The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-11-06
INDUSTRIAL
DISTURBANCES
J. e. JONES SAYS IT Is UP TO CON.
GREsS TO DEVISE WAYS AND
MEANS FOR CONTROL
AMERICAN WOREuEN STRIKING
The American People Should Stop,
Look and listen-Apparent,y
Gone Money Mad.
BY j. e. Jones.

''~
BY ]. e. Jones.
The world is short about 81, 000. 900
tons of coal, according TO the state.
ment of the United States Shipping
Board. The world, as usual, is LOOKING
to the United States to make up the
shortage. In the coal industry,
where there is collective bargaining,
the labor situation has long been
omnibus. At the moment when col
~lective bargaining was being debated
by the Industrial Conference at Wash
ington, as a means to end the steel
strike, the principle was found to be
in poor working order in the coal
fields. The public has to watch these
great industrial disturbances, mind
full Of the fact that a strike Of coal
mine operators will add to the dis
comfort and increase the cost of coal
to the consumers a billion dollars this
winter. The methods for measuring
the burden that will fall upon the
public because of the steel strike, Is
not so simple; but 1t Is certain that
the public will eventually pay the tax.
Then again, up in New York, condi-
tons in shipping appear to have gone
to pot, and the big harbor has been
in the throes Of strikes half of the
present season. Sugar goes up-and
In some cases sails clear out of sight
largely because OF labor troubles in
shipping. Again, the public pays the
tax. The National Adjustment Com.
mission, which has been trying to set
tie the Longshoremen's grievances,
makes the statement that "as wages
have gone up. productiveness has gone
down." with the result that "the al
rect labor cost of turning a ship
round at Atlantic ports is at least
three times what it was in 1914" In
railroading it is much the same. and
B~rigadier General w. w. Atterbury,
who gained distinction In France In
the operation of American railroads
in wartime, told the employees In one
OF the shops OF the Pennsylvania Rail
road that prior to our entrance Into
the wal you were on a piece-work
basis, as well as working on a ten
hour day. When the government took
over our railroad, piecework was
stopped. The output per man per hour
fell rs per cent. The shops were put
on an 8-hour basis. This cut the out
put an additional Is per cent, so that
the output per man per day in our
shops Is but 60 per cent Of what it
was before the war" Thus there is
conclusive proof that in the New York
harbor and in the Pennsylvania shops,
production has fallen off in a name,
that is alarming. 1t is fair to assume
that this Is a general condition. II is
possible that the United States. flushed
with the joys Of victory, may still be
able to learn a few things from the
vanquished Germans, have seriously
taken up the proposal OF the Vorwarts.
the Socialist organ, that workmen
must be paid according to the actual
work done by them; that workmen
must be made to understand that good
pay is only obtainable in return for
good work, and that capable workers
must have the opportunity to earn.
by greater application to work, more
than the amount represented by a fixed
scale This report, through the AS
ISOLATED Press. along with the
news that our local miners seek a g.
hour day. A speaker in the Industrial
Conference at Washington, referred
to the fac; that 750, 900 American
workmen are on strickland unfor-
tunately the number Is growing-but
he did not point out a way to solve
tie industrial troubles. The public
as a party to the ills and evils of in
dustry, does not appear to be given
much consideration. But if the afore-
said public" is to remain out of the
p~sychopathic ward, riches and pov.
erty, employers and employees, and
everybody else concerned, will have
to get back to work in dead earnest.
For the first time during government
tenure of the railroads the director
general of railroads has made frank
admission of the serious state into
which the properties of the country's
transportation system have fallen.
In a letter to Senator Cummins and
Representative Esch, chairman re-
spectively Of the Senate and House
Interstate Commerce committees, in
which he urges railroad legislation at
the earliest possible moment, he says:
Delay in legislation will seriously i'm
pair the public service by virtually
suspending improvements and the ac-
QUESTION of equipment and by serious
ly imperiling the morale OF the rail-
road organization. The difficulties L
point out could not be obviated by the
government remaining in control OF
the railroads from week to week pond