Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-05-23

81 to Congress is uniquely interesting,
after so long season in which foreign issues
and war measures constantly held the fore
capital Importance, for upon their wise settle
ment depend the peace and security Of Amer
lea, as of free nations everywhere, for genera
lions to come. If these last four eventful
years have taught us anything, it is that our
country's life and destiny can no longer be
considered as insulated from that of the rest
of the world, but must be treated as part Of
the great common current of human interests
and human needs. Hence it is that all prob
lens involved in the establishing of peace
and of means for making peace permanently
( secure are of vital import to the Ameri-
can people. This the President emphasized
by cabling his message from a foreign shore
(the sole instance of the kind in the history
of the American GovernmenD instead of re-
turning to deliver it in person.
It is none the less essential, however, that
the questions for which the new Congress
has been called into extraordinary session be
taken up and rightly disposed of. They en-
compass matters of vital concern to the ma
tons rank and file, to the prosperity of bust
ness big and little, to the encouragement and
safeguarding of industrial enterprise, and to
the development of Americas all-important
opportunities in the commerce of the world.
First amongst these the President, with
ests places the question of labor This, as
he views it, is not the question of efficient
production, nor of how labor can be procured
and made most effective Sin the great process
of sustaining populations and winning success
amidst commercial and industrial rivalries."
These matters, materially important though
they are, do not constitute the problem to
which the President now directs attention.
81 mean" he says, 'that much greater and
more vital question, how are the men and
women who do the daily labor of the world
to obtain progressive improvement in the con-
ditions of their labor, to be made happier and
to be served better by the communities and
the industries which their labor sustains?'
Realizing, as thoughtful men all must, that
no right or satisfactory answer can be OBJ
tanned save through a spirit Of mutual under
standing, mutual goodwill and hearty CO.
operation, the President truly says that legis-
lation can go but a little way toward bring
ing the desired conditions to pass. The ques-
ton is interknit with matters OF corporate
and Individual initiative and of practical bus1-
ness arrangement Moreover, those who
really desire new relationship (and just
relationship between capital and labor can
readily find way to bring it about" Thus
the part which Congress and State Legisla-
lures can wisely take in the issue will be gen.
eral and suggestive rather than specific and
mandatory, though as a matter of course
such subjects as the evils of child labor and
the right of hygienic conditions of work come
within the province of legislation. Congress,
however, can render material assistance to
all the interests concerned, thinks the Presi-
dent.
'tIt can now help in the difficult task
Of giving a new form and spirit to in
dustrial organization by co-Ordinat1ng
the several agencies of Cancellation and
adjustment which have been brought
into existence by the difficulties and mis-
taken policies of the present manage
ment of industry, and by setting up and
developing new federal agencies OF ad
vice and information which may serve as
a clearing house for the best experiments
and the best thought on this great mat
ter, upon which every thinking man must
be aware that the future development Of
society directly depends
Adjacent to this larger question are two
national duties of definite and immediate i'm
portance-that of continuing unimpaired the
services of the Federal Employment Bureau,
which is a division of the Department of
Labor, and that of carrying out Secretary
Lanes admirable plan whereby returning SOL
diers can be helped to take up and utilize
farm lands in now undeVeloDed regions. The
Employment Bureau proved too effectua1 in
the war period and is too necessary in this
time of industrial transition to be denied
the comparatively moderate appropriation re-
duired for its maintenance. Unemployme
though it varies from year to year in extent
any place. Always there is more or less diff
Guilty in procuring men for Jobs, or jobs for
men. These problems are Of serious concern
to the community as well as to individuals.
Idle men soon become a social liability and,
if numerous enough, a social menace.
: Nor can industries run without men Thus
the interests of employer. employe and the
public all demand the valuable assistance of
the Federal bureau. The plan Of providing
farm sites for discharged soldiers is so wisely
patriotic and at the same time so rich in poten-
tialities of wealth production that we can
scarcely imagine it's encountering any con-
siderable opposition.
Other constructive recommendations of the
Presidents message, notably those touching
the development Of the American merchant
marine, the safeguarding of the country
war-born dye industry against foreign attacks,
the return of the railway and wire systems
to their owners under more thorough
going and eXpedient system Of Government
regulation than heretofore has obtained, and
an early reconsideration of Federal taxes
with a view to making them simpler and
easier in point of administration and as little
burdensome as they can be to meet Govern
ment needs-all these will appeal to Con-
gress, we assume, as readily as to the public.
Involving as they do the free and efficient
working Of those forces that make for pros
perity. present and future, these questions Of
domestic concern should be promptly and
sagaciously settled.