The Connecticut labor press., 1919-12-06
Make Up of Conference Leads ts Impression That Whatever the Big Employers of Labor Want Approved Will Be Ap- proved-Unions Will Continue Normal Activities and Pay No Attention to Its Conclusions.

Washington, D. C., Dec. 5-P T.
 Barnum was right The people ike to be -humbugged. There never was more fragrant case of humbuggerv than the appointment of Is lawyers. college men, manufacturers and men without occupation to decide what shall ibe be the labor policy in the United States.
 They represent the public,n declare the labor batting newspapers. The conferene will not be encumbcered as was the last presidential industrial con- terence, by the presence of either eru- ployers or labor representatives.
 The proposed industrial conference IS joke" declare the officials of the American Federation of Labor.
 Labor officials in Washington are wondering what it all means. They want to know what is the motive be- hind the. selection of such group of men to decide what is fair and what is unfair to labor.
 Their most important question. howr evers is: ''':
 How can conference composed of enemies of wage workers fairly decide any question in their interest ?s
 { It IS said; that every appointee of the President believes working men and women are in a class apart from those who employ. Therefore, the great ques- ton IS, what can the conference do that will be of benefit to those who work for wages?
 It is like a group of saloon keepers being selected to map out policy for the prohibitionists; gathering of fe- publicans to outline what the democrats should do, or vice versa.
 One thing is absolutely certain in the opinion of the labor officials of this city. The half dozen lawyers on the commits sion will represent the corporations. Whatever policy the big employers of labor want approved will undoubtedly be approved, 1t is felt. Among the out standing principles which the comn1is- sion is expected to declare as the policy that should govern labor are:
 No limit should be placed on days work, as that is contrary to the con stltutional right of private contract. lcau, as It takes from the en1pfoyer fife. right to conduct his business as he sees fit.
 There should be no extra pay for overtime, as wage workers should be- willing to work overtime in the interest of the employer. This is based on the belief of the commission that the in terests of labor and capital are idenfi- cal
 Working conditions in all industries should, be determined by the employer, as he IS more able to decide pVlszf fs good for the workman than the latter possibly can be
 Individuals may present grievances, but collectively. they should be denied the right.
 It must be understood by labor that the dictum of Mr. Baer of the Reading Road, that the employer represents the divine power and the worlomen are his wards, must be accepted as the. moral law governing the relations between master and servant in industry"
 It will thus be seen that the mem bers of the commission have mapped out a program that will revolutionize in- dustrial relations. Labor not to be rep resented, can make no protest It must, sit silent and read the accounts of meet ings of the commission and when final report IS made 1t must accept 1t without more than formal protest.
 After the commission has made its hnal decisions as to how labor shall con- duct itself in1the future, congress is to be asked totenaet laws carrying out the The ways are Rreased for this outcome. Certain membership of congress have been for months spreading propaganda against labor. Not word that would stigmatize labor 1as been left unsaid. The people of the country have been fed to exhaus- ion on the propaganda. The idea was :o prepare the people for just such a commission and to make 1t possible to ;arry out its recommendations.
 So far as the recommendations of the are concerned, no attention will be paid to them by labor. The normal activities of labor will be con- inued. Any propositions that will take away from the wage workers the right ,f initiative, the right of having some hing to say about what he shall re- ;eive in wages, in fact their economic liberty, will be fought to the bitter end: This is the declaration of thousands of elegrams that have poured into Wash ngton since the commission was ap- pointed.