The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1921-12-08


try and of highway construction to en-
courage the spread of our population
! and restore the proper balance between
city and country. The problem may
wei nave your earnest attention.
America Moves Toward Justice.
1t has been perhaps the proudest
claim OF our American civilization that
IN dealing with human relationships it
has constantly moved towards such
justice in distributing the product of
human energy that has improved con-
tinuously the economic state of the
mass Of the people. Ours has been
highly productive social organization.
On the way up from the elemental
stages of society we have eliminated
slavery and serfdom and are now far
on the way to the elimination of pow
.erty.
Through the eradication of litter
acy and the introduction of education,
mankind has reached stage where we
may fairly say that in the United
States equality of opportunity has
been attained, though all are not pre-
pared to embrace it.
Very Poor and Very Rich Together
There is indeed a too great diverg-
ence between the economic conditions
| of the most and the least favored
classes in the community. But even
that divergence has now come to
point where we bracket the very poor
and the very rich together as the least
| fortunate classes. Our efforts may
well be directed to improving the sta
tus of both.
While this set of problems are COM
monty comprehended under the gen
! eral phrase Capital and labor" it is
really vastly broader. 1t is ques-
ton of social and economic organize
| ton. Labor has become large con-
tributor through its savings, to the
stock of capital while the people who
own the largest individual aggregates
of capital are themselves often hard
and earnest laborers. Very often it
is extremely difficult to draw the line
Of demarcation between the two groups
to determine whether a particular
| Individual is entitled to be set down
as a laborer or as a capitalist. In a
very large proportion of cases he is
/ both and when he is both he is the
most useful citizen.
Labor's Right Fundamental.
The right Of labor to organize is
/ just as fundamental and necessary as
the right of capital to organize. The
right of labor to negotiate to deal
with and solve its particular problems,
in an organized way through its chos-
en- agents is just as essential as is the
right of capital to organize, to main
/ tain corporations, to limit the liabili-
ties of stockholders. Indeed, we have
come to recognize that the limited
liability of the citizen as member of
labor organization closely parallels
the limitation of liability of the citi-
zen as a stakeholder in a corporation
for profit Along this line of reasoning
we shall make the greatest progress
toward the solution of our problem of
capital and labor.
| Must Protect the Public.
In the case of the corporation which
enjoys the privilege Of limited liabil-
| ity of stockholders, particularly when
engaged in the public service, it is
recognized that the outside public has
large concern which must be pro-
tected; and so we provide regulations,
and in come cases detailed supervision.
Likewise in the case of labor organic
ations we might we'll apply similar and
equally well defined principles Of reg
ulation in order to conserve the public's
interests as affected by their opera
tions.
i HI 4haf q
corporation shall be allowed to i'm
pose undue exactions on the public
so it is not desirable that labor or
ganization shall be permitted to ex-
act unfair terms of employment or
subject the public to actual distress in
order to enforce its terms. Finally
just as we are earnestly seeking for
procedures whereby to adjust and set
| tie political difference between ma
lions without resort to war, so we may
we'll look about for means to settle
the differences between organized cap
ital and organized labor without re-
sort to those forms of warfare which
we recognize under the name of strikes
lockouts, boycotts and the like.
Pleads for Arbitration.
AS we have great bodies OF law care
fully regulating the organization and
operation of industrial and financial
| corporations; as we have treaties and
compacts among nations which look
out the necessity of conflice in arms so
the necessity of conflict in arms so
we might as we'll have plans of confer
ences, of common counsel, arbitration
and judicial determination in contro-
yersies between labor and capital. To
accomplish this would involve the ne
cessity to develop a thorough-going
code of practice in dealing with such
affairs 1t might be we'll to frankly
set forth the superior interest of the
community as a whole to either the
labor group or the capital group. With
rights, privileges, immunities and
modes of organization, thus carefully
defined it should be possible to set
up judicial or quasi judicial tribunals
for the consideration and determine
ton of all disputes which menace the
public welfare.
In an industrial society such as ours
the strike, the lockout and the boy
colt are as much out Of place and as
disastrous in their results as is war or
armed revolution in the domain of
politics. The same disposition to rea-
sonableness, to Cancellation, to recog-