Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1919-10-22
ARBITRATION OF
Steel DISPUTE
VOTED DOW n
Public and Capital Groups Also
Throw Out Collective Bar
gaining Measures.
MEETING BACK TO WHERE
TT BEGAN MONTH AGO
Wilson Sends Eleventh Hour COncilia-
ton Message as Last Resort
Labor Delegates Are
Disheartened.

| DlSuSdINCuSu
Washington, Oct. 21-After a
day of uncertainty, during which
which President Wilson sent to Sec
rotary Lane, chairman, a message Of
Cancellation to be used as ''last re-
sort" the National Industrial Confer
ence tonight cleaned it's slate by re-
jecting all collective bargaining reso-
| luton, as we'll as the labor proposal
for intervention in the steel strike.
The public group aligned with CAPT
tai on the vote against both the ORR
ginal collective bargaining and steel
strike resolutions, although the de-
claration on collective bargaining was
proposed by the public delegates.
Prior to the vote on the original de-
claration, the employers substitute
and two new amendments by Thomas
l.. Chadbourne, chairman of the
conferences central committee, met
defeat. Only the employers favored
the substitute, and labor and capital
united in the opposition.
! When the conference reconvenes
tomorrow, it will be in practically the
same position as at the opening on
October 6. In adjourning the session
tonight Secretary Lane declared that
the conference chad produced moth
ing" and advised it to take new
start by adjourning several days
while a coordinating committee Of
not more than six members frames
a program of action"
Defeated on every point, and hav-
ing lost the support Of the public
group, which heretofore has been on
the side of the workers, the labor
delegates left the conference hall to-
night, disheartened and feeling, as
some of them said, that little could
be gained by further meetings. How
ever, a meeting of the group has
been called for 9 o'clock tomorrow
morning and individual members
will be bound by action taken at that
time.
Wilson Last Resort.
Should labor show a disposition to
bolt the conference, Chairman Lane
will undoubtedly use the ,presi.
dents letter in an effort to avert the
crisis. Reading of the letter was
said to be entirely discretionary with
the chairman, who declared that he
would not produce it unless the sit
uation became acute. It was gener-
ally predicted tonight that the work
ers would not withdraw. The presi-
dents message, it was understood,
re-states the purpose for which the
conference was convened, emphasizes
the urgency of the need for allaying
industrial unrest, and makes plea
for further work on the part of the
conferees.
The morning session of the con-
ference lasted only few minutes.
and the afternoon meeting waa not
convened until o'clock. The entire
day was devoted to group meetigs in
an attempt to devise another, de-
claration on collective bargaining,
satisfactory to all elements. After
more than three days of almost con-
tinuous sessions, the employers were
unable to agree upon another state
ment and fell back upo the Wheeler
substitute.
Gompers' Reply.
When the original Russell Endicott
resolution came up, Samuel Com
pers, president of the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor, made an address in
which he declared the right to or
ganize for the purpose of collective
bargaining is the one question in
CONFERENCE.-THE one thing the
working people of the United States
are going to achieve"
A hush fell over the crowded audi
forum as the labor leader, squarely
facing the employers wing and
shaking his finger toward that group,
exclaimed to the representatives of
American capital:
"If you do not bear with US in an
=, effort toward construction, if you
think it impossible for US to procure
relief for the suffering masses Of
American labor, if you insist on con-
testing with us every inch of the
ground in our battle for better condi-
lions, if you deny US the rights Of
Organization, if you render our work
finally impotent, you may destroy us
: but you will find yourselves facing
something else, something worse, and
you may come to rue the day tina!
iyou destroyed the saneness and the
e willingness to serve that has and
: does characterize the officials Of
American trade unionism today"
: Mr.. Gompers again sounded {
mote of warning when he told the
members of the conference that h
d feared they did not appreciate thu
;: I"critical situation in which we fine
Yourselves today" The people o.
the United States, he asserted, art
Sitting on lid, industrially." Turn
ing toward the employers, he added
K whether you like it or not, trad
= unionism has come to the Unitet
' States to stay
q Union laundry workers in Sal