Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-04
EXPECT LABOR
MEET TO CALM
SOCIAL UNREST
Farley Called By Wilson
for Oct. S to Seek Way
to Solve Problem.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

ident Wilson leaves Washington
with the two most important prob
( lens of his Who'll, administration
| unsettled-the domestic labor crisis
| and the proposed entrance of the
: United States in a partnership of
nations to preserve world peace.
. During his absence. the senate
will debate. but probably not vote
finally on the peace treaty and
/ League of Nations Also. the coun-
try will be prepared for the most
vital struggle since the Civil war
4 a peaceful solution of the acute
difficulties in American industry.
The president has called a confer
ence not between capital and la
Dor but between ,abOr and those
who direct labor To him the
world peace situation and the do
mestic unrest are interviewer. He
. believes the senate's failure to rat
ify the treaty has added to the un-
certainty Of industrial conditions.
He proposes t, tell the country
why he thinks so.
Meany hile. the president be
lieves his action in calling a do
mestiC labor conference Will have
salutary effect. that it will bring
about truce. that it will prevent
all strikes while the captains of
( industry and the leaders of labor
! endeavor to work out a program OF
industrial reconstruction. Be
tween forty and forty-five dele
gates Will gather at the White
, house abou Oct. ) and discuss ey-
cry phase of industrial conditions.
wages. cost of living. strikes. and
the general idea Of bringing about
an equilibrium between Il e two
contending Classes-the employ
ers and the employees.
Dangerous symptoms Shown.
( The truth is that America has in
/ recent weeks shown dangerous
symptoms. Social unrest has been
/ growing. Radical labor leaders
! have been getting possession of the
/ reins of authority in various sec
tiOns OF the country where CON
+ servative labor leaders hitherto
: governed. The demands under
/ these new leaders have often been
wholly out Of proportion to other
! parts Of the country an other in
! dustries. No general principle or
uniformly OF action has been pos
sible. Samuel Gompers, for ex-
! ample, controls one section OF
/ Americas laboring masses but
/ there are l. w. w and mining or
! ganizatiOns which have little re-
gard for the American Federation
of Labor. In the face of such
] chaos, the situation in AE2-ica
: has been drifting toward an open
/ break. Strikes affecting the cost
| of living and the welfare of the
/ American people as a whole have
/ been growing. 1t has been feared
5 in some quarters. too. that the
/ hitherto unheard OF idea of social
revolution was making more head
/ way among the inaTticUlate masses
! than the newspa peTs generally
we're able to reflect. But federal
! agencies here which have means
/ of knowing what goes on in labor
councils everywhere have learned
+ of the strained relations. A truce
, was inevitable or rather a meeting
of minds before industrial hostili-
ties began
VIII Be Common Counsel.
: So the labor conference called
by President Wilson is an effort
/ TO work out the problem by CON-
mon counsel. Behind the confer
enCe VIII not be any force Of law
no judicial cOmpUlsion. 1t will
not be an arbitration or mediation
but an unofficial gathering of the
I heads of several classes most in
terested in industrial peace. If
agreement Is reached, the recon-
mendations to private industry
will carry with them. however.
even more cOmpulsiOn than statute
/ law. For presumably The whole
moral force of American public
opinion will back such an agree
ment
Investment bankers. agricultural
/ associations, the United States
Chamber of Commerce and the
American Federation of Labor will
each send about eight or nine dele
gates and President Wilson will
name about eight or nine to repre-
sent the public at large About
forty-fve in all will meet at the
White ouse. The meetings will be
open in the sense that they will be
stenographicaIly reported and the
proceedings given to the press, In
no other way might it be possible
to get the attention of large
masses of radically inclined labor
who have been opposing Samuel
Gompers and the American Fed
Grafton of Labor.
Wilson To Name Several.
Il is not known who VII rep