Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-03-21
GOMPERS ATTACKS
INDUSTRIAL REPORT
Declares New Labor Adjustment
Machinery Not as Good as
Present Methods.
cRITIcIzEs WHOLE SCHEME
Declares Shop by Shop Organiza-
ton Would Tend to Separate
Forces of Labor.
IBy Associated Press

tBy Associated Pressl
WASHINGTON. March 2O-Recom-
Inendatlons oy President Wilson's con-
ference for ihe settlement Of Industrial
unrest were attacked today by Sam
uel Gompers. president of the Ameri-
can Federation OF Labor
,a,ement. said the machinery for ad1
justing disputes between employees
and employers. which has for years
| organized industry in the United
states. is superior to the mach merry
now suggested by. the Industrial con-
in point Of effectiveness"
The conference" said Mr.. Gompers,
be made effective by law. composed Of
a national Industrial board and local
and regional conferences and boards
this respect may be summed up as fola
lows:
Tried and tested machinery for con-
ployers and employees exists wherever
employees are organized.
This machinery functions perfectly
wherever employers forsake the spirit
OF dominance and the attitude OF au-
tocracy.
New Machinery Not So Good.
Through the use of this machinery
Industrial peace with no stoppage Of
work OF any kind for periods ranging
from ten to forty years. No machin-
agencies or supervised by the govern
Inent or any OF its agencies, could
ac cf,,s results g. superior to the results
been In operation in our industrial
I'm industries where the employees
are not organized, no machinery OF
any kind. whether supervised by gov
srrlnsptal aEoneies or otherwise. can
ton OF the workers is the fact upon
which must be predicatcd the exist
enGe OF y, any MN, machinery for the settle.
he principles OF democracy in indus
"surely no intelliEen. agency can
iadustry without organization OF the
WITH organization of workers. no
upon 1t from the outside. Organization
os,nGs with i machinery which IS both
adeGuate an6 practical. the result OF
tastes OF pure theory.
Declares II Merits Criticism
The report OF the industrial confer
ence merits criticism or a very serious
nature in connection with the emphasis
which 1t places on what it terms en-
ployee representation under which
generic term il groups those distinctly
!2cal shop organizations known as shop
committees, shop councils. works coun-
CHS and representative government in
industry: 1t Is to be. feared that the
commission views industry from the
its machinery on the theory that dis.
putes are to be settled shop by shop.
" such viewpoint is to be actually
carried into operation, it will be most
disastrous.
"Unavoidably organization with in
dependent shop units OF the employees
reason that II organizes them away
from each other and puts them in a
Pos s.Ist WI, where shop may be played
mot only the welfare of the workers
put the best economy for the nation
demands that industry n so far as pos
sible be viewed in a national light
and that the workers be united into
organizations covering whole industr rs
as Is now the case with the 100 ma
tional and international trade unions.
Must Not Separate Workers.
There can be no objection TO the
closest relations of cooperative ma
lure between employee and employer
in the shop. but these relations must
never take on such n form as TO sepa-
rate the workers in the shop from the
rest of their fellow workers in the
1T seems to be conviction of the
commission that these so-callcd shop
organizations rar are kind Of substitute
which prevails in the mind Of a mum
Der Of employers. and it is the idea
which they would Gve much to see
The report of the commiss, on points
out that a number of trade union lead
elS TcSafu shop representation as
subtle, weapon directed against the
union, but concludes that occasional
misuse of employee representation and
the consequent hesitancy of organized
labor to indorse it officially, are based
on mlsconcept!on of the possible and
desirable relations between the union
the case. The trade union movement, |
as whole. is opposed TO what are
known as shop committees and shop |
organizations because they arc fun |!
damentally wrong in principle and be- |
interests OF the workers, but readily
lend themselves to the designs OF en- |
ployers hostile to trade unionism and
are, in fact, almost, without exception,
creatures of employers"
Tho report OF the conference says
that the nation has right to ask that
employees Impose no arbitrary limi-
,heion of effort in the prosecution of
get that production in American in
dustry is greater per man and in the
aggregate than production in any
union movement Of America is per-
haps the only great and powerful la
DOT movement In the world which does
NOT sanction restriction Of output by
ton is as injurious to the moral fiber
or the individual workman as it is to
the larger economy OF industry
Understands Needs of Hour.
american labor understands. per-
maps more ruby than American states
hour and Il is eSerting evory EFFORT to
see that those needs arc met with in
teiiigence and with promptness.
Of It's Ultimate s ea psle%it'ea out
supply much of tho intelligence that
VIII guide to conduct OF industry
out of which will come that increased
Iesired. but whinb Has So S,eattay 20 %