The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-04-14
PLAN TO SOLVE
 LABOR TROUBLES
By HOLLAND

modified somewhat, after the war is ended, and if it is, then there Is good reason to look for a satisfactory ad- iustment throughout the United States of the relations of those who work for wages with those who employ them. This council differs in it's compost tion, but not In its principle, from a method which was adopted some 20 years ago at a time when the laborers in the bituminus coal mines of the country who claimed to be driven to desperation by conditions that pre- vailed. were preparing to enforce their demands by nationwide strike. The situation was very critical The wage earners were determined to secure re- lief Many of the employers were pri- vately convinced that the grievances of which complaint was made by the bitu- mius coal workers were real and that there should be some satisfactory ad- justment.
 However, public opinion, which at that time was not we'll informed, did not seem to support the bituminus coal workers. or at least to be interested in the situation, and many of the coal operators as well as the managers of the railroads whose principal trafic was furnished by bituminus coal could not see their way clear to any agreement which would avert the peril. At last q suggestion was made that there be | appointed body of men who. as 1 whole would represent, first: the bitu- minus coal carrying railroads; second. the mine operators, and third, the l miners. To this body was to be sub mitted the questions which were at | issue, and if these could be satisfac- l torily answered, then to it would aft erwards be submitted other questions l which might arise.
 TT WAS A GREAT SUCCESS
 This board of arbitration or volun- tary commission met in spirit of fair 1 ness. every member seeking to dis J cover the best means for adjusting the i trouble. An agreement was at last reached. The peril of the great strike was averted. Contracts were prepared and were signed. In two instances rail- road managers secretly intended to violate the contract, but they were pub llicly told that if they did this and did not live up to the letter and spirit of the contract the agreement would be annuled and there would be new strike Thus confronted with exposure of their purpose the managers of these two ra1lrOdQS at last dSTeeu Idltnlully to observe the terms of the contract, and kept their agreement although it was necessary to call upon the late J. F. Morgan to compel these managers to yield.
 Never since that time has a con- tract signed by the representatives of the bituminus miners been violated. At the time of the anthracite coal strike strong efforts were made by the an- | Jo {hn tty- minus coal miners to go out upon a sympathetic strike. This the bitumnus men declined to do, saying that they | were bound faithfully to obey the con | tract which they had signed. Not again l has there been serious difficulty in the bituminus industry and the appoint ment and service of this arbitration board or commission have been of in calculable value to the industry, ant to the country.
 The plan now adopted by the gov
 ernment differs from that adopted by those engaged in the bituminus coa industries only in the fact that this later plan has the authority and in- fluence of the federal government it. self.
 About three years after Roscoe | Conklng resigned his seat in the fed- eral Senate at Washington, and opened
 an office in New York city for the practice of law, he was retained as counsel in case which was to be heart before the United States court sitting at Trenton, N. J. Conkling's seat mate on the ride from New York to Trenton was man who had been prominent in
 New York business life but who has now retired from active business Hardly had the train left Jersey City
 when MT. Conkling began conversa tion which continued until they reached Trenton, with hardly word of inter. ruption uttered by his seat mate The former senator said in effect that if he were to begin his political life over again he should at first make
 a careful study of the labor situation
 so that he might be prepared to ad' vocate the cause of labor. He did not
 mean by that that he would undertak
 to gain prominence and political ad
 vantage by cu1tivating friendship wit
 the men who work with their hands
 but instead of that he meant to sa,
 that in his opinion the working mel
 of the world and especially of tn
 United States were in due time to com
 mand the destinies of the nations, an
 esnecially of this country. He believe
 that the great mass of working mer
 and that included them all. who dil lligentlya work every day so as to pa
 their way in life, were disposed to b
 fair. All they needed was organization
 for they possessed a great numerica
 But an organization that would be c
 value should be intelligently instructed
 wisely and considerably lead, care be
 ling taken to eliminate any tendenc
 toward radicalism, socialism, or un
 fair antagonism to capital. The grea
 mass of working men of the Unite
 States, Conklng said, should learn tha
 there is no just cause for antagonist
 between what is called capital an
 what is called labor. For, from on
 point of view, all labor is capital an
 tall capital. unless it is hoarded, work
 Conkling went on to say that withi
 25 years, or within a generations tim
 at most the men in the United State
 who work for living, whether wit
 their hands or their heads would !
 lthe predominating influence.
 Conkling, who was supposed to b
 an aristocrat by nature, and certainl
 appeared to be that in his manner wa
 about the last man who would hay
 been thought likely to entertain ides of this kind. He was. however mos
 earnest in his discussion of the sub