New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-02-10

union organization Of their Workmen,
nave created the opportunity for the
l. w. w.
This uncompromising attitude on
the part of the employers has reaped
TOR them an organization of dcstruc-
tive, rather than constructive. radical
ISM" says the report. "The !. w. w.
is filling the vacuum created by the
operation. The red card is carried by
large numbers throughout the Pacific
Northwest. Membership in the !. w.
w. by no means implies belief in or
understanding of it's philosophy 10 a
majority of the members it is a bond
OF fellowship.
According to the estimates of con-
| sentative students of the phenomenon,
a very small percentage of the |. w. w:
are really understanding followers or
subversive doctrine. The !. w. W. IS
seeking results by dramatizing evils
and by romantic promises of rellef'
The hold of the |. w. w. is rivcted in
stead of weakened by unimaginative
| opposition on the part of the employ
, ers to the correction of real grievances
an opposition based upon academic
fear that granting just demands Will
lead to unjust demands.
with specific grievances removed,
destructive propaganda extensively
preached in the Pacific Northwest will
lose it's strongest advocate. counter
propaganda and positive education will
then have an easy opportunity to sup
plant fanatical doctrines
The settlements Of all the situations
taken up previously have been an
nounced. While the commission in
vestigated the celebrated Mooney case
in San Francisco and has recommended
that President Wilson use his influence
with the State Of California to get
Mooney new trial, the case is not
touched upon in the summary of the
report made public here to-day. The
commissions recommendation on that
subject previously had been published
Cost of Copper Strikes
The commission found that the
strikes in the early summer of 1917 OF
in loss of 10O,00G,000 pounds of cop
per. Discussing the Occasions. for
such shocking dislocations of a basic
war industry" the report reveals I'M
DERIVING local labor conditions which
"were devoid of safeguards against
strikes and, in fact, provocative. OF
them" Distant ownership was bar
rier to an understanding of human
problems. Solidarity of interest among
the owners checked the views of any
liberal owner from prevailing against
"the autocratc policy of the ma or-
ity."
Resident managers failed to under
stand and reach the mind and heart
of labor. There was no one whose sole
function was to deal with labor PROB
lens, and the report comments: ut
has hardly begun to be realized that
labor questions call for the same sys-
tematic attention and understanding
and skill as do engineering problems"
The commission found the labor
turnover appallingly large and with
consequent economic and social evils.
This, it is asserted, may be substan-
TALLY reduced or eliminated, "a duty
confronting both the industry and the
government"
In one camp the commission found
twenty-six nationalities represented
and in another thirtytwo. The move
ment toward Amercanization had
hardly penetrated these outposts of in
dustry and next to nothing was done
to integrate non-Engl speaking la
Dor into American social life.
Trades Union Movement
The trades union movement is de-
clared to have been the most promising
unifying spirit among the workers. It
was, however, impeded by the opposi-
ton of the companies, by difficulties
due to racial diversities and internal
dissensions.
The report says: GAS is generally
true of community serving single
mosphere of outsiders to the conflict.
The entire community was embroiled.
Such agencies of the public as the
so-called loyalty leagues only served
to intensity bitterness and, more un-
TO- tunately, to the minds of workers
in the West served to associate all
loyalty movements with partisan and
antiunion aims"
Factors created by the war compli-
Gated labor difficulties. Particularly in
the Globe district, doctrines of inter-
wars are capitalistic marked the labor
leadership and led to resolutions of
opposition to the war by the miners
local at the outbreak Of the war.
"The uncritical opinion of the men
that all wars are capitalistic, and
therefore that ours must be such, was
encouraged by the heavy profits of the
copper companies resulting from the
European war before our entrance into
it. The limitation of profiteering
through price fixing and taxation had
been only too recently accomplished to
have made itself felt either in it's act
ual operations or in the understand
ing of the workmen."
The commission declared that to such
underlying conditions and to the alb
sence of processes of orderly govern
ment in industry the strikes of 1917
must, fundamentally, be attributed.
"These conditions may not have been
| left unavailed of by enemies of our war
policy nor by opponents of syndicalist
industrialsm, but neither sinister in
fuences nor the l. W. w. can account
for these strikes. The explanation is
to be found in unremedied and remedi-
able industrial disorders" the report
says.
The miners urged three basic claims
which were resisted by the companies:
CD The right to obtain industrial JUS
tice. They protested against industry
conducted upon an autocratic basis.
They did not have representation in
determining conditions affecting their
lives as we'll as the company's output.
The existing grievance committees were
believed to be subject to company con-
troll. CD The right to organize for
equality of bargaining and protection
against abuses. There was no demand
for closed shop. Security against dis
elimination directed at union member
ship was demanded. CD There were
grievances as to wages, hours and work
ing conditions, but these were of rel
atively minor Importance, the crux of
| the conflict being the demand of the
| mon To inst troo fnpnt &C thar ,.;rL