Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-03-21
COMP PERS GRILLS
PROPOSED PLAN
Of CONFERENCE
To HAL 7 UNREST
for Adjusting Dis
puteSr Which Has Been in
Effect for Years, Better
Than That Now Suggested
ORGANIZATIONS OF
WORKERS REQUIRED
Theory That DiSagreementS
Can Be Settled Shop By
Shop Is UnSound, Says
President of A, F. of [.

TsV MORNING JogRHAI SPECIAL LEASED wIRsI
Washington, March 20 (by the
Associated Press. Recommends
tions by President wilson's confer
ence for settlement of industrial
unrest were attacked today by
Samuel Gompers, president of the
American Federation of Labor. In
a prepared statement he said the
machinery for adjusting disputes
between employees and employers
which has for years been in exist
ence in practically every organized
industry in the United States, is SUI
perior to the machinery now sug-
gested by the industrial conference
both in point of simplicity and in
point of effectiveness"
"The confernce," said Mr.. Com
pers, has devised a mass of machin-
cry to be made effective by law,
composed of national industrial
board and local and regional con-
ferences and boards of inquiry. The
whole situation in this respect may
be summed up as follows;
Tried and tested machinery for
Cancellation and arbitration be-
tween employers and employees ex-
lists wherever employees are organ
ized.
"This machinery functions per-
fectly wherever employers forsake
the spirit of dominance and the at
titude of autocracy.
Through use of this machinery
it has been found possible to main
tain industrial peace with no stop
page of work of any kind for
periods ranging from ten to forty
years. No machinery devised by
the government for its agencies or
supervised by the government or
any of its agencies, could achieve
results superior to the results
achieved by machinery which has
long been in operation in our in
dustrial life.
"In industries where the en-
ployes are not organized the ma
chinery of any kind, whether SUI
pervised by governmental agencies
or otherwise. can produce indus
trial justice, Organization of the
workers is the fact upon which
must be predicated the existence
of any machinery for the settle
ment of disputes or the extension
of the principles of democracy in
industry.
"Surely no intelligent agency
can hope to achieve progress in
American industry without organ
ization of the workers. With or
ganization of workers no structure
of machinery need be thrust upon
it from the outside. Organization
brings with it machinery which is
both adequate and practical, the
result of experience shorn of any
Of the fantasies of pure theory.
"The report of the industrial
conference merits criticism of a
very serious nature in connection
with the emphasis which it places
on what it terms 'employe repre-
sentation,' under which generic
term it groups those distinctly
local shop organizations known as
shop committees, shop councils,
works councils and representative
government III lliduSlIy. II - W
be feared that the commission
views industry from the viewpoint
of the single shop and builds its
machinery on the theory that dis
putes are to be settled shop by
shop. If such a viewpoint is to be
actually carried into operation 1t
will be most disastrous.
Unavoidable organization with
independent shop units of the en-
ployes is a menace to the workers
for the reason that it organizes
them away from each other and
puts them in a position where shop
may be played against shop. Not
only the welfare of the workers
but the best economy for the ma
tion demands that industry in so
far as possible. be viewed in a ma
tional light and that the workers be
united into organizations covering
whole industries as Is now the case
with the 120 national and interna-
tional trade unions"