The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1920-10-01
FEDERAL OFFICIAL COMllENDS
CALIFORNIA WAY OF ADJUSTING
IMPENDING INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES

( her man power, but in the production
of a product which had become indis-
pensable to modern life. Crude oil
and its products was to be the driving
power that would set and keep in
motion all the ponderous machinery
of war and this was pouring forth
| from California's soil. That flow must
not diminish nor cease for single
day. The fate of the world depended
upon Americas basic industries and
one of these was OIL.
Half a dozen great corporations and
many small ones were operating. The
workers were almost exclusively of
American parentage, Of high type
Of citizenship. Their hours had been
long and their wages low, not because
their employers were especially hard
hearted or Labor haters," but be-
cause the workers had been without
, organization and therefore voiceless
and the employers had not had
brought home to them the direct con-
nection between productive efficiency
and the labor conditions surrounding
the workers.
Wanted Same Conditions
The employers look with askance
at the effort at organization of their
employees. To them it meant moth
ing but an arrogant Labor dictation
of their business when Labor felt
itself sufficiently strong to make the
attempt. Without experience in deal
ing with Labor collectively, their
state Of mind was an understandable
and perfectly natural condition.
Shortly after the war began one of
the largest companies reduced the
hours from twelve to eight and estab-
lished four-dollar minimum wage
in the industry. It's motive in so
doing is not under discussion here,
but the natural thing happened. e.,
the workers in the rest of the in
dustry wanted the same conditions.
Through the medium of their small
organization the workers sought con-
ferences directly with the employers
to discuss their demands, but failed.
Had the workers ran true OF form
they would have struck, with all the
attendant suffering perhaps disaster,
that accompanies many strikes.
In this instance the workers called
upon the Government, the United
States Department of Labor, for aid.
The Presidents Mediation Commits
sion. headed by the Secretary Of
Labor, was then in the West, and it
heard the case of the workers. The
Commission sent one of its members
to Santa Barbara, where he asked the
operators and workers to meet him
and discuss the situation.
1t was quickly found that both of
these groups held first and foremost
the country's dire need. The workers
necessary as that of the men in
khaki. Had they not so realized, they
would have struck, for they were in
deadly earnest in their demands. The
operators realized that their product
must be kept at an uninterrupted
maximum. Had they not so realized
they would have refused to deal with
the workers collectively, directly or
indirectly, for bear is mind that they
honestly believed that organization of
the workers spelled nothing but dis
aster to them.
Agreement in Oil Industry
Out of that first conference came
the agreement which exists today in
the oil industry in California. That
agreement brought to the workers an
eight-hour day and an increased wage
but it brought more than that. HaG
it done nothing else ! should scarcely
have troubled to write this article.
1t is gratifying to note the better
ment that comes to the workers of
America through shorter hours and
more pay, but that is not the theme
of this article.
The Santa Barbara conference of
1917, with the succeeding conferences
of 1919 and 1920, demonstrated the
practicability and worth Of a new
method in industrial relationship. In
most other basic industries there have
I been strikes that unsettled business
conditions, threatened the fabric of
the nation. In the copper industry
of Montana, the nations bituminous
! coal mines, our lines of transpOrta-
ton, our shipbuilding industry, from
time to time strikes have arisen that
have portended wide disaster. They
have done more than that, they have
made it possible for alarmists to in
still in the public mind a fear of
trade unionism per Sc, vague fear
that Labor might some day become
so arrogant and powerful that it
would take the nation by the throat.
This method Of industrial relation
ship, which may aptly be termed the
california Method" in the light of
what it has done to stabilize labor
conditions within the industry, in
view of the tolerance it has substi-