The Ontario Argus. (Ontario, Or.) 1???-1947, 1919-10-23
SUBSCRIPTIONS, .... One Year SIS
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.

NOtsi1NNAh ~ bhANphNhANNs
The sessions of the conference nov
meeting in Washington at which cap
ital, labor and the general public are
represented may bring about a great
change In the economic life of the
American people. The effect OF that
conference can not be foreseen at
this time.
But, according to the reports made
public the conferees are far from
agreement at the present time. The
principal bone of contention is that
OF the right Of collective barganin-
ing, or unionism. This is a problem
that 8 all too little understood by the
public generally, and about which
there Is more loose thinking than
any of our great and pressing social
difficulties.
In this day and age there are few
who have the temerity to deny the
right of collective bargaining thru
union officials. But many of those
who have believed In the right of
the principle do not subscribe to the
practices resorted to by INSCRIPTIONS
union mon; any more than they sub
scribe to the actions of equally un-
scrupulous employers. Both these
classes exist. and therein lies the
dangers to which the general public
is exposed.
During the past two years the
public has become frightened. The
word strike sends a shudder over the
body polite Somehow people have
the notion that laborlng men like to
strike. that II IL their fayorite oc-
oupatlon, 80 to speak.
Nothing could be farther from the
facts. Anyone who has lived long
and intimately with laboring men,
especially one who was raised In the
home Of union man, knows better
than that The fear OF an impond
ing strike Is an ever present shadow
over the happiness of the wives and
children OF union men The strike
~ the weapon OF desperation. II II
the court OF last resort TO which the
laborlng man-that IN the right
conservative laboring man
takes his case In an effort to secure
Industrial justice,
There Is Just as great a degree OF
love OF home In the minds and hearts
OF the laborlng men, union men In.
cudod, as there is In the other homes
n America. The laboring man Is
us true 20 HIS family as any man.
lie Is as loath to see them suffer and
10 be deprived OF the necessities of
life thru his agency as striker, as
the capitalist would be TO see his off
spring suffer thru his own actions
II Is this basic human trait that
will dissolve the difference between
capital and labor In America, Union
men have not gone mad even tho
some OF their leaders have lost their
sense OF proportions And, too. the
leaders OF public opinion have brot
many OF the bourbon directors OF
capital into line for a more human
policy In dealing with their men,
Real progress has been made ON
both sides OF the question, especially |
since the introduction of the public
Into the arena OF debate Much re-
mains to be done, and that viii be ac-
'omplished In time, TO put an end to
strikes which threaten the lives of
All the people
Neither capital nor labor can at
ford 10 ignore the public and labor
must rid itself OF It's radical leaders,
IFS unAmcrican socialism, its death
threatening coercion and It's immoral
Capital must change it's
notions concerning It's employees, ana
not treat men as tho they were a
mere commodity II must remem-
ber that It's corporate body exists by ,
virtue of laws made by the people
and that the creation of the people
Is not greater than those who mad
L.