Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-30
THESE TWO TROLLEY SYSTEMS
HELP TO SHOW WHAT'S WRONG
Labor and Capital Might Profit by a
Study Of p. r. T. Cooperation and
the Camden Boycott


the Public Utilities Commission of New
Jersey sat in the midst of an angry
uproar expressive of sort of popular
ill-will that is certain to cost the trolley
company an appalling lot of money in
the future.
On this side of the river the street-car
corporation was sliding blthely along
to unexampled prosperity on. a nickel
fare. Life was being made easy for it
and for its men-by new and novel gen
eral esteem.
The contrast between these two street
railway systems is a small thing in an
age of unrest and change But it is one
that might be studied with profit by cap
tains of industry and the captains of
labor.
The Mitten theory of management in
wolves more than a general refinement
of the technique of street-car operation
1t represents an effort to humanize in
dustry. 1t recognizes the human needs
and weakness and aspiration of an intel
ligent working force. A sense of justice,
incorporated in the doctrine of the P. R.
T., has proved to be the best asset of the
corporation. Men work best when they
work together.
When the representatives of the troll
leymen's union sit in with the represen-
tatives of the P. R. T. management, as
they do regularly, to settle grievances
and employment problems, they ap-
proach pretty close to the democratiZa-
ton of industry. They are not only able
to explain their troubles and their de-
sires. They are permitted glimpses Of
the very real troubles that perpetually
aff1ict the men who have to direct in
dustry.
The democratization of industry is an
ideal state that will have to be realized
sooner or later in any community that
wishes peace and prosperity. But no
matter how friendly you may be to labor
it is necessary to admit that the dcmocl a.
tization of industry is not the aim of the
men who organized the steel strike at
Pittsburgh, the railway strike in Eng
land or the innumerable related strikes in
America and Europe.
No baron Of industry, no magnate with
friends in Washington, no unregenerate
capitalist suffering with the itch of finar-
cial imperialism could ever be so power
full or so dangerous as a labor leader
would be if he got the sort of control
over industry which is the obvious pur-
pose of radical trades unionists.
Magnates may be hailed to court or
regulated by federal or state commits
sions. They may be even sent to Jail
and in an emergency the state has right
| to put them out of business.
From labor dictators there could be nc
appeal.
! If they obtained the power to bring
about complete industrial paralysis, in
volving panic and starvation and eco
nomc chaos, they could exercise it at
will.
There is not enough of what might be
called created values in the world to
meet all the demands that labor leaders
are now making. Labor and capital
cannot divide that which does not exist. ,
The tendency everywhere is to reduce
production, and it is always to be remem-
bered that until Europe is again self
sustaining the world at large will have
to work little harder and practice self
denial. But it will never find way out
of the present confusion until those who
direct industry and those who work il
the industries find common ground fol
friendly approach and friendly under.
standings.
That is a relatively new conviction II
many quarters. Everybody is now pay
ing for the refusal of influential indus
trial leaders to share it in the past anc
the refusal of powerful labor men tt
share it in the present.
A few years ago there were too many
backward minded leaders in American in
dustries who felt that all their prob
lens could be solved by the creation of {
large servile class at the sources Of pro
duction. 1t seems never to have oc
Cured to these men that a vast servilt
class might be bad thing for the coun
try. Certainly they never supposed tina
a vast servile class might be bad thini
for their industries.
Great working forces were 'brough
from Austria and southern Europe fo
the iron and coal country. They cam
filled with an inherited distrust Of gov
ernments and they had learned to hav
little respect for law. They were igno
rant and they were sensitive. Judge Gar,
and his associates are finding now tina
class that is servile in one instance /
likely to be servile in another. Intelli
gent men, able to read and reason, coul
never have been stampeded as the masse
of foreign-born steel workers We're re
Gently stampeded by Mr.. Foster and hi
aides in the Pittsburgh regions.
We do not need servile element i
America. The industries ought to affor
men an opportunity to be American, t
be loyal, to maintain self-respect and t
share the normal responsibilities of dc
cent citizenship in democratic countr!
II The more intelligent leaders Of indus
o ~