Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1920-01-07
BY RAY STANDARD BAKER.
Article Nv.

In two former articles / cndeavor-
ed to exhibit the present industrial
situation in America as it looks, first
from above to the man who pays the
wages, and, second. from below, to
the men who receive them.
We may now inquire into the
causes of this unrest, again using
the type-city of Gary, Ind, As the
explanatory illustration. ...
We are fortunate in having the
issue made very clear for us, in this
case, by the leaders upon both sides
of the controversy.
Judge Gary tells Us with eonvic-
ton that the great majority of his
workers were contented, that they
wanted no strike and no union, but
that they were melted and intimi-
dated by Outside agitators" and
"revolutionaries." He says that alien
elements with radical beliefs were
largely instrumental in causing the
trouble.
"You think" asks Senator Kenyon,
at the investigation, that this for
eign element is precipitating the
strike, do you not?"
i do" responded Judge Gary.
Mr.. Gompers, upon his part, Is
equally clear. Esc tails us that the
workers were not contented, that
they were compelled to work I'M
necessarily long hours, that they
were not allowed to organize or to
have any voice in the determination
of conditions under which they live;
that the workers were not intimi-
dated by Outside agitators" or
"revolutionaries," but suppressed by
the employers.
Outsider Inside9
Here, then, is the very heart of
the controversy. Judge Gary thinks
that the trouble comes from out
side his steel plants and steel towns;
Mr.. Gompers thinks the trouble is
inside of them. Judge Gary thinks
the trouble is imported into Gary
from Washington, where the Amer
lean Federation of Labor has its
headquarters. or from Russia. Mr..
Gompers thinks the trouble is in
Gary itself.
The remedies suggested follow
hard upon its convictions of each
group. Judge Gary-and to large
extent the entire employer class in
America-believe that if somehow
these Outside agitators," "revolu-
tionaries," "alien disturbers," could
be squelched all the trouble would
speedily disappear. So we see just
now in America number of extra
ordinary applications of this cure.
Judge Gary himself, quite logically
from his point of view, refuses to
confer with Outside agitators
Fitzpatrick, Mr.. Foster and others.
In Pennsylvania the constabulary
!, put them in jail: refuse to let them
l4hold meetings. Upon the belief that
ssthe ideas that are disturbing indus
J try come in from the outside--from
Russia especially-they raid private
homes and halls at Gary and. ac-
5, cording to lieutenant of the intelli-
gence department of the United
States army, take away some tons of
radical literature. And now they are
proceeding to still more drastic
measures. At the senate investiga-
ton Senator Smith of Georgia asked
the lieutenant of intelligence who in
vestigated the "reds" of Gary this
question:
Ship Them Out.
Senator Smith: If we shipped all
the alien agitators and organizers
out of the country
1t. Van Buren, (nterposing):
There would be no more trouble al
all.
We are beginning literally to prac-
tice this policy, which seems so easy
a solution to Senator Smith and 1t
Van Buren,. Already the American
ship Buford, guarded aboard by
soldiers and accompanied at sea by
naval escort, is taking some zO0
Of these alien agitators away from
America. with the purpose of return
ing them to the lands from which
they got their ideas.
This policy of meeting the unrest
finds a cruder echo-and yet . IA
miliar one. I have heard it often
recently among ordinary comfort
able peopie: "If a few of these
agitators and reds were taken out
and shot we'd soon get rid of the
trouble"
Now the logic of these remedies
is indisputably sound. If the unrest
is caused by outside agitators and
by alien revolutionarles,. as Judge
Gary asserts, then if you remove the
agitators, seize and destroy the
literature containing the ideas and
prevent meetings in which they are
aired, you stop the unrest. This is,
perfectly clear.
Views of Workers Leaders.
So much for the employers view
of the cause of the unrest and the
remedy for it. The leaders of the
workers, as I said, hold the con-
trary view, that the trouble is in
side of industry, not imported from
without; and they proceed with in
tense conviction to act upon their
belief. They try to show that con-
ditions among working people in
America are dehumanizing, that in
Justice prevails, that men have be-
come, as their recent bill of rights"
declares, "cogs in an industrial sys-
tenn dominated by machinery owned
and operated for profit alone" They
are so eager to prove their conten-
ton that they welcome every kind of
investigation. Judge Gary pro-
foundly distrusts public inquiries be-
cause. as he told the senate commit
tee, they give opportunity to GER
tain men to air their views and get
before the public certain propaganda
that is vicious and calculated to do
aarm."
But the workers eagerly desire
these inquiries, and in the case of
the present steel strike have done