Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-31
WHAT FOSTER STANDS FOR

WHAT FOSTER STANDS FoF
THE publication of William ". Eos
l. ter's book on The Great Stce
Strike and Its Lessons" at about the
same time as the report of the commits
sion of the Interchurch World Move
mcnt on the same subject is fortunate
because it places before the nation the
larger issues involved in the contro
! vCrSy
+ The intrrchurch report regarded the
strike merely as an effort of the stee
workers to secure a shorter working
day. better pay and the right to or
ganize. 1t called attention to the hard
conditions under which the men work.
and it urged President Wilson to ap-
point special commission to study the
conditions in the steel industry and
report on the best methods to improve
them.
The conditions need improving. A
| fair living wage is denied to many of
the workers. They are kept on duty
! for twelve hours u day and sometimes
for twenty four hours. Many of them
live in squalor such as should not be
permitted in American communities. 1t
is beside the case to say that the for
pgn born workers are getting better
pay than they could earn abroad or that
the soualor in which they live is like
that to which they were accustomed in
Europe.
We have boastcd that the wage
standard in America is higher than in
any other country and that living con-
ditiops here are better than anywhere
else. We cannot make good this boast
so long as it is possible to find such
conditions as are said to exist among
the iron and steel workers.
The intcrchurch commissions report
looked merely to the adoption of means
to improve the wages and hours of the
steel workers.
The steel strike, however. according
to Mr.. Foster. was called for far other
purposes. Hours and wages were incl
dental considerations. The immediate
end of the strike was to win the right
of the steel workers to organize unions
with III oth'l
tries. The ultimate end was the de-
struction of the wage system, which if
it lncans' anything means the transfer
Of the control Of industry to the hands
of the workers. 1t is economic rcvo-
luton.
The strike Is to be renewed. according
to Mr.. Foster. when plans have been
perfected to induce the coal miners and
the railroad workers to strike stimuli
taueouSly with the steel workers in
order to paralyze the steel Industry
until its managers will make the con-
CCSsions which the workers demand.
But better wages and a shorter work
ing day and the right to join the unions
will not satisfy. The plan is by a
uCrcSsion of strikes to gain such a large
share of the profits of the industry as
will leave nothing for capital and will
result in turning the steel mills over
TO the workers.
This is slndicalism pure and simple.
Mr.. Foster intimatcs that the move
mcnt has not progressed 30 rapidly as
its advOratcs have desired. because it
has not been admitted that tho labor
union movement is revolutionary He
SAYS the radicals as consequence have
abandoned it and have Joined the
]. W W. He pleads for tho return
of these radicals to the ranks of union
ism. where they can work to better
advantage and hasten the economic rev.
olution for which they are working.
He >ays that the trade union move
mCnt i travelling faster than any other
body toward the end they wish to
reach. The trade unions are suffer
ing from the secession of the militant
workers. when one considers that
the life of nearly every labor union de-
pCnds upon the activities of very small
fraction Of its membership" writes Mr..
Foster. III is clear that the constant
drain upon its best blood must have
seriously hindrred the advance Of the
trade union movement
Mr.. Foster himself has taken his own
advice. He was an avowCd syndicalist
Uhpn he wrote his book on "SyndiCal-
ism a few years ago He is now a
trade unionist because he thinks he can
bring about the abolition of the wage
system more quickly in this way.
Inc confession III MS Dook SupsIdn-
tiateS the charges made against him
when lie was managing the steel strike,
and it is a formal declaration that no
concessions which the owners of the
steel mills make to the workers. short
Of the complete surrender Of the plants,
will satisfy the labor unions, if Foster
is right.
1t is not likely that the interchurch
commission wishes to follow Mr.. Foster
thus far. nor have the rank and file of
the legitimate trade unionists indicated
any disposition to favor such an ex-
pertinent with extreme socialism.