Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-09-02
INDUSTRIAL KULTUR

| fINHE uncerem0niouS walkout of miners in
| L the anthracite field. new threats of a
serious railway strike, the unconcern with
| which street car men and dockworkcrs in
! New York lay down their tools in protest
against anything from the weather to the
| color of the bosses hair. and the compla :
cency with which some corporations appear
to view the prospect Of new tie ups are par
ticularly significant now.
Here are vivid proofs of the tragic collapse
of most of the great plans drawn up
undet government auspices for the peaceful
settlements of industrial disputes.
In the case of the striking coal miners
the causes which are tending to fresh eco
nomic confusion are clearly revealed. The
miners are in no mood for arbitration.
They coolly violated the pledges of their own
unions. Their case was submitted to an i'm
partial board for survey and a decision.
No one can deny that the he arings were fair
and decisions just. But the verdict of what
was in fact court of equity has been re-
jected by the men. What appeal is there be-
yond courts and reasonable tribunals?
There is no appeal, Of course, but the appeal
to force acd coercion. That way lies chaos.
TIE railway :sec, too. ere drifting to daa-
ge.oUs extremes c.d TIE blame caa2ot be
...G w.o.!y oc tie u:.o-s. Ne:r.e: tie ...e..
nor tie executives save bee. making aay
haste to establish the machinery ;or uades-
standings and arbitration outlined il the
plan suggested by the second Industrial con-
ference aud partly realized by the establish
ment Of the Railway Labor Board.
The Railway Labor Board might now be
likened to a superior court without local
sources Of information such as are ordinarily
provided by minor courts. Yet the second
industrial conference presented to the coun-
try what was perhaps the sanest and most
feasible scheme for industrial peace ever
drawn up and made what was in u general
way the most thorough survey of Industrial
questions ever attempted in the United
States. Instead of II general recognition Of
the sanity of the arbitration principle there
is now revealed to the country what appears
to be n stubborn desire among the unions
and corporations for complete industrial
supremacy and in the end industrial abso-
lutsm.
That Is something that the people will not
view without resentment. There can be no
doubt that the striking miners wish to force
the mines into the hands of the government.
They aim directly at naturalization. There
is palpable ground for General Atterbury's
assertion that the newer rail unions and a
good many of the older ones would do the
same thing with the railroads il they could
find way.
This knowledge among corporation man
ayers is doubtless responsible for the ener-
gctic effort to make the open shop general
in this country, since the power which big
labor organizations have to stop the opera
ton of essential industries, once they are
tightly organized, is greater than any one
exclusive class should possess In social
order like that of today.
The tendency to reject peaceful and ra-
tional methods of wage and labor adjust
ments is marked now that the emergency
Of war conditions is removed. 1t is a most
perlous tendency and no one can tell where
it may lead If it continues. The threat of
an anthracite strike on the threshold of
winter will sound ominous In the ears of
the country. That is how it was meant to
sound.
The government has been defed when its
suggestions made in the interests Of the
whole people have not been ignored or
fiouted. The time is coming when public
sentiment will compel Congress to go further
than 1t has yet gone and question the right
of any group deliberately to invite disastrous
CONFUSION in any industry upon which the
general welfare of the people depends.