The daily morning oasis., 1919-10-19
COMPULSORY ARBITRATION.

II that the labor conference called by President
4 Wilson, to study the labor situation and deter
mine some method for removal of evils under which
the country suffers, will dissolve without accom-
pishng anything That will probably be the result
despite President Wilson's utimatum that the body
must remain in session until it has reached the OBJ
ject for which it called It will be that for the
reason that other result can be attained with the
present frame Of mind existing between two Of the
three groups composing the conference
At the risk of repetition of what is known al
ready it may be stated here that the President SUM
moned to the conference men prominent in two rival
and antagonstic groups Of organized society -
labor and capital--ard third group which he.
called the public Some Of this third group may
sympathize with labor but the chances are that q
large majority of them are in sympathy with cap
ital; for it is observable that number OF members
Of the public group are large employers OF labor
Take either Of the two elements into which the pub
lie group" may be analyzed, their place is y ith one
or the other of the two antagonistic groups Labor
or capital. The workingman even though ne be-
called one of the public group" will see issues
through workers spectacles and the large e lploy
er Of labor Unless he be extremely broad nded
and independent will occupy the standpoint OF the
capital group" 1t was to Obviate any such lineup
that Mr. Wilson conceived the idea that on voti up
issues the groups should vote apart determining
III that way how that group would vote; and that
any proposition adopted must have approval of all
three groups voting separately.
Right there is where the conference is.a failures
because there are propositions upon which the la
Dor group" ana>the capital group" cannot and wil
not agree. That was. shown Friday in an irrecon-.
cilable difference between the capital group and
the labor group upon the question of collective
bargaining.
The labor group desired the conference to make
declaration for the fright of wage earners to me-
gotiate with employers through representatives of
their own choosing" That means that wage
earners can call into conference with employers ito
adjust differences head officers of their uniens re-
siding III other places and having no immediate in
terest in the problems to be solved and difficulties
to be adjusted other than that of doing hebestpos
sible for members of their organization which, is
necessary if that organization is to be heldtogether
The capital group set itself unanimously a.
gainst collective bargaining behalf of their men
by outsiders. They expressed themselves as will
ing to treat with their men, but not through "agta
tors According to published accounts majority
of the public group was with the capital group on
that proposition, because both groups were register
ed as supporting it, while the labor group was re-
ported as threatening to withdraw from the con-
ference if their right to collective bargaining were
not recognized.
The longer these mttters grind and cause fric-
ton between wage earners and employers worse do
conditions become. And the great public sever
est sufferers in the end.
Now, there is just one remedy for that phase
Of labor trouble in the United States: compulsory
arbitration. Both sides tire opposed to it, but the
time will come when they will have to consent. Or
ganized society must protect itself from anarchy
be destroyed; and these fierce ccOnflicts between
capital and labor, growing constantly in force,
magnitude and intensity, are rushing the country
into condition of anarchy with swiftness that is
appalling.
Capital Gas personified in the person Of Judge
Gary of the Steel Trust sitting in the labor confer
ence without saying much, and that little speaking