The Washington herald., 1921-12-07
DECLARES HARDING
PLAN IS MEMENTO
OF MIDDLE AGES
Says Industrial Court
SavOrs of Ancient
Slavery.

PRESIDENT Harding s suggestion or
judicial determination in con-
troversies between capital ana
labor" as contained in his message
to Congress. "is nothing less than
a reversion back to the conditions
maintaining more than 400 years
ago" according to Sampel GOmpers.
president of the American Fedora
tion of Labor.
The purport of the Presidents
suggestion is a proposed court of In
dustrial relations such as has been
established in Kansas. This, said
Gompers. is reminiscent of the cOurr
Of quarter sessions, which deter
mined the wages OF workers and
prohibited them from asking for
more, or employers from paying
more, than the courts decision and
to condemn men to compulsory
servitude and slavery II they re-
sented in any way the decisions of
those courts.
Surely the President should have
had these facts in mind when he
said ii is not desirable that the
workers shall be permitted to exact
unfair terms Of employment" said
the labor leader. The President,
'''NS oANCetNhNi AoD Ldl1S
in his understanding of the relations
between workers and employers.
Points tn Kansas strikes.
The exactTons of corporations
are for private profit: the demand Of
the workers for higher wages and
better conditions is an aspiration
for better things, for a better day.
and who is he who would attempt
f. - 10
mass of the people? Higher aspira-
tiOn of the masses makes for human
progress, industrialIy. economically,
politically and socially. and be it
remembered that labor organlza-
tions' do not demand or exact anv
conditions Of employment for them
selves. but for the workers who are
In and those who are outside the
| pale of labor organizations
1t is quite evident that the Presr-
dent has in mind the establishment
| or court or courts to determine
the conditions and wages Of the
working people. and evidently with
the aim that these courts can ami
VIII prevent strikes and Iockouts.
In the State of Kansas, where
such court has been in existence
for the past two years, there are
today more strikes and a larger
number of men on strike than at
any time in the history of Kansas.
Calls Analogy "Far-fetched.
The analogy which the President
makes as between the international
arairs and industrial disputes is
far-fetched and unwarranted by
tacts. Is it not true that the Presi-
dc mt and the Senate have stood un-
alterably against the covenant Of
the league of nations, and for what
reason? Because he and those who
nave Joined him in his view regard
the covenant as legalistic machine
to enforce and compel obedience of
any recalcitrant nation.
strikes are the expression of
discomfort on the part of the work
ers with existing conditions of en-
ployment as they obtain, and the
Withholding of labor and labor
power for while until new terms
OF employment may be reached and
agreed upon. The workers have
nothing but their power to labor.
Charges MisunderstandinE.
No one, no group of our people
endeavors to avoid strikes quite so
nucn as 90 the much misunderstood,
misrepresented labor organizations,
the voluntary association of the
workers for their common protec-
ton. for the promotion of their rights
and their interests, for the welfare
of the whole people and our re-
public. The Inconvenience THAI
sometimes occur in the Industrial
lie OF our country through cessa-
tonS OF labor are comparable to the
labor pains of our physical life.
They may be minimized by a higher
intellectually. by a common con-
cept of reciprocal rights and self
control. Neither race suicide nor
the beginning of Industrial slavery
can be advocated by any one who
has keen realizatio of the growth
and the progress of the human race
and civili; alton"