The evening world., 1921-01-12
FIGHT OVER LABOR
MEMBER DELAYS
HARDING CABINET
Secretaryship Bone of Conten-
ton That Conferences Have
Not Settled.
BIZ DdDid Laurence.
Especial Correspondent Of The Eve.
ming Worldly

/
ming Worldly
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 Copy
right 1s2D--News of the fight be-
hind the scenes between capital and
labor over the type Of man who shall
be the next Secretary Of Labor is be-
ginning to trcltle out It explains to
some extent the upset in the Cabinet
slate which had been tentatively made
UP by President ELECT Harding.
Both sides are demanding the inn
possible. Some resentativeB OF
manufacturing interests want a man
who favors the open shop OF rather
one who will recognize the right to
close a shop to union workers. Labor,
on the other hand, wants a man who
is not fundamentally preJudiced
against unionism and who will not
be harmful to the unionizatiOn OF
plants and factories that are not Or
ganized by the unions.
Briefly, its the whole struggle be-
tween capital and labor over again
with this change: As prices are COM
ing down there are certain manufac-
turers who believe the time Is ripe to
strike a body blow at unions by re-
fuslng to employ union men or work
men yho insist that their fellow en-
| ployees shall be unionized. This ex-
tremist attitude is defended in some
cases because when prices were high
and the demand for labor was urgent,
the unions are alleged TO have in
sisted upon union rights and the
transformation Of non union plants
into union membership.
The fortunes OF Herbert Hoover
are to some extent bound up in the
controversy. Mr.. Hoover was prac-
tically selected by Mr.. Harding for
the Secretaryship of Labor because
liberal employers who wanted a fair
man rather than a partisan thought
the former Food Administrator atti-
tude toward the labor question was
sound and that he enjoyed the con-
fdence of both sides. The American
Federation of Labor itself recently
invited Mr.. Hoover to appear before
1t and give advice. 1t is suspected
that labor would accept the appoint
ment Of Mr.. Hoover with signs of re-
lief, not because he represents their
viewpoints, but because they have
fers that a neutral would not be APP
pointed and that the next four years
at least would be a constant battle
with an arch foe Of unionism in the
Department of Labor.
The trouble is that both sides are
emphasizing their rights when each
side should be announcing their con
cessions 50 a compromise may be
worked out. That's why Mr.. Harding
himself is eager to appoint a man
who shall have the imagination,
Initiative and force to work out a
real solution OF the differences be-
tween employer and employee.
The Presid ent-elects first industrial
conference failed because both sides
refused to compromise. The second
conference, differently constituted,
got somewhat further along but never
attempted to deal with fundamentals.
The open and closed shop question Is
stiu unsolved. The real fight that is
coming is not over reductions i'm
wages but the open shop issue.
Employers organizations here ad-
NIT that the struggle is on in earnest
and that the first step Is the appoint
ment of a Secretary of Labor. There
are two kinds of open shop, one that
Is open to union and non-union work
ers with the two classes on an equal
footing and in which the management
deals with the workers through local
committees without reference to their
nat. onal organizations.
The other kind Is the shop closed
to union workers altogether UnfoT-
tunatcly some employers leaders
mean the latter kind when they talk
about an open shop" What they
mean is one that is closed to union
men and open only to nOn-union men.
However the interesting underCur-
rent OF the ght is that labor is not
making at this time a concerted fight
against wage reductions but "a fight
TO retain rights already won, Now
that prices are falling and the cost
OF living is being slowly but grad
ually reduced, the worker who's
wagcs are not reduced is in actually
getting a progressive wage increase.
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