The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1919-07-23
NOTHING TO BE SCARED OF.

There is enough labor trouble on
hand and in prospect in Chicago and
elsewhere in this country to demand
attention, but 1t. need not scare the
country. We have little OF it as com
pareG to Russia, Hungary. Germany, or
even FRANCE and Great Britain
DIR labor troubles are not red, and
we do. not think they win get that col
( or. They are a part Of the change,
which every sensible person knew
would be in, the wake Of the war:
The strikes are bad things. They
are bad for employees and employers
and bad for the city. They have stop
ped construction which the city needs
for its; development, and which the
city and the railroads were pushing at
this time to. keep lpost-war labor con
ditions steady. Il @,s Nit 4. Fsl u
bad as the strikes are, they are,
50 far as we can see, merely the m cans
adopted by labor to better its condi-
tons. The employer who thinks that
he Is confronted by, olsheyism is not
seeing we'll and the employer who says
that the strikers are reds is foolish.
The workers want more money for
their work and fewer hours of work.
In some cases they want more than
they will get and probably more than
strikes in this city,Fin the Crane and
International Harvester strikes, the
men do not seem to- know what they
want. Arthur Evans of The Tribune,
tried to find out and the men who
walked out couldn't, tell him. They
want something better than they have
been getting. Il. .,...y..
we glink thew rkers will get sonle-
thing better than they have been get
ting. They not only will get more
money but they will get participation
in Industrial control, and they will
come n on the distribution of profits.
We 40 not believe there will be or
can besa proletarian control of indus
try. butt there will be a considerable
degreeipf labor sparttcipationi in con.
troll. and there ought to be-, for the sta
bihty Of industry. 4ya ". 4; ,.,t a, a,
We are in an economic revolution
in this; country and it tends more and
more To give profits to work and take
them away from idleness. * There will
remain men VINO live on interest and
rents, but the income tax, the; excess
profits tax, and the Inheritance tax are
here to stay, and with them reducing
the profits Of the rich and labor ad.
vancing into higher wages, profit shar-
ing and participation in control, we
have an economic revolution which is
a fact and is significant.
Employers who are.very angry, who
resent the advance of labor, who in.
discriminatory denounce unions, and
who confuse trade union movements
with red radicalism, are doing almost
as much to. upset: the equilibrium as
the reds themselves. III .,i,. .3.s
Thes great mass of labor in this
country is not essentially restless. It
is not Precautionary : tits not seeking
fundamental changes in government
It is seeking i,nproy ement in condi-
tons. 1T Es4eking higher pay be-
cause 1t is affected sky higher prices
The dollar has not retained its !, ptH.-
chasing poWhE&Dr5 R}lpr, any: more than
itssslas for otlsy Vscple. 1s# am ?
The. countryfs nDpularly supposed
to beS bulging with money. Labor
knows that it has. not got enough of it.
There lis a good deal of evaporation
which may be mostly. superficial
Samuel Gompers says that it was a
mistake to take beer away from work
men. Maybe 1t was. Gompers ought
to know. The workman might be bet
ter off: IF he did not have any alcoholic
beverages, but:the fact is that he. did
not give it,up voluntarily. It was TAX
en- away: from him and he probably
does rasent it. n, III TIT 4
II may be better for him to go to the
movies with his family than to go to-
the saloon with other men, but this,