Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-10
Presents Program at Farley
PARLEY TO END
STEEL STRIKE
is PREDICTION
L a ence Prophesies
Settlement of Contro-
versy By Conference.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.)

/
the progress in the industrial peace
| conference has not been and prob
| ably will not be on the surface.
Particularly is this true of the big
! steel strike, which is a sort of
nemesis. So long as Judge Ebert
! Fl. Gary, head of the steel corpora
ton, sits at the table representing
| the public and high-sOuUding prin-
ciples aiming to prevent strife be-
tween employer and employe are
proclaimed, the substance Of which
are being denied in actual practice
/ by the steel corporation. labor isn't
/ likely to take seriously the pro-
| fessiOns of the industrial confer
| ence itself. More or less as test
of the sincerity and practicality of
/ the conference. Samuel Gompers,
! president of the American Fedora
! tton of Labor, really presented a
| test when IA asked the industrial
conference to appoint a committee
| of two from each of the three
groups at the conference-capital,
! labor and pubiic-to whom should
/ be referred existing differences in
| the steel industry for adjudication
and settlement" and that. pending
the outcome of such a conference,
| all the workers be requested to re-
! turn to work and the employers be
| asked to reinstate them.
Strike Settlement Predicted.
Judge Ebert Gary heard the res
olutiOn read, but made no com
ment. Later on, when asked by
| reporters. he declined to say any
! thing But the fact is. one is justi-
| fed in being optimistic that a set
tlement of the steel strike will
come out of the present industrial
conference. For be it known that
Judge Gary is constantly in the
/ company of people who are polite
ly and persuasively urging him to
consider the general situation in
, the country and the necessity of
showing a more conciliatory dispO-
sition in the strike controversy.
! Being surrounded by persons of
| influence, whose Judgment Mr.
Gary certainly respects, the tenor
! Of their informal comments is
bound to be contagious and inspir-
! ing.
Sees Need of New Order.
| Some there were like Dr. Charles
". Eliot, former president of Har-
ward university, who doubted
/ whether present controversies or
even old bases of antagonism
| should be considered. Rather he
believed that new order, new
set of relations should be set up,
and that possibly present Difficult
ties in specific cases should not be
considered as germane to the con-
ference itself All of which pro
duced a cynical expression on the
faces of the labor group, together
with a rather radical speech from
L. E. Sheppard, president OF the
railway conductors, who talked
about profit sharing and partici-
pating in management in every
thing from the wholesaler to the
middleman to the retailer. His
doctrine was, however, individual
and did not reflect the views of the
American Federation OF Labor's
representatives. Mr.. Sheppard said
at the outset that he was present
ing his own personal views. He
was particularly disturbed that the
employers group didn't have their
proposals ready, but Thomas L.
ChadbOurne Of the public group
put his finger on the difficulty when
he suggested that overnight the in
terests of the employers couldn't
be harmOniZed in a single dOcu-
ment and that for his own part he
had come to the conference with
a plentiful supply of patience.
Prod Employers.
Nevertheless, other representa-
tives Of the public group prodded
the employers to keep busy and
perfect their plans. John SpargO
seemed to think that there was
something wrong with the rules
and that subcommittee should be
appointed. to which Chairman Lane
replied that already authority to
make such a subdivision of tasks
existed in the committee of 5. DR..
Eliot of Harvard had an idea, too,
that perhaps the conference hal
gotten off on the wrong foot by
keeping three distinct groups in
stead of harmoniZing, and Gavin
McNab of California jokingly re-
marked that he favored union
izing" the conference, whereupOn
Mr.. Chadbourne again insisted that
it would be miraculous If the three
groups could be fused effectively
so early in the session and that the
very purpose of the committee Of
Is containing five representative
0 feach of the three groups was to
start the processes Of collabora-
ton.
There seemed to be much senti- !
ment in favor of making a COM
posite plan out of all the various
plans submitted to the conference
but for the present the different
schemes for adjusting labor diff
cuIties have merely been presented
and read in order that things might
get started and the true purposes
of the conference developed.
Steel Situation Big Problem.
But while suggestions and plans !
were brought forward for future
discussion, the concrete thing that
came out of the labor group aside !
from the several propositions pre-
CONTINUED on Page F'ifteen.)