Evening star., 1921-09-19
Editorial Digest
Doing Labor a Good Turn.

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With the "recklessness Of the per-
feet umpire" as the Columbia Is. C.)
State (democratic) puts 1t, Judge
Lands has handed down an arbitra-
tion award to the building industry
in Chicago which the Boston Herald
Independent republican, says reads
like an emancipation proclamation"
These quotations indicate the general
tenor Of editorial comment on the
ruling which makes a substantial re-
duction in wages in the building
trades and a revision Of restrictive
agreements which the arbitrator held
were strangling the industry. It Is
this latter phase of the award which.
in the opinion of the press. is of
vastly more Importance than the wage
cuts not only in ite relation to
BUILDING 1%d rsyiyal s but as reflection as
presses it. of the public attitude
toward labor's reach for the scepter
of industrial tyranny"
Judge Lands has steered wide of
the mistake so often made by arbi-
traitors of trying to throw carefully
the conflict" the Spokane Spokes-
man Review Independent republican,
finds; instead, "he has found the eco
nomic facts and squared his decision
with them." and has based his find-
ings. the Port Huron (Mich.) Times
what was best for the contractors and
their employees. but upon what was
best for all the people,"
While the Rock Island (Ill.) Argus
(democratic) thinks "it will strike the
average person as rather inconsistent
for the worker to be expected to
accept reduced pay in the face of the
prevailing high cost Of living" yet,
the Peoria Transcript independently
believes. "the building trades must
make some concessions or continue in
fdleness." and while the reductions
present "a rather formidable appear
ance when viewed in percentages' the
the wages. when expressed in dollars.
still worth working for"
But, important as the wage reduc-
tions may be in lowering building
costs. the papers generally feel with
the Baltimore Sun dndependent dem.
Of the award lie in the "abrogation
of restrictive agreements" Under
these agreements. the Chicago News
independently explains. Chicago for
years was sort of walled city, de-
outside world and denied the ad-
vantages Of healthy competition in
the production of building materials"
Now, declares its colleague, the Post
independently, "the Chinese wall of
mutually built corruption. which
gave contractor and unionist special
graft at the expense of the COM
munity's normal growth, has been
thrown down."
Another feature of the decision.
which is regarded by writer's to be Of
far-reaching Importance and effect, is
its denunciation of restriction of out
put and the make work. policy Of
the unions. The economic calamity
which befell this country after the
war" is charged by the New York
Herald independently largely to the
and 1t finds Judge Landis' decision
that ''able-bodied. competent work.
ers who insist on restricting their
output below their easy capacity to
produce more must expect to have
their daily pay correspondingly re-
It is sound in economies" AS the
Colorado Springs Telegraph (republi-
CAM sees it. it is IAN emphatic re-
pudiation of that pernicious and inde-
fensib1e tenet held by many unions
that the activities Of the drone shall
and Industrious" policy by which
workers. the Parkersburg (W. Va.)
News (republican) declares, ARE
bringing about their own ruin with
a sureness which is as sure as DEATH"
The indictment of union practices
which the Judge returns should have
a far-reaching effect in labor circles"
the Canton (Ohio) News (democratic)
thinks. and since he sis accepted by
the rank and file" of the workers as
"one of themselves. sympathetic to
the underdog. leaning over often to
do a favor to labor and swat its op-
pressor." the Rocky Mountain News
(Denver. independently feels that when
they have duly digested the signif-
canoe Of the decision they will real
ize that "he did labor very good
turn"