The Connecticut labor news., 1921-09-09
SEC. DAVIS WARNS
 EMPLOYERS TO BE
 FAIR TO WORKERS
Don't Base Wages By Hungry M Your Gates, He Admon-
 ishes.

Detroit, Sept o.-Dedication of Labor Day, 1921, to the relief of the nations unemployed was proposed by Secretary of Labor Davis Monday in an address 10 the workers of Detroit.
 In the past Labor Day has been holiday in honor of the man who toi1s," declared Sec. Davis. This year 1t is day that millions of our people would rather celebrate, not by taking holiday, but by going back to work at a job. Labor Day this year daWned on a situa- ton that calls to every loyal American for the best thought, the mightiest effort and the strongest faith he can summon This year Labor Day must be dedicated first of all to meeting this imperative human need of the idle"
 The dedication of the day to the re- lief of the unemployed, estimated by the labor secretary to number nearly six million" should carry with 1t, he said, a concerted effort on the part of all Amer jeans be they employees or employers. As measures of partial relief the secretary proposed the undertaking of public works, the distribution of work in mills so that all may have jobs for at least part of the week. and the shaking off of fear and the taking on of faith and courage.
 Above all else we need to shake of fear and take on faith and courage" MT. Davis asserted. For the lack of that of large undertaking that would give a mighty shove to the great stalled engine of American production"
 The secretary in his address directe d message to the employers of the na - ,ion, declaring:
 Don't get your wages by the hungry crowd at the gate to your mill. That IS only a temporary wage. During the war the pendulum swung over to the side of the employees. Now 1t has swung back to your side. Play fair now and you will do more to stailize your business and bring good feeling than anything else you can do. Keep in mind the fact that ! those men who are swarming around your gates looking for work are tile same human beings as yourself. They have the same aspirations for their fanai- lies that you have for yours. Regulate matters now for the future and play tie part of farsighted wisdorl.' To labor the secretary held out tlie assurance that ''in spite of the occasion al hard boiled employer, no true Amer ican business man entertains a serlols thought of crushing the work1nen'S O. gdnizations."
 Let the open shop mean what it says open to all," he added. Any employer knows that crushing the unions can no be done in the first place, he knows tha 1 1t would not be safe III any case We want no Russia in this country, no horde: of disorganized, leaderIess men, reducee to such state of starvation that charity must go to their aid
 l Opposition to the principle of the lis ing wage also was expressed by Dr l Davis.
 q am against the living wage," ht said. Tt is not enough We need tc hear something of the saving wage. | is not enough for man merely to exist to meet the cost of living, whatever 1t is to pay the rent, and buy food and cloth ing for his family. A man like the 1 American workman needs, he earns, anc he demands something more than that He wants to save and he should and mu ' be able to do it."