Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1919-10-30
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
By j. E. Jones.
STRIKES AND THE PUBLIC

WASHINGTON, D. c., October 25.
The World is short about 81 100000
tons of coal, according to the state
ment of the United States Shipping
Board. The World, as usual, is look
ing to the United States to make up
the shortage. In the coal industry,
where there is collective bargaining,
/ the labor situation has long been
ominous. At the moment when col
lective bargaining was being debated
by the Industrial Conference at Wash
ington, as means to end the steel
strike, the principle was found to be
in poor working order in the coal
| fields.
I The public has to watch these great
/ industrial disturbances, mindful of
the fact that a strike of coal mine
operators will add to the discomfort
and increase the cost of coal to the
consumer a billion dollars this Win
ter. The methods for measuring the
burden that will fall upon the public
because of the steel strike, is not so
simple; but it is certain that the pub
! lie will eventually pay the tax Then
again, up in New York, conditions 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 Commission,
which has been trying to settle the
! Longshoremen's grievances, makes
+, the statement that "as wages have
gone up, productiveness has gone
down. with the result that "the di-
rect labor cost of turning ship
round at Atlantic ports is at least
three times what it was in 1914" In
railroading it is much the same, and
Brigader 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 war you were on a piecework
basis, as we'll as working on 10-hour
day When the Government took
over our railroad, piecework was stop
ped. The output per man fell Is per
cent The shops were put on an g.
hour basis. This cut the output an
! aVitional Is per cent, so that the out
puf per man per day in our shops
is but 50 per cent of what it was be-
fore the 49,"
Thus there is conclusive proof that
in the New York harbor and in the
Pennsylvania shops, production has
fallen off in manner that is alarm
ing. It is fair to assume that this
is general condition.
1t is possible that the United States
flushed with the joys of victory, may
still be able to learn few things
from the vanquished Germans, who in
setting about to readjust the affairs
of their country, 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 great
err application to work, more than the
amount represented by fixed scale"
This report, through tie Associated
Press, comes along with the news
that our coal miners seek a six-hour
day.
A speaker in the Industrial Con-
ference at Washington, referred to
1.-The fact that 100000 American work
men are on strickland unfortunately
the number is growing-but he did
not point out. a way to solve the in
dustrial troubles The public as a
: party to the ills and evils of industry
does not appear to be given much con-
sideration.
} But if the aforesaid public is to
; remain out of the psychopathiaward
riches and poverty, employers and en-
ployes, and everybody else concerned
will have to get back to work ir
dead earnest.