The Washington herald., 1920-03-25

Of the board Of Investigation, pro-
vided he is prepared to submit his
case to orderly and simple pro-
cesses Of adjustment. Thus his op-
ponent will be put at more than
usual disadvantage in the investi-
cation. II both sides should agree
to submit normal processes of set
tlement, the board of investiga-
ton becomes at once the stage of a
collective bargain and the investi-
cation ceases"
Strikes and Lockouts Not Banned.
The plan, said Mr.. Hoover, con-
tains no essence of opposition to
organized labor or organized en-
ployers 1t involves no dispute of
the right to strike or lockout, the
closed or open shop. 1t simply pro-
poses a sequence of steps that
should lead to collective bargaining
without imposing compulsions,
courts, injunctions, fines or Jail.
Mr.. Hoover said the trade unions
of the United States have conferred
such essential services upon their
membership and upon the commu-
nifty that their real values are not
to be overlooked or destroyed. They
tion of sweat shops, he continued,
dustry, of reduction of overstrain,
employment under more helpful con-
ditions and many other reforms.
These gains" said Mr.. Hoover,
have been made through hard
fought collective bargains and part
of the difficulties of the labor situ-
alton today is the bitterness with
which these gains were accom-
plished.
I'm my own experience in indus
try l always have found that a
frank and friendly acceptance of
the unions agreements. while still
maintaining the open shop, had led
to constructive relationship and
mutual interest"
After briefly tracing the history
of trade unionism, Mr.. Hoover con-
tinued:
Tells shop Council Benefits.
I'VE find, during the past few
years, many of the unions embrac-
ing the further principle of actual
cooperation with the employer to
increase production.
Il believe the development of this
usefulness and growth of trade
unionism of greater promise
than any hitherto tried. am
aware of the current criticism In
some union quarters over the de-
velopment of the shop council idea
for this purpose, and there are per-
haps isolated cases that give merit
to this opposition.
The strongest argument of union
labor against the shop council sys-
tern should lie in the fact that ma
tion-wide organization of labor Is
essential in order to cope with the
unfair employer, but / believe that
IL they embrace encouragement to
shop council organization they open
for themselves not only this preven-
tion of unfairness. but the whole
new field of constructive co-opera-
ton and the further reduction of in
dustrial conflict.
Mr.. Hover then discussed the
Kansas and Australian industrial
laws, after setting forth that at
tempts by governments to stop in
dustrial conflicts were by no means
new.
There is one feature of the new
Kansas act" he said. that should
be given a great deal of consider
alton, and that is its essential pro-
vision that in the determination of
wage disputes IL shall be based on
a fair profit to the employer. This
must ultimately lead to a determi-
nation as to what a fair profit con-
sists of. just as minimum wage
will need be found for every craft
and every establishment. 1 do not
assume that any employer will con-
tend for an unfair profit, but the
termination of what may be a fair
or unfair in respect to the hazards
involved in the initiation of a bus
mess. in its conduct over a long
term OF years, it's necessary pro-