Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-14

money, munitions, ships and general
supplies. Industry was speeded up
whenever possible; young men were
either drafted into the army or
placed in more important positions
of production, and women, by the
thousands, took the jobs made va
cant. We said the war must be
won, no matter what the sacrifice,
and labor patriotically made the
sacrifice. We, in the United States,
furnished nearly three millions os
men, our sons went forward to
strange lands to suffer the tortures
of hell and die, if needs be. Not
withstanding the eVer-increasing
cost of living, which was and still
is leagues ahead of the increase Sc
cured in wages, labor, although liv-
ing from hand to mouth, in the
main. also financed the war. In
other words, the Industrial Army of
America fed, clothed and equipped
not only the inhabitants and SOL
dierS of its own country, but those
of other countries as we'll. And, with
the signing of the armistice. labor
found itself, insofar as dollars go.
poorer than it was when the war
began in 1914. This, in a nutshell,
is what labor did during the war
and what the war did for labor"
Hits Big Business"
Big Business" however. was
scored by Maurer in these words:
I'm striking contrast stands Big
Business. A mere glimpse into it's
activities, during the period of the
war, shows how patriotic (?) and
self-sacrificing (?) these loyal dol
lar-chasing gentlemen were"
Prohibition, he said. will increase
the army of the unemployed by
more than $4,000.
Three Suggestions
Changes in the industrial situa-
ton, 'Maurer said, are inevitable. To
bring about these changes in the
most peaceful manner possible, he
said:
First. the Governor should be
asked to call an industrial confer
ence to meet in Harrisburg. to dis
cuss the problem and develop a
working program for industrial de-
mocracy.
Second, recognize the labor union
as the basis for industrial peace and
cooperation.
Third, adopt the principle of COL
lective bargaining as a fundamental
step toward cooperation between
labor and capital"
Independent political action is
needed by organized labor, he as
serted. Before establishing an inde-
pendent labor party, however. he said
that it would be we'll to establish
daily labor paper. This paper, he
said, would not be a propaganda
sheet, but a regular up-to- date mod
ern daily that will not only cham
pion labor's cause, but will print the
truth regardless of whom it will af-
feet.
MFR. Grecnawalt's Speech
The most eloquent address of the
day was made by Elmer E. Greena-
walt, former president of the State
Federation. and now commissioner of
for the port of Phila-
delphia. He attacked with great
power the radicalism of Russia and
said that the rule of the proletar-
lat" as carried out in Russia would
never do for the United State. Sense
less radicalism must be frowned
upon and the dictates of reason and
common sense made to prevail in the
settlement of all disputes between
capital and labor. There is no ques-
ton between employer and employe
that cannot be adjusted if both sides
will approach the question at issue
in such a spirit of fairness as to
recognize that each has rights that
the other is bound to respect, and
that the welfare of both is largely
dependent upon an equitable dis
tribution of the profits of their Joint
industry" He said he did not be-
lieve it possible that Bolshevism
ever could come to America and de-
clared that trade unionism and Boil
shevism have nothing in common
and never can have.
S. Ed. Launer, of Oregon, in a
short speech scored "profteers and
their camp followers"