The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1919-10-03
DEMANDS OF WORKERS INTERPRET
NEW SPIRIT, GOMPERS DECLARES

termination of those things which
constitute the industrial agreement,
arrangements have a still further re-
sponsibiltty. if they are to secure
cooperation for increased produc-
ton. Industrial health, safety and
morale are vital As these prob
lens are primarily scientific, the
management must look to special
lists for information and sugges-
tions. In order to protect them
selves against propaganda, individ-
.ual fads and commercialism, en-
ployers should ask the Government
to supply them with uncolored data,
advice and practical service in max
ing their industries safe and health
full, and in dealing with technical
employment problems.
workers whose physical creative
power is conserved as something
valuable not only from tho produc-
ton but the humanitarian stand
.
i'm order to give them fullest oppor-
tunity for service, whose creative in
StinCtS are stimulated, whose Nalu-
able contributions are recognized
are workers whose production guam
titatiVCIY far exceeds that of work.
pFS under autOCFatiC control OF in
duStry, without adequate managerial
consideration for all factors that af-
feet production.
May | digrcss from these funda-
mentals to controvert two fallacies
that have been so frequently re-
peated as to be accepted by casual
readers and hearers? 1t is said that
requests for increases in wages ne
cessitate increases in prices which
increases cost of living and in re-
turn results in more wage demands
"a vicious circle that leads to no
progress.
1t should he. remembered that
wages constitute only one OF tho fac
tors i'm production costs and that
high labor invariably leads To labor
saving machinery and improved pro-
duCtiOn processes. High wages do
not inevitably lead to the vicious cir
Gle. On the contrary, they have in
VariabiN resulted in constructive
changes, beneficial to workers and
resulting in increased production.
This is vitality brought out by the
contrasts in production in low wage
countries such as China and pro-
duction in high wage countries such
as ours.
The second mis-statement that is
frequently repeated and used to dis
credit wage earners is that output
is deliberately restricted by the or
ganized labor movement and by lin
itation Of hours of work.
In many industries production il
below prc-War volume and much be-
low normal. This il not due TO labor
but TO unsettled trade conditions,
managerial policies, high costs of
raw material. The war cut off trade
intercourse and diverted production
energies from usual channels. This
volume of energy that produces the
raw material for industries will not
flow unrestricted until peace shall
have been established.
Wage earners as we'll as employ
ers, are anxious to end this period
of transition, We are fully con
scious of the ngers-dangers not
only to our welfare and continued
progress, but to the whole structure
of organized activity, political and
economic.
We have no patent solution for
eliminating problems. But we main
tain our right to opportunities for
continuously securing better CON
ditions of work Would free men
and women, breathing the spirit of
this age, ask for less?
The great war brought a quicken
ing of idCaliSm, Il searching OF con-
science, and mCTCilCSS scrutiny of
methods and agencies, and new val
uation of fellowship in the common
task of the nation. This new spirit
has its Interpretation in the demands
of workers; in the assertion that
workers are human beings; that Ia
Dor is not u commodity but is inscp-
arabic from human life; that en-
plOycCS have right to participate
by representatives of their own
choice, in determining conditions
under which they work: and 10 par
ticipatc IN the formulation of poll
cicS affecting their interests and wei
fare
These foundations of rights have
been submitted to the arrangements
of industry and to the public. They
. constitute standards of justice as
evolved by experience in the shop.
the factory and the mine. Their
acceptance as basic principles of in
/ dustrial relationships between man
| agements and employees alone can
I generate a spirit of industrial good
will necessary for cooperation for
industrial progress. The 100000
workers of America, directly rep
resented in the American Fedora
! ton of Labor, stand ready to deal
with the problems honestly and in
diligently, and to do our part in es-
tablishing our national fabric upon