The Washington times., 1919-01-13
OUTSIDERS HIRED
TOPROLONG STRIKE
lcontinued from First Page1

+
present time. and more particularly
ebout the existence OF a spirit which
constitutes the greatest possible men
ace to our national stability. / am
going to illustrate. I am going to
give you the facts that underly-
what I am going to say about two
different situations that I have had
to come In contact with as chairman
OF the War Labor Board.
sThe War Labor Board has just re-
turned from a failure to settle con-
troversy in New York harbor. And
now there are some $4,000 workers
on q srriks in the port OF New York.
and at least 100 900 men have been
made idle as a result OF that strike.
The food and fuel supply Of the en-
tire 5000. 900 people In New York city
10 irnperiled- The fact is that unless
this strike Is very speedily settled,
and settled equitably. II Is impossible
to predict what may grow out OF II.
That strike was forced absolutely,
and you need not take my word for It.
.Foreed by Boat Owners-'
You can take the word OF the
twelve members Of the National War
Labor Board. You can take the word
OF the newspapers OF New York, who
are not given to siding with workers
unnecessarily. You can take the
word of all the nswspapermen VINO
investigated that situation and they
win tell you that that strike was
forced absolutely by the autocratic
position assumed by the harbor boat
owners. '.s
"They refuse absolutely to submit
the questions in controversy to aroi.
tration, They not only refused to
submit IL to the National War Labor
Board, which they said was . parti-
san, irresponsible body, regardless
that one OF the Joint chairmen was
the foemer Republican President OF
the United States.
He now, In the eyes Of the boat
owners. has become an irresponsible
person They not only refused to sub
NIT to the War Labor Board, but for
several hours the other night the boat
ovners were offered any form of arbi-
tration that. had any. semblance OF
Justice and they refused. There was
nothing to II bat that those boat own
ers wanted to force . strike Why, !
cannot tell, but. none the less they
maintained fundamentally the same
position throughout the entire war,
but while the war was on they were
forced in every case to come In and
to- agree to some orderly method Of
dsaling with the situation. '
aastes Nswspapernan.
~ons Of the newspaper men IN New
York the other day, . decidedly con-
ssrvatiye man, . man who has been
covering labor matters for some
twenty years for one of the most con-
ssrvatiye New York papers, told me
that the entire trouble there was
these harbor boat owners had grown
rich too fast; that they believed they
were the final judges, and, with all
OF the arrogance that men naturally
assume when they have suddenly got
hold OF more money than they know
what to do with
I'VE have not Investigated that side
OF the situation. but here just be-
cause q mere handful-for q mere
handful they really are, two or three
hundred boat owners-refuse to sub
init the questions in controversy to
any form OF justification, $4,000 fam
lilies must go hungry. because their
men are forced to strike. A hundred
thousand more men are thrown on
the street, and the lives Of every
child in the city Of New York, every
baby Is threatened. It IL almost GER
tain that IL this strike were to bs
permitted to continue without a Just
settlement for q week longer New
York would be in the same condition
that q city would be when under
Siege N--
Charges Deiiberste Opposition.
1T would seem that these men have
decided not to settle the strike amica-
bly, because everything they have
done has been deliberate. The whole
matter has been under confederation
for more than q month-for more
than two months, in fact The har-