New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-01-26
Hire All Idle
Men, rs Plea of
Secy. Wilson
Continued from page 1

have been depleted of stocks used for
military purposes. The shelves are
empty
Secretary Wilson said the supply of
labor is not as ample as some think,
and gave figures TO show that the war
has left shortage of 100000 in the
nurmal number OF workers.
Workers Have Money
Workers have been making more
money during the war than ever be-
fore" he continued. This has been
due not only to hioh wages, but to over
time, the fact that work has not been
steady and other reasons Many of
these men have money in reserve This
reserve viii be usd in eouipping and
maintaining their households on scale
not cqualled before.
THE farmers also have similar re-
serves. which Will be used in equipping
their farms. South America is open for
us. Germany will not have a trade
there. Ii business men use foresight
legitimate portion of this trade will
come TO the United States.
France and Belgium must be re-
stored and vii! re.uirc goods. Sooner
or later Russia a.u the Central Powers
VIII want American products. The ma
tons of the North. shut off during the
war, also are open to us.
IF we tide over the period of read
Justment, from eight to ten years of
industrial activity is in front of us,
equal to anything experienced in the
past The question lies in the period
of REIMBURSEMENT
Labor organizations are better able
than ever before to resist reduction
of wages. The workers themselves are
ebtter fitted than yer before for an in
dustrial struggle. If am attempt is
made to force down wages, there will
DC resistance long enough to prevent
this era OF prosperity.
Such Action Dangerous
81 believe any effort to reduce wages
would be shortsirhted. If there should
be any great period Of industrial un-
rest, no one can tell where it would
land US, whether in some situation like
the French Revolution or in the throes
Of BOlsheVist movement, or wheher it
would be attended with good or evil re-
"Democracies are slow 20 remedy in
ternal evils, but any other policy than
acceptance of the Will OF the ma GRITTY
mems establishment of the principles
of autocracy. Unless we tide over this
period of reconstruction we are facing
serious situation. Therefore, my APP
peal to all is, Get your business going
and keep it going
"Ihere is the same atmosphere now
regarding reconstruction as when we
entered the war. Then il was feared by
many that we could not organize. train,
equip and transport an army quickly
enough, but when the crisis came it was
those boys about whom these fears had
been expressed that stemmed the Hun
tide. The same spirit that dominated
the United States then will thrill them
during the period OF struction."
War Work Of Labor Department
Secretary Wilson outlined the meth
DDS used by his department in handling
the labor situation during the war,
especially the upbuilding of morale,
which, he said. was as important at
home as in the trenches.
at must be said to the credit of the
wage workers." he said, that there was
not strike of more than local dimen-
SONS throughout the war. Their minds
We're permeated with the desire to
maintain peace. 1t was necessary for
the Department of Labor to point out
that LABOR organizations themselves
were not efficient unless they were Mill
worse than industrial war interna-
tional injustice was worse than inter
national war. We had to combat the
sentiment that this was a war of capital
by pointing out that whatever faults
there were here we were the most per
fect democracy in the world and that
our struggle was one for the main
tal9ance of democracy. We declared
that 1t was our concept of their under
sta lding that they would shed the last
drop of blood to remain citizens rather
than become subjects of some other
country. In the Middle West the |. w
W.. closely allied with the Bolsheviki.
OF Germany, were preaching that man
was entitled to the social value his
labor produces.
Impossible to Determine
"This. think. is truism. but it s
impossible to determine definitely what
the social value of any mans labor is
we com bated the I. W. w. doctrines
by showing that labor and capital are
mutually Interested in producing as
much as possible, so that there should
be the lsrgest amount to be divided
and that the right thing to do was
Tor capita and labor to sit at the
council table and work out togethert he
DIVISION of that production.
Nc dIoo mao 10 ADJUST labor dis
putcs. The cost of living rose and
workers demanded Increased wages,
Then the cost of living rose because
wages were higher and there was in
operation an endless spiral UPWARD,
with no benefit. We had to try to
stahille wage rates throughout the
united States. Progress was beinr
made to this end wnen the armistice
was signed"
Senator James Hamilton Lewis. of
Illinois, said the United States was
under legal obligation to insist on the
fourteen points for peace advanced bv
President Wilson.
- "Oniy foolish man." he said.
would suggest that those articles had
Been submitted without President vii
sons. knowing what vas thought of
them. not only by this people but by
the Allies"
Europe Would Be Armed Camp
Europe, he said. would be an armed
camp II the sma.ier nations found
there were to be no public forum, such