Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-10-16
The Balance Of Power In
Industrial America.

The following article is taken from one
of Hambleton & Co., Banking House
bulletins, and deals with the labor prob
lens and employment of discharged
soldiers in this country. Read It,
announcement that within the next
five weeks ten thousand emergency of
ficers of the United States Army will be
disc harged, in order that the commission
ed personnel may be reduced to the limits
required by law, spells the end OF de-
mobilize ton. Since the armistice millions
of American soldiers who were drafted
have been mustered out, and gradually
the farms, the railroads and industries
have been taking over labor which was
temporarily dislocated by reason OF the
emergency growing out of the war. One
OF the remarkable features of the period
of transition was the ease with which
the greater part of our army of millions
of men was speedily absorbed by the
domestic business of this country.
1.-THE difficulties in the steel district
and the promise of trouble in the coal
mines, il they served no other purpose,
will probably bring to head matter
which undoubtedly is the source of much
aggravaton to the ma jority of Americans
who did their bit for the nation during
the war 1t will be recalled that under
the draft a large proportion of the men
between the ages of tWenty-one and
thirty-three were, in effect, forcibly di-
vorced from their normal pursuits. con-
scripted into the army and forced to do
every kind of labor at stipend averag-
ing dollar day. Out of the $50 pay
able monthly to the private in the Fed
eral Army, the individual rarely received
more than one-third thereof, the rest
being devoted to allotments, insurance
and similar obligations. In addition to
this, an army of some two million men
was transported overseas, subjected to
grave risks in France and required to
undergo severe hardships in the interest
of the ational welfare. After eighteen
m nths of war there was a gradual re-
afjnst mrnt, and those who W. mt over
learn lat III der the guiSe of 'essentiaI'
occupations hundreds of thousands of
individuals in this country hid been en-
jHylrp lucrative emplcyme mt, with all
the don estc comforts Of home, normal
hours oi labor and "a rate of pay which
il son,e instances, ran AS high as So
day | Is beside the popt now To dis
cuss he wisdom or the folly of the pro
c.d, I" adopted by this Government in
TIE ~, duction on this side of the war
material, but the fact stands out that
those vi no bore the brunt of the hard
ships I'D dangers abroad returned To-
find ,h men with no greater responsi
billy -, d possessing no greater naive
skilI. : armed with but little ad i,n
al cxperience, had literally been living
on he lat of the land in conIpnli on
with tie experience of the ave- age
"donpl hoy"
ID. ire this condition of nff IRIS and
tn tr,l that Sc ldi,r labor Was Hpail,
couirE ;itn its own, ard through per
sisitnt Irort ard devotion to duty was
ac!i wig position fairly comparable
vi b = attained by those heretofore /
ei cag,d in essential occupations. the
spj' j. a. unrest which has broken out far
and Wid' undoubtedly Is attributable to
the disgruntement and dissatis1; ction
of those who, during the recent en- err
gencv, W, re the favored of industry and /
the >protected wards of the Government
at rate of pay which daily exceeded
five times the monthly net allowance to
in our conception of existing
cond, ms, the day is not far distant
when widespread revulsion will be in
order. Whether soldier labor is in the
or in the majority, they feel,
and undoubtedly have the right TO feel,
that they made substantial contribu-
ton at great personal sacrifice in the
of the war and that it is neither
fair, just nor patriotic that the stay-at-
home, pampered by high wages and
spoiled 10y protection, should now attempt
to wreck the business fabric of the coun-
try merely because, the war being over,
there inevitably must be a return to
1ear-normal conditions
"The average American is possessed
IF an abundance of patience and willing
y undergoes hardships, privation and
even injury to person or to property
when patriotic necessity so requires;
that hour, however, has passed, and in
he current radical socalistic movement,
presented by the effort of the steeloper-
itors, the country reads the symptoms
If selfish greed and ambition for power
IN the part of limited number who are
rot entitled to any right of priority or
my special privilege merely because
hey were a part of the nations ma
:hinery, the proper functioning of which
vas responsible for the collapse of the
German military machine.
The steel strike seemingly is broken,