The sun., 1919-09-23
FEAR THE STOCKHOLDERS

Heads Of Great Concerns I'm
willing to Commit Them
selves on Vital Questions.
Special Correspondence to the Conddidn
Section Of THE SUN.
MONTREAL, Sept. 22.-The Industrial
Relations Conference, which sat all
last week at Ottawa, avoided important
subjects of difference. Such contro-
versial questions as It could not avoid
It RENTED to various boards, commits
sions and Investigations which 1t asked
the Government to constitute.
In all this it probably performed the
exact service which the Government ex-
pected of it Whatever demands either
party to the industrial dispute may
make of Parliament for the next four
years, the Government will always be
able to say: You had chance to win
over the other side to these demands
In the free and open conference which
We summoned in September, 1919, and
you did not do 1t. You did not even
press your demands to a decision in
that conference. How can you expect
US to decide what you and your part
ners, the capitalists or the workers, as
the case may be, could not reach a
conclusion about? Go home and edu-
cate them and your own people, and
come back to US when you have agreed
upon something"
The Montreal delegates, both Of labor
and of capital, who have returned from
the capital are quite frank with their
opinions about the whole affair. They
are not even particularly grieved that
nothing more was done, After all, Can
ada is not going to have to settle this
labor business all by herself. The Cana
dian conference took place Just after
tremendously important conference OF
the same kind in Great Britain, and just
before an equally important one in the
United States. The real trend of in
dustrial relations in Canada will be set
tied at those two conferences, more per-
haps at the American one than at the
British one. In economic matterf Can
ada is scarcely yet in a position to go
her own gait.
Laborites show skill.
The failure of the ottawa conference
to produce any light and leading is much
more due to the employers side than to
that of the employees. The capitalist
benches failed notably to develop any
outstanding figure, or any novel and
inspirational idea The balance of politi-
cal ability was overwhelmingly on the
side of the workers. 1t was impossible
to watch the proceedings without COM
ing to the conclusion that the class OF
men which could send so many good
debaters and so many keen thinkers TO
| this conference as there were on the
employees side of the hall ought to be
much more strongly represented in Par
lament than It is. This, by the way,
is one OF the deepest convictions OF the
labor men themselves. and Is the reason
why they are so keenly attached to the
idea of some change in the system of
election which will permit of group
representation instead of the present
geographical constituencies.
The reason why the employers showed
up so poorly was explained by a prom
inent member of the employers dele
cation from Montreal Look at us,
he said. 1--WE are not the real en-
ployers. We are not free TO negotiate
or even to think. We are nearly al
executive officers. We are just as much
the hired men of the real employers as
those workers over there on the other
side Of the hall. with this difference, that
we are vastly more dependent on our
jobs than they are. The real employers
are the shareholders, and those who
make the vital decisions are few big
shareholders in each industry.
There is scarcely one of us here who
would be permitted to make a final de-
cision on any question gravely affecting
the wages or conditions of work in our
plants. We run the business ourselves
as long as none of these big issues
| crop up, but the instant such a question
arises we have to stall along until we
can get our orders from the Man at tbs
| Top. And the Man at the Top Is not
here, and we are here to stall along as
usual because he doesn't want his hand
| to be seen. All we can do is to talk the
good old economic dope about the neces-
sity of capital being free and unfettered
and the impossibllity Of minimum wages
and so forth.
Minimum Wage Coming,
1--WE may know perfectly we'll that
| minimum wages are coming and that
the one thing for capital to do is to adapt
| itself to the inevitable, and that capital
can adapt itself to anything II you give
! IL time and brains. But we have to talk
the old stun just the same. One OF the
chaps on our side made a three-hour
speech on Tuesday in which there wasn't
an idea of later vintage than Adam
! Smith. And yet you wonder why those
chaps on the labor side put 1t over u.s."
The only serious error in this esti-
mate is that the executive in question
probably exaggerated the amount Of
freedom enjoyed by the labor representa-.
| tives. Most of them were almost al
thoroughly the servants of the trade or.
| ganizations which sent them there al
| the executives were of their sharehold
ers. 1t is the chief weakness of Cana.
dian trade unionism-attributabl II
part, no doubt, to the fact that most OF
| the unions have no Independent Canadian
| existence and are merely branches of ar
international with headquarters in the
has many advantages and some disad
Yantages-that they have not so far de-
veloped any important group of leaders
who can command the continuous re.
spect and adherence of the members by
their personality alone. The result II
| that such leaders as they have are apt
to adopt an intransigent attitude TOWARD
capital. fearing that any conciliatory ad
vances may be construed by their follow
/ labor cause.
! The only really controversial point on
I which the conference came to a conclu.
sion was the minimum wage law, and II
| recommended this law only after proper
technical Information has been obtained u
It would take dozen committees OF