The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-10-24
PUBLIC GROUP is
ASKED BY WILTON
TO CONTINUE THE
WORK BEFORE TT
CONTINUED from Page One,

btDOT III d statement eXpIalIlnS the
stand of the labor group, declared that
''it- is worse than useless to sit in con-
ference" with employers unless they
agree to a declaration of the right of
workers to organize without discrimina-
ton.
Asserting that the labor delegates are
not Jumping jacks" and would not re-
verse their decision. Mr. Gompers said
that he had been instructed previous to
Yesterdays meeting by the labor group,
including both the representatives of the
American Federation of Labor and the
railroad brotherhoods, to announce their
withdrawal in case the collective bar
gaining declaration was defeated.
When the declaration was finally re-
jected estetday, he said there was moth
ing left except withdrawal
In declaring the conference adjourn
ed Chairman Lane said that the going
out of the labor group had changed
the nature of the conference.
Therefore" he added, sit is the
Presidents desire that l should ex-
press to the gentlemen of the en-
ployers' group wSo have expressed
their willingness to stay, his desire
that the nature of the conference itself
should, because of the change of con-
ditions, be changed, and that the work
should be carried on by the public
group inasmuch as the burden of these
quarrels that exist in industry falls
ultimately upon the public. And so,
gentlemen. the public group will be
asked to make report and give sug-
gestionS as to the Industrial policy Of
this country"
The employers group of the confer
ence tonight issued the following
statement:
STATEMENT OF EMPLOYERS
The adjournment of the national in
dustrial conference as originally con-
stituted brings up sharply the question
of whether the weeks controversy over
one phase only of industrial relations
leaves the situation without a single
gain. The employers group, soberly
reviewing the work of the conference,
discovers three definite gains:
First, it has been demonstrated that
failure is inevitable where preliminary
organizations of the elements compos-
ing such conference is absent and
where no preparation is made for the
orderly presumption of a programme
which shall include all of the known
factors upon which industrial relations
are based.
Second, collective bargaining, an ac
cepted and desirable policy in industry
has been brought more prominently be-
fore the country and will influence a
sincere effort on the part of innumer-
able manufacturers to find an accept
able medium through which this col
lcctive relationship may be secured and
maintained in the industrial establish
ment
Third collective bargaining as pol
icy or principle cannot be safely used
in the broad and general sense with
which the public has been accustomed
to express it, but must be defined clearly
as to it's applicability to the varying
49, Ind, fpty
relations that exist between wage-earn-
e. aid the employer.
ONLY SUCCESSFUL METHOD
Fundamental to the whole question OF
collective bargaining is the responsibility
of those who bargain, and this is direct
ell quite as much at the employer as at
the wsge-earner or the organization OF
which the wage-earner is member. Only
where there is a definite dual RESPONSE
bility lived up to as scrupulously as is
required in other contractual relations
can collective bargainipgNin any form or
under any Interpretation be successful.
"The1 it must be remembered that the
industrial life of the country III it's en-
ployment relations, divides definitely
along certain lines. No one will deny
the right of the individual wage-earner
and his employer to pegotiate terms OF
employment for industrial relations &C
ceptable to both, but aside from this
there is the dealing between the employer
and his employees by means of the shop
industrial council. dealing through
trade or labor union, and all of these
methods are acknowledged and practiced
by employers.
at may be charged that the employers
group in defeating the Gonlpers resou-
ton denied the right of organization and
of collective bargaining. But the confer
ence learned definitely that the right OF
organization and of collective bargain
ing are interpreted by the labor group
in one way and one way only, organ
zing and bargaining through trade and
labor unions. 1t would be unfair to make
any pronouncement on these two impor-
tant principles which would convey as
the belief of this conference such an in
depreciation.
BOUND TO RESIST
The purpose of the resolution
through cunning phrases coined to
carry double meaning was to commit
the conference to support the only
brand of collective bargaining ever Of
fcrcd by the group presenting it. and
the employers were bound to resist to
the end
The employers group could not deny
the right that it so freely and fully con-
coded in it's substitute resolution which
the conference defeated, and it stands
today with the adjournment OF the
conference on the record OF its sub
of the Investigators fell among the repub.
lcans as bomb shell. Its reference
to committees. dominated by republicans
may mean its suffocation. But If it
brings accurate statement regarding the
cost and achievements OF the investi-