The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-10-28
COOL REASONING IN
PRESENT CRISIS IS
NATIONS BIG HOPE
Lawrence Shows Government
Will Do All in Power to Pre-
vent Fuel Stoppage, But
Wants Peaceful Settlement.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Correspondent OF The News
ScimitarA

SNtAtlNNoTHt 4
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2S.-Cool rea-
soning processes alone can save the
country from an era of industrial war
rare. The government is conscious of
us responsibility and will do all in its
power to prevent, for instance. an in
corruption in the fuel supply of the ma
tlon. But the government would like
70 see the dispute settled peacefully. To
mat end any threat or challenge, any
loose use of the word "~Bolshevist," cal
cuiated to give offense to laboring men,
whose Americanism Is unquestioned,
any denial of rights previously given
laoor, or any attempt to take advan-
lage OF the present situation to with
draw privileges which labor already has.
Is looked upon by the government as
dangerous in the present circumstances
and as olikely to add to rather than
diminish the chances of industrial con-
flict in America.
Government officials do not undercs-
innate the gravity Of the situation, in
which the country finds itself. Not
alone is a coal strike threatened, but
labor in combining not merely on
account OF real grievances, but
on account of Hypothetical or imaginary
grievances. Action by congress-. for
instance, although still a common affair
in one branch of the legislative depart
ment of the government, has looked to-
ward the denial of the right on the
part of the railway brotherhoods to
strike.
Dangers Are Many.
Unquestionably public opinion could
be persuaded to support the denial of
the right to strike on any public utility
such as the railroads, but in the absence
of any tribunal or organization certain
to give justice to the railway employees,
the tendency of the brotherhoods Is to
join with labor generally in a general
defense of the abstract and concrete
rights of labor.
This has caused a lineup that might
otherwise have been avoided. Similar
ly, as one high official pointed out, the
misuse Of the term Bolshevist and rad
ical Is only offending many conserva-
tlves in the labor ranks upon whom
the country Is absolutely dependent, as
against the forces that are preaching
rebellion and Bolshevism. The same
official suggested that employers who
would pour oil on the troubled waters
by classifying all the grievances Of la
Dor as nothing more than Bolshevism
are contributing toward such a contin-
gency as much as the radicals inside
labor n who selfishly wan and then
threaten destruction il they can not
have their will.
The difficulty is that many employers
Of an ultraConservative type who have
fought labor for years see in the steel
strike and threatened coal strike such
an alienation of public sympathy as to
enable them to crush the whole labor
movement. They are in some cases
represented as saying that a coal strike
would not be such a bad thing after all.
for labor would be crushed by such a
course beyond the point of recovery.
But the disinterested government in
charge for the time being of the ma
tons welfare does not take such a view
and would prefer that the talk about
victory and defeat for this or that class
in the community be confined only to
that small number of agitators who act
ually seek the overthrow of society ana
existing institutions and not TO that
larger class which undoubtedly has some
grievances but mistrusts absolutely the
means heretofore suggested for secur-
ing justice upon those grievances.
Establishment of confidence In public
tribunals that can arbitrate or adjust
industrial disputes Ia the central need
Of the situation and the cabinet during
the present week viii formally work
out the details Of a plan already ap-
proved by President Wilson, as an
nounced in these dispatches last Fri
day, for the reconstruction of the pub
lie group of industrial conference, max
ing of it not exactly a group represent
ing classes as such, but a commission
of about Is men sufficiently familiar
with all phases of the industrial prob
lem to map a charter or constitution
for the handling Of labor difficulties.
The new commission will go to Wash
ington employers and employees to OBJ
tain testimony and the results of their
experience.
Favors Data Study.
Secretary Lane, who has been firmly
pushing the idea Of an industrial con
ference from the start, believes that
much can be learned by the country