Evening star., 1921-09-14
The Real Halady.

No more accurate diagnosis as to
the wherefor of existing Industrial de-
preston in the United States has ever
been pronounced than that Indirectly
laid down in Judge Landis' decision
In the recent building arbitration in
Chicago. No more helpful prescrip-
tion for the cure Of that depression
has been volunteered than that sug-
sested in his rulings in the particular
case before him. Judge Landis cut to
the core of the ulcer which threatens
the business prosperity Of the nation
of capital and labor alike. Conflicts
over wages and hours of labor he treat.
ed as surface manifestations of q
chronic ailment. He dealt with them
incidentally, for all that he dealt deftly,
He was seeking the seed from which
they sprang, the internal poison of
which they gave external evidence.
He cut deep, discovered that which he
knew was there and removed it, rejoic-
ing that his patient might now re-
cover.
The real malady." said Judge
lands. in handing down his decision,
''lurked in conditions |artifcially Great.
ed to give the partiesla monopoly, and
in rules designed to produce waste for
the mere sake Of waste, all combining
to bring about an insuferable situa-
tion.''
What Judge Landis, the operating
surgeon, found in the way of monopo-
listic proclivities on the part Of the
Chicago employers is generally recog.
nized as an economic evil today and,
being so recognized, is not a general
condition throughout the country. But
what he found in the way Of union
rules designed "to produce waste for
the mere sake of waste" is not gen.
orally recognized in it's true light, and
as a result has its being throughout
the length and breadth Of the land.
Yet If there is to be an end to indus
trial conflict. if economic principles
rather than fallacies borne OF avarice
and laziness are to prevail. it is high
time for true understanding, that the
principle established by the Chicago
Judge in his treatment of "make.work'
regulations in the builders unions Of
that city may be emulated throughout
the country.
'rMake-work" regulations, promulgat
ed by the unions, are insisted upon by
organized labor today as essential to
the welfare Of the worker. Taking
countless forms, the most prominent
OF which is insistanee upon the right
to dictate an invariable number of
employees as requisite for frequently
varying function, these regulations,
serving as they do no economic end,
have been overlong endured. They are
admitted by the unions to exist solely
p. for the purpose Of creating pay for
their members-pay for work" which
produces nothing.
Each "make-work" regulation is an
economic crime. Each costs the ulti.
mate consumer tens of thousands of
dofIars each year. Each inculcates in
the mind of the one by whom 1t is
practiced the vicious theory that the
world owes him something for nothing
dollars for unproductive gestures.
Each stands as barrier in the path
to an equitable solution Of the mutual
problems of capital and labor.
Judge Landis, with uncompromising
vigor, has cut them from the indus.
trial scheme Of the building trades OF
Chicago. The trade in question will
swiftly attain to healthful prosperity
The real malady under which the in.
dustry Of the nation sickens today
cries for similar courage that it, too,
may be set upon the road to complete
recovery.