Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-04-11
THE STORY THE WEEK. HAS TOLD

ing district. which spread during the week
from coast to coast until it affected twen ayo
men out Of work. Labor. in the anected ais,
tricts at least, is today apparently dividea
the estraordinary spectacle Of the established
brotherhoods volunteering their services 70 &C.
az aga a,n recent months the
leaders Of organized labor have iouno tne
task of holding in leash those w .n they
could accomplish. There is cause for optimism
in the fact that they as well as the e res. OF
menace of lightly considered walkouts-un-
dertaken in the heat Of temporary passion passion
Sled " by the he brotherhood chiefs
In Kansas and Illinois a limited number or
coal miners. dissatisfied with the advance
hituminous coal operators and miners In new
York on March 81 are t strn aHaut c rs
lied as voluntary" will be short-lived and
of no great national importance
A general strike Of the 100000 union work
ers Of the country is being agftated In New
York as an outgrowth Of the walkout OF har-
Dor workmen there. The news item has but
slight Significance when regarded from the
viewpoint of the probability Of any such strike
ever being called. But from another point OF
view there is AT certain ,saad The advocates
for the general strike allege "a conspiracy on
the part Of I to do tine
subject from dspassionate point Of view.
will wonder whether union labor would view
with eouanimity lockout by employers Daseo
upon the allegation that labor was itself
conspiring to do away with the s sight- hour
harbor worker, together with practically
every union man in the country. is today pleas
Snty sa% Is eye OF done away with viii be
at the hands Of labor, and that q smaller ana
not a larger digit will be substituted
gun in the Senate during the course Of the
week when Senator Wadsworth called up the
army reorganization bill as framed by the
Senate military affairs committee. has been
abandoned. Those extraordinary phases OF the
struggle which were called to the attention
in the House when the plan was there rejected.
have been again manifested. Republicans, hight
n eng or administpation. went down to defeat
before massed democratic opposition.
With defeat conceded. the advocates OF uni
voluntary training for all those between the
ages Of eighteen and twenty-ei eight This plan
was upon Friday voted into the bill. 46 to g.
Final action will be taken upon Monday Under
the revised proposition no obligation to enlist
upon the acceptance of the privilege. Of four
months of military training contemplated.
military training policy. which many believe
to have been purely a matter Of temporary
political expediency, was thus disposed Of
in so far as it was based upon claims that by
it the practice Of the country with regard to
imposing liability for military training was
reversed. Until the plan is put into effect
and It becomes clear how many Will avail
the claim of excessive extravaganza Is ap.
parently merely laid upon the table And
until the system shall have been tested out
for q number OF years there can be. in the
opinion OF high authorities. no reduction in
the strength Of the peace-time standing Army
as contemplated under the universal training
plan.
Jim and Jane. who learned through the re-
cent draft law the essence of impartial and
democratic liability for war service. will be in
some doubt to just why the burden OF
peace-time training-so long as 1t must be
practiced-should not be distributed with sim
far fairness to all. The success Of the plan
as adopted remains to be seen. Yet the youth
of the nation will grasp the fact that, since
in war the liability for service will fall upon
the prepared and the unprepared impartially
it would be wise to be numbered in the former
classification. And so success may attend 1t
after all.