Evening star., 1919-12-27
INDUSTRIAL ASPECT
OF U. S. DISCUSSED BY
RAY STANNARD BAKER

Continued from First Page.)
ers and employers associations in
| many parts of the country supporting
his position.
LabOr's Stronger Stand.
On the other hand, labor is taking
& stronger stand than ever before. On
december IL the heads of 119 power
full national unions held a conference
at Washington and adopted a new bill
of rights" They reiterated their de-
organization for all industries. the
right of collective bargaining, the right
of being masters of themselves
Labor they said. must be and
is militant in the struggle to combat
the sinister Influences and tendencies.
Labor will not permit a reduction in
the standard of living. 1t will not con-
sent TO reaction toward autocratic con-
| troll"
This represents the view of the con-
Servatlve wing of the labor movement,
| headed by Mr.. Gompers. The more
radical wing of the workers-and i do
rot mean by this the extreme revolu
tionary fringe-met on November % in
convention at Chicago and organized a
new labor party to carry the whole
struggle into the field of politics.
Labor" says an official report of
this convention. has hurled it's chal-
iense 10 the business ana nnanclal IN
terestS that control the American gov
ernment today. The battle is on
This sense that "the battle is on" is
to be found among certain groups in
both camps. ! heard "A great manufac-
turer arguing that the employers were
better prepared at this moment to fight
than they ever would be again. They
had SURPRISES from prosperous years:
and a strike now would cost only about
half as much as it would in an ordinary
year on account OF savings in income
land excess profit taxation.
In BETTER Position to Fight.
on the other hand, / heard several
labor leaders argue that they Were
in a better position to fight now than
later. owing to the national shortage
of labor. There was now no surplus
from which employers could draw
| Strik ebreakers.
l have referred to the position of
two large sections of the labor move
ment. but there exist. as every one
knows. still more radical groups.
smaller but noisier, which are for
various kinds of direct action" There
was never before in America such
number of revolutionary groups or
so widespread q propaganda.
Now, l am not setting forth these
facts out of any desire to be an alarm
list: nor am l forgetting that there
are strong er-currents and re-
| constructive movements among both
employers and employes-which I
shall treat in later articles-but We
ought above everything, here and
now, to face the situation honestly
and frankly. 1t is only by recog-
nizing the danger which threatens
us that we shall be able to escape it.
Government in Crises.
Another disturbing factor in the
| problem-in some ways the most dis
! turbing of all-has been the i'm
J potency of the government in dealing
I with these industrial crises. Both
sides seem equally critical, if not
contemptuous, of Congress: both sides
have refused to accede to the re-
quests of the President. The steel
| workers would not delay their strike
even for two weeks until the Iresi-
dents industrial commission could sit
| On the other hand. Judge Gary re-
4 fused the Presidents request for
conference with the labor leaders.
! In the case of the coal strike the
government, through the Attorney
| General. announced that "the full
power of the government would be
! used to save the country from fuel
+! famine Nevertheless. coal was not
! mined; factories were closed, railroad
| transportation was crippled: the
| country suffered acutely. Coal strike
| leaders were enjoined by the federal
court, but the injunction produced no
| coal Congress Investigated the steel
strike: it has not the slightest effect
| upon the resumption in the production
of steel. The present cessation OF tho
| coal strike is no settlement at all;
! only a postponement of the contro-
versy.
Effort to Protect Public.
| The effort of the government to get
| the parties to the controversy to-
gether to formulate some genera! plan
of compromise-at the October indus
trial conference-failed utterly. Mf.
Wilson has now appointed ne"
commission of seventeen, at this mo-
ment sitting at Washington, to de-
wise some plan whereby, in his own
words. 1.-The public will not suffer at
the hands of either class.
This commission is made up or
very able and distinguished group of
pubIic men, including several former
governors and cabinet secretaries
Herbert Hoover is a member. And
vet before the commission had its
first meeting the labor groups Were
in full cry against it because 1t had
no representative of labor upon IL
Frank Morrison, secretary of the
American Federation of Labor, is
quoted as saying:
THE interests of all the enemies
of organized labor will receive care
full consideration from this commis-
SION"
This may be a wholly unfair pre-
judgment. but nevertheless there it is
"a fact.
The Public in the Crisis.
In this crisis the public. which is
the principal sufferer. grows ever
more confused and impatient. Pro-
duction suffers at time when abund-
ant production. not only for America,
but for the whole world. was never
so necessary. Prices mount higher
and higher. The tendency is more and
more toward an irritated PARTISAN
ship upon one side or the other, or to
futile attempts to deal with problems
of immense complexity and difficulty
either by hasty legislation or crude
military force.
A vast mass of detail regarding
strikes and industrial disturbances is
daily presented to us-detail which
few ordinary busy human beings can
possibly piece into a picture of the
whole scene. We cannot see the
forest for the trees, nor the news for
the headlines. One of the most con-
scientious editors in the country told
me the other day that he did not
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