Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-12-02

hopefully lead to the building up
of comradeship which will result
not only in greater contentment
among the mass of workmen but
also bring about a greater -produc-
tion and greater prosperity to busi-
ness itself.
To analyze the paRticulars in the
demands of labor is to admit the
justice of their complaint in many
matters that lie at their basis. The
workman demands an adequate
wage. sufficient to live in comfort,
unhampered by the fear of poverty
and want in his old age. He demands
the right to live and the right to
work amidst sanitary surroundings,
both in home and in workshop, sur
roundings that develop and do not
retard his own health and well be-
ing; and the right to provide for
his children's wants in the matter of
health and education. In other
words it is his desire to make the
conditions of his life and the lives
of those dear to him tolerable and
easy to bear.
Pavcs Way
The establishment of the princi-
Piles regarding labor laid down in
the covenant of the League of Ma
tions offers us the way to industrial
peace and conciliation. No other
road lies open to us. Not to pursue
this one is longer to invite enmities,
bitterness and antagonisms which in
the end only lead to industrial and
social disaster. The unwilling work
man is not a profitable serveant. An
employe whose industrial life is
hedged about by hard and unjust
conditions, which he did not create
and over which he has no control.
lacks that fine spirit or enthusiasm
and volunteer effort which are the
necessary ingredients of great pro-
ducing entity. Let us be frank about
this solemn matter. The evidences of
worldwide unrest which manifest
themselves in violence throughout
the world bid us pause and consider
the means to be found to stop the
spread of this contagious thing be-
fore it saps the very vitality of the
nation itself. Do we gain strength
by withholding the remedy? Or is 1t
not the business of statesmen to
treat these manifestations of unrest
which meet us on every hand as
evidences of an economic disorder
and to apply constructive remedies
wherever necessary, being sure that
in the application of the remedy we
touch not the vital tissues of our in
dustrial and economic life? There
can be no recessions of the tide of
unrest until constructive instrument
talities are set up to stem that tide.
Collective Bargaining
Governments must recognize the
right of men collectively to bargain
for humane objects that have at
their base the mutual protection and
welfare of those engaged in all in
dustries. Labor must not be longer
treated as q commodity. 1t must
be regarded as the activity of hu-
man beings, possessed of deep yearn-
ings and, desires. The businessman
gives his best thought to the re-
pair and repenishment of his ma
chinery, so that it's usefulness will
not be impaired and its power to
produce may, always be at its height
and kept in full vigor and motion.
No less regard ought to be paid
to the human machine, which after
all propeis the machinery of the
world and is the great dynamic force
that lies back of all industry ana
progress. Return to the old stand
ards of wage and industry in en-
ployment are unthinkable. The ter
rible tragedy of war which has just
ended and which has brought the
world to the verge of chaos and dis
aster would be in vain if there
should ensue a return to the condi-
tions of the past. Europe, itself,