dis. sension among the workers render difficult their cohesion, and the presence of English speak ing labor tends even to greater misundersan between the management and men than is normal in American industry. The movement toward Americanizaton fruitful in it's results in differ ent parts of the country has hardly penetrated into these outposts of industry. Next to nothing is dohe to integrate non English speaking labor