The Arizona copper camp., 1920-03-27

not merely Of minor interests, but of
principle, regardless of the possibility
that the right may be entirely on one
side. Small wonder that the labor
unions have latterly held themselves
entirely free, where they felt strong
enough, to repudiate a contract so i'm
moral.
An Impartial Tribunal
But it is possible to have a better
settlement OF a labor dispute, and one
at least in our history stands out.
This was the decision of the commits
sion appointed by President Roose-
velt and headed by Judge Grey, to
settle the dispute between the oper-
ators and the anthracite miners in
1902. In those days capital in some
OF it's forms was in many ways al
most as arrogant as union labor is
now. The late President Baer of the
Reading railroad, in much criticised
speech, ascribed almost divine right
| to those employers to whom what he
described as Providence had entrust-
ed the production of hard coal. 1t is
needless to say that the commission
did not take his view, and it was in
no sense a split-ti1e-difference COM
mission, nor did it render a ''fifty-
fifty decision. It's decision was emf
nently fair, and it stood for years,
even while union labor activities had
taken on malevolent aspects in other
fields of mining activity.
Trusting Lay intelligence
| If nobody could settle a railroad
dispute but railroad man, our judges
might as we'll go out of business.
Their decisions have not only incom-
parably more fnality, Tut incompara-
bly, more respect than those of arbi-
tration courts or even permanent
boards like the Interstate Commerce
Commission. 1t is not only true, as
DR.. Eliot says, that the public is the
best judge. 1t is in the last analysis
the only judge. 1t would be needless
ly Pathological to call it the only i'm
partial Judge, for justice is impartial
ity personified-one of the few nouns
in our language which takes no quail
flying term
Where our modern teachers of soci-
ology have failed is in teaching soci-
ology to the very people it most af-
fects. There are plenty Of agitators
and demagogues in labor conventions,
in congress and the state legislatures,
even in the pulpit itself, to tell the
worker of his rights. There are few
of them, indeed, that have the cour-
age to tell him of his responsibilities.
An Unsound Solution
A New York evening newspaper, a
sincere supporter of unionized labor,
speaking of the telephone operators
in New York, says:
Good telephone service depends
partly on the morale of the operators,
and the morale of the operators de-
pends on the amount of work they
have to do, the strain they must en-
dure, and the treatment they receive
from their employers and from the
public"
How broad and impartial that
sounds! And how utterly and mis-
| chievously it evades the votal issue!
II it could he reduced to percentages,
| it might be said that the morale of
these workers is affected perhaps 40
per cent by the work, the strain of it.,
and the treatment received from the
employer and the user of the tele-
phone. Is there not the least another
so per cent of morale which must
| come from the seeds of honesty and
good faith planted in the soul of the
worker, and growing fruitfully out
ward into good work for good works
sake? What will the Globes 40 per
cent do for the Hello" girl in the
way of morale if her own right feel
ing is treated as negligible factor in
Sucn prOpOSlClOn!
Up to the Public
1t is squarely up to the public
Washington and Wall Street, Harvard
and Public School q, millionaire and
maidservant, all of us, working to-
gether under God. The problem is so
largely a spiritual one that it calls for
sermon to deal with, however feeble
the preacher. Here we have seen the
teaching of newspaper of honest pur-
pose and high ideals, and the predom-
inant spiritual factor is left out. 1t
is our teachers and preachers who
have this work to do. However they
may dogmatize about unrelenting eco
nomic law in it's stern operation, they
will find that nothing can be eco
nomically right which is morally
wrong.