Evening star., 1920-01-20
BY RAY sTANNARD BAKER.
ARTICLE VIII.

| BY RAY STANNARD BAKER.
! ARTICLE VIII.
! When l was in Chicago some days
ago a man with whom l was discussing
| the Industrial problem suddenly asked
What are YOU going to do about
me?"
What do you mean?"
"Wen, I'm the Innocent Bystander
I'm the man who gets the brickbat m
tended for one of the belligerents. I'm
the Public. Whatever happens / get
hurt"
l have dealt in former articles with
the attitude of various groups of en-
ployers and employees toward the
present industrial unrest. 1t is now
important to consider the point OF
view of the great third party" The
awakening of the public to the Sc
riousness of the present unrest, its
threat to American institutions, is, IN
some ways, the greatest news in the
whole situation.
We are in the midst Of sudden,
powerful. and, at present, crude re
assertion of public rights. 1t is as
though the American giant had sud
denly awakened-or just returned from
war overseas,-and finding disorder
all about, had acted with terrific force
and directness. 1t is the American
wayne may not at all approve 1t. but
there, it is,-to act first and inquire
about it afterward. i recall a saying
of the early days in the north woods.
when the lumbermen first went in: cut
the trees. ask about the lines after
ward" There is much of this spirit
still left in America.
Have POunced on Disturbers.
So we have pounced right and left
upon disturbers-with little inquiry
and less Observation-Disclosures one
handful of them back to Russia and
evidently propose to toss still others.
n L he Of n
or the fleet of ships required to take
them, A stupendous business! We-have
raided the offices and homes of both
wild and tame radicals, sometimes with
legal authority and sometimes without;
We have choked off radical orators;
turned out radical members of the
legislature and now propose the most
sweeping and drastic legislation in the
world for dealing with disturbers, One
bold stroke .at what seemed threat
to public rights and public order-the
police strike at Boston-has made a
a presidential candidate
1t is not the way they do it in Eng
land; nor yet in France: it is our way,
and must be so accepted and dealt
with.
1t is our way. and behind it. ruth
less as it is, and little as many of us
can approve the methods employed.
there is deep instinct that the self
ish forces of cliques, groups, inter-
ests, whether of labor or capital, in
American life have grown too strong,
and that there must" as one leader
expressed it, BE some kind of a new
deal"
The causes of the present disorder
and unrest reach far back and deep
down; the war merely accelerated de-
velopments already under way. At the
bottom lies the popular discomfort,
which has been growing for years,
with the economic arrangements of
society; feeling that they are unjust
and undemOcratic; feeling that while
there have been enormous develop
ments in machinery and business or
ganization, the social and political
structure has not kept pace with them.
This feeling is not peculiar to Amer
lea: it is world wide.
Some one has said that the greatest
invention of the wonderful century
was not the steam engine. or the
Dynamo. or wireless telegraphy but
that extraordinary and potent device,
unrestricted social organization.
Produced Wonderful Tool
Groups everywhere that felt op-
pressed. or wanted protection, or privi-
lege. organized to get it. Capitalists
organized, combined. trustified-and
succeeded beyond the dreams of ava
powerful: Prohibitionists organized
and dried up the country. Women or
ganized and got the vote. Voluntary
social organization has for the last
twenty-five years been humanity
magic wand. 1t would do anything!
1t has built up a wonderful technique
of it's own. 1t knows how to get
money, use propaganda, influence
elections. force Legislators. 1t is a
wonderful tool-used sometimes for
good purposes, sometimes for wholly
selfish purposes.
Consider more specifically labor or
ganization. l remember well the little,
dismal, smoky rooms over saloons that
used to represent the typical labor union
headquarters of twenty-five years ago.
L thought of the contrast the other day
when visited the fine hall--it cost sew
eral hundred thousand dollars-built by
the street car mems union of Chicago.
once the movement demonstrated its
success in improving the conditions of
life for working men-and it was the
only way they had-it spread like wild
hre- / was amazed the other day to
look at the lists Of unions affiliated with
one of the principal city central bodies
school teachers, actors, newspaper
writers. architects. nurses They are
all coming in. Public employees are COM
ing IN policemen, postmen. The move
ment is even penetrating the rarified at
mosphere where authors and college pro-
lessons are supposed to dwell
Standardized Contracts,
1 received a communication the otbe,
DAY from the Authors League, of which
am a member. that read strangely
ike many trade union document
| only the pantsmakers and hodcarriers
nave mad longer experience and know
! better how to do it. We authors have
gone at the business in our labor union
Oh standardizlng contracts, making bet.
Ter terms with our employers-the pred.
atory and shamefully plutocratic pub.
!ishers-and working for more nav and
better living conditions.
AS result of six years of unrennit
ting effort" remarks this document. '.tbf
autiior enjoys a new standing and a
sreater security than at any other time
IN the history of the profession
You see what our union doesi w.,
/ better off than ever Shakespeare w,s
| or Dickens or Thackeray, or Ceryantes
or Goethe. We're securer we have .
new standing, and organization did it,
i've in college town. and al
ABOUT are college professors. The,
| complain bitterly of cold and hun'
! ger and long hours of work and low
pay; L hear that their living condi
tons rae being investigated not onl,
| by the government, but by at leas'
one foundation. The union is th,
| only remedy,
AS 1 say, this tendency TOWARD
! group organizations has gone n
great Lengths in our society. 1t ha.
been powerful centrifugal influence
dis1ntegrating our life into thou
sands of small, warning groups so
cieties, factions-each seeking If,
own advancement, it's own security
regardless of anything else. This ha,
| applied to both EMPLOYERS and en-