The Washington herald., 1919-10-10

so may the public; but capital can
never over-concede. And its caution
10 entirely justifiabie.
The demands Of labor. which were
nled the first thing yesterday morning
after q long night session. are In
substance what was predicted by thii
writer. They are short and 70 the
point. the irreducible minimum Of
labor. They included:
Arbitration In the steel trust, recog-
milton of the union. collective bar
gaining. free speech. free press and
Tree assemblage, which are denied In
the Pittsburg district just now: an
sight-hour day. q living wage. equal
pay for women; no children under II
In industry. shop committees like the
Whitley Councils. and national In
dustria1 conferences permanently es-
tablished, Finally labor demands re.
stricted immigration for a period oi
years.
Demands Are Mild.
These demands are mild. They are
In no sense radical They are de-
mands which most Of the members OF
the group representing the public
WIN accede to. and, feeling that Ia
Dor has reduced its demands TO the
least possible expression. labor Is 60
Ing to stand siege. That is why
Samuel Gompers, at the conferences
Yesterday. expressed rather openly
his scorn OF the Georgia manufac.
turer whose speech, though II was
felioitous and amusing. rubbed or.
sanized labor the wrong way in near.
ly every sentence. For the Georgian
was expounding the doctrine Of the
happy Industrial family under indus
trial paternalism; the industry kept
alive by, welfare work, the industry
which, as the happy Georgian ex'
pressed IT,. "railed the goose into
the coop with corn"
Samuel Gompers rose after this
speech and asked In nne scorn: 'Is
there no way by which this confer
ence may proceed to businessT'
Labor will have none Of the scorr
OF paternalism. Labor 10 standing
for fraternalism, and curiously
enough. young John d. Rockefeller
In his resolution. expressed the
hope OF the conference for "a new
relationship between capital AND
labor. which can be discovered only
as we approach raIs problem In q
spirit OF Justice. brotherhood and q
willingness to put ones self In thu
other mans placer
Brotherhood IL the word! And
coming from Rockefeller. it mean.
much,
Would Cut Living Cost.
In the group representing the pub
lie there was discussion yesterds,
about such compromises as would re
duce living cost. The public groul
will probably ask industry to estab
lish competent engineers in ever!
large plant. certainly in every trade
who shall study conditions OF produc
ton looking to efficiency. That mean
speeding up. hut chiefly becau use speed
ing up meant profits, for the boss
The pubic group will ask that &C
countings in industry be open to la
Dor and that all gains made by eff
cheney under the recommendation o
the engineers be split three ways, be
tween the laborer. the public, and tn
employer. With speeding up unde
open accounting and genuine prof
sharing. labor might take a new viev
OF the word efficiency. which at tn
moment is a red nag to labor. A
least the public group is seriously con
sidering asking labor TO revise It!
opinions under new conditions.
In the meantime. the capitalist O
employers are going at their work me
thodically. They have divided int
sections, and are referring every mea
sure to its proper section for consid
GRAFTON. No hastily considered plar
xr-fl enr,aa nnt ~ fhA or0mD
Indeed, no plan at all may emanat,
at once. The employers feel that the,
have the gravest responsibilities anc
therefore must move with creates
caution.
Every Man Given His Say.
In contrast to both capital and Ia
Dor in the matter of procedure 4:
the public, group. Chairman Baruch
of that group. is careful to give every
man his say. Any reasonable prop
osition presented to the group rep.
resentins the public will have a hear
ing and Is fairly sure 70 get tht
assent il not the approval of th'
group. That policy has definitely beer
adopted. and while the group as q
unit may stand for some plan or GER
tain suggestions which may be graft
ed upon any plan. and stand rather
firmly and officially, still any man.
views in the group may be respected
and his proposals presented to tn,
committee of fifteen.
In the meantime, among all tn,
groups sentiment is growing for ad
journment at the end OF the weel
until The committee of fifteen shall
have time to digest all the plans Of
ficially submitted and to go over th'
unofficially presented plans which ar,
deluging the committee from all sides
As every scrap of paper that come:
to the committee must receive on
cial action and be presented to tn,
conference, either with approval ol
without. II Is evident that this viii
take long time. But IL the commit
tee of fifteen ask for time to report
end adjournment of the conferenc,
at least may be looked for today.
No AdminIstrntion PInn.
Until the committee of fifteen hai
finished its plan or solution or pro
posals for industrial peace. the con
ference can do nothing. And to form
ulate even a rough draft OF a pro
posal for industrial peace which
must revolutionize American indus
try is an enormous task. 1t Is char
acteristic OF the Administration tha
it has no plan. that il offers no sug
gestion, that II has no data and NJ
leader for the conference. Even 4
the President were able to come q
is not presumed that he would hav,
well considered plan. His plan a
Paris to meet the moments neeC
with the moments wisdom seems t
be his plan here.
And none of his friends can ever
remotely hint what was in his minc
when he called the conference Two
Secretaries from his Cabinet hav,