Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-18
War and ID Labor
Keeping Industrial Peace
BY Frederic J. Hasxin


ment with war munitions. The yisitor
knew of this situation and arriving IN tho
| early evening made his way strnight TO the
| hall where rs he expected, n stormy pro-
| test meeting WAS in session.
For time he sat unnoticed on n dimly
| lighted bench in the rear OF the hall. The
place was hacked with stern-faccd men IN
| working clothes. The night was hot and
| humid and the American flag behind the
| chairman s table dropped in the sultry ar
There was no doubt about the ruling
sentiment among those workers Speaker
| after speaker. with homely, fiery eloquence
urged the strike upon the men as their
| ONLY effective means Of protest Between
| spccches the hall huzzed with the recital
| of real and fancied wrongs Only the
| chairman, facing the others, hls elbows
resting on the plain table and his chm IN
| the cup Of his hands, seemed 10 hesitate
| of the momentous step. little apart
| from the rest perhaps, he vIs'ialized more
| plainly what an idle war plant would
| mean in the trenches where the sons and
| brothers Of many of those present we're
| faclng pitilcss foe.
As he sat thus a man from the rear Of
| tho hall walked UP to the platform and
whispered in bis ear. The chairman nod
/ ded speaker, ono Of the most IN
| fammatory yet, was Just concluding
| storm of applause shook the room. hree
or four times the chairman started to
| speak before he could restore order and
make himself heard.
| 'In the rear Of the room h" said, RS
| cnmrnde Blank. Headquarters AZ Wash
| lngton have assigned him to the Depart
rnent Of Labor in response 70 call from
| the government Before We come IN
decision on this matter. ! think It would be
| helpful to have word from him.
| The visitor rose and stood with his
| hands gripping the back Of the bench IN
| front of him. All present knew him, the
greater part by reputation, few, the
| leaders there, as q personal friend. ne
| room was AZ quiet now rs o moment before
| il had been tuTnultuOus
GOVERNMENT FOR SQUARE DEAL.
81 want to tell you men just two
| things. he said IN a clear ringing voice
"Flrst. that the government ls dong
everything IN IT. power 10 INSURE that
vo1I get square deal Second, that u Is
your plan duty az war workers 70 leave
the settlement Of your grievances To the
| government and not to cut OF war pro-
dlction until YOU have reason 70 know
that the trouble here cant be ir0ned out
in any other way.
This ls a true story, wherefore We can :
20 the length Of saying That al dihcultv
ended then and there There was lot
more talk, and lot Of resistance and 0 lot
of personal dissatisfaction. Halt there
was no strike Munitions continued To
pour out from the plant in an unln'"rript-
ed stream and a month later the National
War Labor Board handed down de-
clelon which gave to the workers IN
volvcd practically everything for which
they had been on the verge of striking.
The fact Of vital and significant Importance
in the whole incident, which in the past
few months has been re-enaCted IN
score of different instances, IS that II was
leader 81 organized labor who prevented
strike among his comrades, thus placing
aelf-aacrifice in the national cause above
one of the most basIc principles on which
his life work was based.
The problem Of the strike has been one
or the most difficult and delicate matters
with which the Department Of Labor has
had to cope since America entered the
war. The success 0f the nation $ war pro-
gram. the lives Of the men in France de-
pend on IFS elimination. Yet protlteerIng,
graft, corruption and other evils attend
ant on individual greed are present IN
war as in peace and make the strike, -
the only adequate remonstrance oI the
wage earners. almost inevitable.
The outbreak Of strikes and industrial
unrest which swept the nation al the out
break OF war Was expected, but tor That
reason II was none the less alarming. How
great an effect this condition had on
slowing Gown America ; active partlcipa-
| ton IN the war has never been estimated.
Its potential harm was we'll summed up
By IL " Garrod, British labor expert,
who came 10 his country last fall with
special British mission. invited over here
10 acquaint the American people with
! Great Britain wartime experience with
labor said Mr.. Garrod:
In every city that We have visited IN
the nited States, We nave tried to put
one fact OF our. experience before you
that no nation under modern conditions
can possibly hope to carry through great
war, such as the present, unless II can
maintain industrial peace at home. say
that because, since we have been IN this
country a matter OF about two months,
there have occurred anumbero of very serl-
Gus industrial disturbances. II one-elghth
of those troubles had occurred IN England
during the whole period OF the three years
that We have been at war, We should have
had TO make, long ago, a dlsgracefGI
peace That IS because we are nearer the
war than YOU are st present, but soon
you are going to be very near the war IN
deed. aud then YOU will come to realize
that very small part OF such troubles
Will be sufficient TO bring YOU into sltua-
tion in which, il YOU cannot get the better
of the trouble you can only sue for peace
COURT OF FINAL DECISION.
It was the full realization OF the reality
Of The dangers outlined by Mr. Garrod
which early this wear led Secretary OF
Labor Wilson to appoint he National
War Labor Board as the court Of final
decision in all industrial disputes affecting
war production Il was the National War
Labor Board which brought final har-
monv IN the ease outlined at the beginning
Of this article, as it has done in scores ~
others IN the lev months Of its }urlsdic-
ton With rs Joint representation of
employers and workers. and its two char
men, Ex- President Taft and Frank +
Walsh, representative OF the general
public of the United States, il is doubtful
whether there has ever been body better
qualified in makeup for the difficult task
OF maintaining industrial peace. Certain
IN there never was 4 body which has been
more practically successful IN the hand
ling Of the problems which come within its
jurisdiction Given final authority by