Evening star., 1920-03-21
ny sAMuEL GoMPERs.


President. American Federation OF
Labor.
1t is impossible to discover in what
particular the machinery devised by
the Presidents industrial conference
improves upon machinery ALREADY
available in the industrial field as
worked out through long experience
| by organized workers and employers.
The fact is that machinery which has
for years been in existence IN practi-
cally every organized industry in the
United States is superior to the ma
chinery now suggested by the indus
trial conference both in point or SIM
plicity and in point of effectiveness.
The report Of the commission con-
tains, in addition to the detailed plan
for dealing with industrial disputes. a
large amount of purely editorial COM
ment on the industrial situation. Some
of this is excellent, while some of 1t is
obviously a reflection of the philoso-
ply of uplift commonly found in a
rarefied atmosphere where real labor,
with it's difficulties and problems. does
not exist.
The conference has devised mass
of machinery to be made effective by
law, composed of national indus
trial board and local regional con-
ferences and boards of inquiry. The
whole situation in this respect may
be summed up as follows: Tried and
tested machinery for conciliation and
arbitration between employers and
employees exists wherever employees are
organized. This machinery func-
tions perfectly wherever employers
forsake the spirit of dominance and
the attitude of autocracy. Through
the use of this machinery it has been
found possible to maintain industrial
peace, with no stoppage OF work OF
H. fvNrr frn
ten to forty years. No machinery de-
vised by government or its agencies
or supervised by government or any
of it's agencies could achieve results
superior to the results achieved by
machinery which has long been in
operation in our industrial life. In
industries where the employees are
not organized no machinery of any
kind, whether supervised by govern
mental agencies or otherwise. can
produce Industrial justice. OrganiZa-
tion of the workers is the fact upon
| which must be predicated the exist
ence of any machinery for the set
tlement of disputes or the extension
of the principles of democracy in in
dustry.
Surely no intelligent agency can
hope to achieve progress In American
industry without ORGANIZATION Oh the
workers. With organization of
workers, no structure Of machinery
need be thrust upon industry from.
the outside Organization brings
with it machinery which is both ade-
ouate and practical, the result of ex-
perience shorn of any OF the IAN
tastes of pure theory.
Critticises Single Shop Viewpoint.
The report of the industrial confer
ence merits criticism of a very serious
nature in connection with the en-
phasis which it places on what 1t
terms "employe representation" un-
| der which generic term 1t groups
those distinctly local shop organiza-
tions known as shop committees, shop
councils, works councils and repre-
sentative government in industry. 1t
| is to be feared that the commission
views industry from the viewpoint or
the single shop and builds It's ma
| chinery on the theory that disputes
are to be settled shop by shop If
H1ch viewpoint is to be actually
carried into operation it will be most
disastrous Unavoidably organization
of Independent shop units of employees
| is q menace to the workers. for the
reason that 1t 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 nation demands that industry
| in so far as possible be viewed in a
|
he united into organizations covering
whole Industries. as is now the case
with the 120 national and interna-
| tional trade unions.
There can be no objection to the
closest relations Of cooperative ma
ture between employe and employer
in the shop, but these relations must
never take on such q form as to
separate the workers in that shop
from the rest of their fellow workers
in the industry. In this connection
the truth seems to be unconsciously
brought out in the following para
graph from the report of the confer
| ence itself:
"Employe representation organizes
the relations of employer and en-
ploye SO that they regularly come
ltog ether to deal with their common
Interests. It Is operating successful
Ily under union agreements in organ
lized shops. 1t is operating in non
union shops and It is operating in