The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-09-03
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
in Europe Follow the Great
World War;
DAWN OF THE NEW ORDER"
Relations Between Employer and En-
pioyee, Based on Sound Human
Ethics, Replacing Doctrine of
Gorce, Is the Only Hope.
Article XXXIII.
BY FRANK coMERFoRD.

The New Order Is coming. The
world must prepare for 1t. The peo-
pie demand 1t. Those who oppose any
change must surrender to the ma
jority. America should be the first
country to recognize the need of a
change" The building Of the New
Order should be done with the heads
and by the hands of all classes.
Collective bargaining and profit
sharing will be part of the New Or
der" If the business men of America
do not cooperate to bring about col
lective bargaining and profit sharing,
the people will resort to force.
Charles NJ. Schwab, chairman of the
board of directors Of the Bethlehem
| Steel corporation, is a captain Of in
| dustry with vision. He Is a forward
looking American. He believes that
the basis of big business must be
gounded on sound human ethics. The
other day he hit the nail on the head
when he said:
What the working men want is
recognition, appreciation and fellow
ship. 1t is the duty of every business
man in the United States to see to it
that the largest possible opportunity
for employment is given the greatest
number of men.
Through personal relationships
and the tone of the business estab-
lished on these principles, the rank
and file Of men will come to know the
spirit of the management and there
will be no question of the loyalty of
the men to the management.
"The kind of collective bargaining
that believe in is the one that recog-
nizes the right of the men themselves
to choose their own fellow wOrkmen
as representatives to speak with the
company and which believes in the
obligation of the companw to treat
these representatives individually and
collectively with the confidence and
respect to which they are justly en-
titled"
The working men must not be made
the slaves of business. they must be
made part of it. Political freedom,
liberty under the law, are robbed of
their meaning if men are enslaved by
their work. 1t is not enough to make
q man free before the law, he must
be safe and free in his work. There
is a difference between political free
dom and industrial freedom. Men are
entitled to both forms of freedom.
One thought is uppermost and almost
universal in the minds of the work
ing men of the world, and that is that
they have not had a square deal.
agree with them. The evidence sup
porting their thought is overwhelm-
ing. Men who give their lives to work
have a positive right to a voice in the
management of the business. This
right must be recognized. Working
men know that until they are given
a voice their interests will be without
a spokesman and as q consequence
will be neglected. 1t isn't q question
only of wages or hours of employ
ment: the matter goes deeper. Men
, want the pleasure and satisfaction OF
, being part of the business. They have
been only part of the business in the
sense that they sweat for it and give
their lives to it.
, Partnership Is the Solution.
2 Labor and Capital should be part,
= nership. The two are like the blades
of a scissors; separate and apart they
, are meaningless and valueless. Joined
! together, functioning harmonionsly
5 they are useful and necessary to the
5 world. This partnership idea must be
| put into practice. The product of the
2 partnership must be more fairly di
= vided. There is no gainsaying the
;, fact that distribution has been en-
tirely In the hands of the employers
g and they have been selfish, and the
, workers have suffered. AS President
Y Masayrik put 1t to me one day: Here
: we have pile of gold and a few
people in possession of 1t, wasting Il
e to their own injury and to the detri
] ment of the world, while over here We
have the many living In wretchedness
t and fear" Everywhere In Europe
D found progressive public men and for
ward-looking men of big business ad
= hitting that the working man has no
had q square deal.
: There was day in the world wher
I usury was not considered q social OF
legal crime. Money-lenders insisted
T. they had a right to loan their money
at any rate of interest the borrower
e was willing to pay. They justified
taking advantage of the borrower:
necessity by arguing it was part of the
right of private contract. WheI
: some saner minds urged that the stat'
had an interest, that the public vel
fare was affected by the lender exact
ing the last pound of flesh, a grea
cry went up that the sacred right o
5 private contract was bSing invaded
9 that the liberty of mans relation witt
man was being violated. Yet tht
\ laws against usury came, and the!
y | have remained These laws insiS