Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-09-20

w JAsHINGTON, D. C., Sept. "A machinist;
M whose name is well-knOwn i'll organized
w labor circles, recently visited i middle
western city, where there happened at the time 10
be a good deal of industrial unrest.
Because of grievances of enc kind and another
a strike brewing among the employees OF plant
supplying the government with war munitions. Inc
visitor knew of this situation and arriving IN the
early evening made his way straight to the nail
where as he expected stormy protest meeting was
in session.
For time he sat unnotced dimly lighted
bench in the of the hall. The place was packed
with stern faced in working clothes. me
night was hot and humid and the American nag
behind the chairman's table dropped IN the sultr!
air.
There was no doubt about the ruling sentiment
among those workers. Speaker after speaker WIN
homely, fiery eoquence urged the strike upon the
their only effective means of protest Be
tween speeches the hall buzzed with recital OF real
and fancied wrongs. Only the chairman, facing the
others. his elbows resting the plain deal table
and his chin in the cup Of hands seemed to hest
tate at the mOmentous step. little apart from
the rest perhaps he visuali2ed more plainly What an
idle plant would mean in the trenches where
the and brothers of many of those present were
facing pitiless foe.
he sat thus man from the of the hall
walked I'D to the platform and whispered in his
ear The chairman nodded. speaker. one of the
most inaammatory yet, was just concluding.
storm of applause shook the room. Three or four
times the chairman started to speak before he could
restore order and make himself heard
In the rear of the ROOM he said, is Comrade
Blank Headquarters at Washington have assigned
him to the department of labor in response TO
call from the government Before we come to
decision this matter think it would be heIptul
to have a word from him
The visitor and stood with his hands grip
ping the back of the bench in front of him. All
present knew him. The greater part by reputa-
ton; few the leaders there, a personal friend
The quiet now as a moment DeIore IL
had been tumultuOus.
Il want to tell you men just two things, ne
said in clear, ringing voice First, that the gov
hi in ifC
that you get square deal. Second, that it is your
plain duty as workers to leave the settlement
of your grievances tC the government and not to
cut off war production until you nave reason 10
know that the trouble here can't be irOned out IN
any other way"
length of saying that all difficulty ended then and
there There was a lot more talk and lot of re-
sstance and lot of personal dissatisfaction But
there was no strike. Munitions continued 10 pour
out from the plant in an uninterrupted stream and
a month later the National War Labor Board hand
ed down a decision which gave to the workers in
yoIyed practically everything for which they had
been or 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 a score of different instances, is that it was
leader of organized labor who prevented a strike
among his comrades, thus placing self-sacrifice in
the national above one of the most basic prln-
ciples on which his life work was based.
The problem of the strike has been one of the
most difficult and delicate matters with which the
department of labor has had to cope since 'orlca
entered the war. The success of the nations war
program, the lives of the men in France depend on
its elimination Yet prohteering, graft, corruption
and other evils attend-nt on individual greed are
present in war as in peace and make the strike, as
the only adequate remonstrance of the wage earn
ers almost inevitable
The outbreak of strikes and industrial unrest
which swept the nation at the outbreak of war was
expected, but for that reason it was none the
less alarming. How great an effect this CONDITION
had on slowing down Americas active participation
in the war has never been estimated its potential
harm was we'll summed up by MIR. Fl. w Garrod,