The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-02-11
THE LABOR PROBLEM.

As the result of firmness and
prompt action on the part of the may
or and the federal authorities a seri
Gus menace to the business life of
Seattle appears to have been removed.
problem that demanded quick action
and it got it.
The labor question, of all those fol-
lowing the war, threatens to be the
most difficult of solution. The in
creasing number of strikes in Great
Britain and United States is symptom
attic of deep seated unrest, the out
come of which cannot be measured
at this time. 1t began long before the
war, and expressed itself in various
theories of industrial and social re-
construction, most of which appear
Impractical and unavoidable, human
nature being what it is. This dissatis-
faction has been intensely aggravated
by war, and the readjustment to a
peace basis is proving more difficult
than placing the country upon a war
basis.
The thing most essential to a salts
factory adjustment in this problem.
writes Henry Clews in his Financial
Review, is a spirit of patience and fair
play. What is most needed is wise
counsel and careful action on all sides.
Little can be gained by harping upon
abuses and wrongs belonging to the
past What is most essential is careful
study of workable plans that will carry
US step by step toward the goal of So
ciaI justice in preference to violent
methods that would simply confuse
and destroy. Wages have been large
| " increased, hours of labor have been
| shortened, and many leading manu-
facturers have undertaken liberal
measures to ameliorate the conditions
| of workingmen. The concessions on
| the side of capital and the gains on
the side of>labor during the last ten
years, if correctly chronicled, would
fill a, big volume, with the changes
| largely on the side of the latter.
| But labor is still discontinued. main
! 1y because of the increased cost oil
living. The question naturally follows
what is responsible for this latter in
[ crease, and the only answer is the
war and labor itself. War forced high
prices by it's extravagant destructive
ness. by diversion of labor to useless
products, thus lessening the production
of industries; not to speak of the kill
| ing and manning of millions of mer
| and the utter decentralization of indus
try and transportation The only eff
fectire cure for this impoverished con
|
by increased production or more work
But this labor frequently refuses to do
and persists in multiplying it's owl
hardships by insisting upon still short
er hours and still higher wages, which
mean diminished instead of large
production. If labor really appre
ciated that such a suicidal policy in
more rational methods, but labor un
wisely increases the cost of the yer!
things of which it is the largest con
sumner and makes its own situatio:
worse rather than better. AS long a
labor resorts to force rather than rea
son and refuses to recognize the oper
alton of natural law strikes and lock
outs must continue. Hundreds o
millions of dollars in increased wage
have been granted to railroad EN-
ployes. which must be passed on t.
railroad~consumers the bulk of which
will fall upon workingmen themselves
: Wages of coal miners, farm hands
textile mills, steel mills, in fact al
classes of labor, have been necessaril
advanced. This means high prices TO
all these services and commoditie:
and once more labor, being the chic
. consumer, must pay much of tn
higher costs which it has forced.