The Washington herald., 1920-05-25
by HERBERT HOOVER,

HerOeTI 7ooVeT HHdeT the title he
Paramount Business of E1ery Amer
tcdH Today" 1yiies in System, the
Magazine of Business, for July, M
part as foilolrs:
We are, unless we purpose to be
statisticians. in way wasting our
time II we think of the human re-
Jationships in industry only as
matters OF wages or hours or un-
Willingness to work as compared
with former willingness to work
In that view we are treating labor
as commodity and instead of
thinking of men we are thinking
OF the purchase of human force,
Just as though 1t were SO much
coal or wood for which sometimes
We may have to pay high price.
or again a lower price, but which
may always be bought in sufficient
quantity IL only the price that is
demanded be paid.
Now exactly what the worker is
In process of refusing to be is a
commodity" your average man Is
no longer content to be merely a
part of the labor supply" BY and
large the employees of the country
are looking for a position of right
instead OF a position of considera.
ton; that Is. they want their rights
instead of benevolence.
Our Largest National Problem.
Exactly what those rights are is
the question that We have to solve
not only from an economic, but a
largest national problem. for in de.
fanlf nf n haffnr x-nrE Ralafinn
shall have decreased instead of In
creased production and hence a
lowering standard of living, And
IL our standard of living goes down
1t will hardly be worth while to
consider our other national aspira
tiOns. for then we shall have failed
in our real basis of being a de-
raocracy.
The problem goes far beyond the
mere settling of disputes. have
seen growing out of the masses OF
people in every country aspirations
for a great economic change. That
change broadly will be that those
who work with their hands will OBJ
tain a larger proportion of this
worlds goods and those who work
with their brains will obtain less
Those who do not work will prob
ably obtain nothing. Hence II ap.
pears to me that any solution of
this problem must go deeper thar
questions of strikes, lockouts. or
arbitrations. We have got to go
sooner or later to the root of this
difficulty. We must begin by cre-
lating somehow and somewhere a
solidarity of interest in every sec
tion OF the people conducting our
industrial machine.
Must Consider Causes First.
Before thinking of remedies let
us consider causes. fully recogniz.
ing at once that there is no single
cause of social unrest and that to
argue from a single cause Is TO
confess to dense dogmatism. A
strong factor is the growth OF ma
chine production in which the own
ership of the tools of production
that is capital-has not only grown
moro important but has also be-
come more dependent upon labor
and both have became wholly de-
pendent upon the public. None are
self They form an in
divisible trinity-but each member
at some time or other thinks that
1t may go on alone Just as a mon
arch frequently imagines that he
can do what he likes with his peo-
pie. Capital has thought itself su-
preme; labor, now recognising that
capital without 1t is useless, is be-
ginning to think that capital itself
is useless and that labor Is SUI
preme. The public is demanding a
service of both at a price neither
can perform.
There are. many other more ap-
parent causes such as the rise in
the cost of living, unrestrained
speculation. spectacular instances
OF excessive profits. excessive ac-
cumulation and misuse of wealth.
inequality in readjustments OF
wage schedules, release of ideas
and emotions by the war. social
Evolutionary theories imported
from Europe. the belief that free
speech Is restricted. intermittent
employment. fear of unemployment.
excessive hours of work in certain
Industries, lack of adequate hous-
Ing. unnecessarily high infant NOR
tality in industrial centers, and the
loss of personal contact which has
taken place In large Industrial
units. Be-
-rhey VIII Not BE Cured In a Day"
These troubles have not arisen
In a day. They were only intensi-
ned. not created. by the war. They
VIII not be cured In a day. They
Will not be cured at all by law or
by legalistic process or repression,
or by any quick, sure remedy pat
ented. bottled and distributed by the
government. The difficulty with
all legal process of compulsory
nature which shows itself as a rule
in some form Of compulsory srbi-
tration is that thereby we substi-
tute government control for COM
petition. for II a court may control
WAGES L will in effect control in