The Washington times., 1919-10-19
5 MILLION OUT IN
30DAYS, NENGRISIS
tcoatinued from First Page,l

control. They are impatient ad re-
fuse 20 Wnitt They want to go on
strike. They seem TO have all thte
bitterness and discomfort Of the
ChaFtists Of 1880.
Nation Must Face Truth.
Mr.. Chadbourne says that the state
Of affairs which has produced all this
bitterness and contest Is rotten ana
totteriuE," and 1Tf. Russell says that
the feeling OF workers is mot spo-
radio or spasmodest, but repressRts
profound state Of society" Is it not
the right thing to take what they say
at its face value, instead Of forget
ting it2 These men are not Boil
shevilzs Why should not the great
masses OF the American people be told
Of the true situation, instead OF be
ing few this senseeless tWaddle about
foreign agitators" and ignorant
aliens?
We have situation which has pro-
cseded beyond the point where mis-
representation. violent prejudice, and
mere invective can change in the
slightest degree the social and eco
nomic process. Labor cannot be
cowed, fntimidated, or brow beaten
any more than can any other class
Of Americans. II is pity that any
one should strive 70 stampede re-
sponsible middle class opinion. In
the sshow' down" the truth viii out.
Collision Coming.
n Mr.. RusselI's omnious forecast
comes true, the American people face
an industrial upheaval Of q kind
which even England has not yet eX-
perienced. There is a. head-on col
lision coming Some persons visu-
aIlze Il as a great struggle for the
control OF industry. Others thing Of
it as only destructive strife, which
can lead to no good. But, whatever
be the principles and the motives be-
hind the overt facts Of Industrial war,
there Is little doubt that It viii
strain and rack "the rotten and tot
tering structure" 20 the point where
it can no longer stand
All OF this Is new TO America
Strikes are not unknown 70 Us, but
an GRANTED epidemic Of strikes
which threatens to rend the industrial
fabric is a phenomenon before which
the average American shrinks in fear,
amusement and anger. But there Is
tremendous amount Of blind optimism,
OF complacent self-suhiciency abroad
in the land in the characteristic
American fashion. Is IL possible that
the employers Of the United States
would night over collective bargain
ing II they thought any really vOl-
canic upheavals were coming in
American industry?
EmuIoyers Riding 20 ran.
Hardly. To them il is the same old
world it always was. They have
heard Samuel Gompers tell about the
radicals and the 7 ". W, and are
untmpressed. They don't think there
81 any danger for the nation ahead
only contagion Of postwar madness
among WorEinEmen that viii soon
die out They deny the European
analogy America s. not Europe,
they think, and never viii be. The
citadel Of capital here Is secure.
However, the best grains in the
country, studying the industrial situ-
ation. hold they are wrong. Indeed,
there o. little doubt OF it. There I
81 8 silent revolution going on in
America today. For q generation /
or more, the captains OF industry 1
have had an amplitude Of foreign |
labor. and have exploited the labor /
ing man mercilessly. Now the shoe /
Is on the other foot There IS a /
shortage Of labor, and there is go 4
ing to remain q shortage-at least, 4
q shortage OF the cheap labor" that 4
Sc dear to the heart OF capital Labor /
found itself ia the war-found itself 4
Indispensable; and in its newborn 4
power is not always going TO be con-