Omaha daily bee., 1920-01-26
By RAY STANNARD BAKER.
Article TX,

\ ~ ANSA ~ ~eA~eA~S"
Article TX.
Since these articles began appear
ing, ! have received quite number
of letters making substantially this
inquiry:
''Well. what are we going to do
about it,"
The clear recognition of the pres
ent conditions of industrial unrest
and the real danger to America in
herent in them, is surely the best
foundation for making a new start
In the letters l refer to, and in
talks I have had recently, another
attitude of mind is plain to see: that
while the situation i, extremely diff
hcult it can and must be worked out.
One of the surprising things has
been the number of different plans,
schemes, experiments, panaceas,
contained in these letters. They
cLme from several parts of the
country and from various kinds of
people-practical men, reformers,
ministers. radicals. Some show great
labor; some represent long and
patient experimentation; some shoot
wholly wide of the mark; some re-
veal no knowledge whatever OF
real conditions. But their sifini-
fcance lies in the exhibition they
give of exuberant thought, Of sim
cere desire to meet the situation IN
some constructive way. They seem
to me an expression OF the conf
dent American spirit in the motto ]
have already quoted; 1T can be
done" .-....
We know that we are in trouble.
We have the desire and the will to
find a way out.
What we lack are clearness and
unity of purpose in seeking a rem
edy. .'...
Three Proposals for Solution.
Three main ways OF approach to
a solution" present themselves:
0( That of the extremists on
both sides; the shoot 'em down"
program on the part of the intoler-
ant employer, the "blow 'em up"
program on the part of the intoler.
ant worker. Either way lies perdi-
ton. ...a ...a..
(2) That of a great mass of en-
ployers and employes-and o! the
public as wcll--who see the prob
lem dimly Cor some part of IT, and
who want really to find a construc-
tive solution. but who think it can
be reached in some large general
way. They want a quick, whole
some remedy that won't hurt much,
or cost much. or take much time.
They do not yet understand now
deep-seated, of how long duration,
how chronic, the disease has be-
come. For example, it appears WV
idly to some employers that in the
recent great strikes most OF tn:
trouble was caused by foreigners,
BY "aliens" and "alien ideas" They
do not follow the extremists III de-
portation. but they do jump at what
seems to them a ready and whole
sale remedy: "Americanization.'
Americanizc these workers and you
cure the trouble!
On the part of the workers there
is a similar example of the desire
for a broad general remedy. They
believe that much of the trouble is
due to unjust laws, oppression by
judicial injunctions, outworn polit-
ical methods. and propose a new
political party which will overturn
the old system or parts of it and
construct a new one by law.
CD The third group is a much
smaller one as yet, but it is made
up of those employers and managers
and men who are beginning to see
the real depth and width and length
of the problem, and whose approach
is based upon the patient method OF
scientific inquiry guided by spirit
of genuine good will. They strive to
know all the facts and to get at a
real cure through steady day by day
practice and experimentation i'll
shops and factories. These are the
men actually on the ground; not dis
tant fnanciers, nor distant labor
leaders, nor distant theorists. These
are the men who must get at
modus vivendi or be ruined. The
work that some of these goodwill
employers and managers are doing
is as fine and high as anything to be
found in this world today.
Campaign for Americanization.
Now, in this article and the next,
in order to get at least two of the
more general remedies out OF the
way first, l will take up the subject
of the present campaign for Ameri-
canization as suggested by the en-
ployers' end of the controversy; and
political action as suggested by the
workers. Both are valuable move
ments: our foreigners do need
"Americanization" and need it badly: