The Washington times., 1921-09-05
FAIR DEAL FOR
LABOR lSASKED
! BY SEC. DAVIS
Calls on Nation to Dedicate
Loyalty to Repair Of Indus
trial Machine.

trial Machine.
DETROIT, Sept. 5.-Labor Day
this year dawn on a situation that
calls to every loyal American for
the best thought, the mightiest eff
fort and the strongest faith, he can
summon, Secretary of Labor James
]. Davis declared here today at a
labor Day celebration on Belle
Isle. "This year Labor Day must
be dedicated first Of all to meeting
the imperative human need Of the
idle" said the Labor Secretary
False Values Must Go.
"Au over the country a strange
hush has fallen" he said. 1.-THE great
American productive machine, its
own boast and the wonder |of the
world, has slowed down. Not a
single individual in the country has
escaped. The country is sick from
overindulgence and one and all We
have had to go on the operating
table for the removal of false values.
Labor Day this year must be The
day to dedicate ourselves to finding
will put us back to health and work
and prosperity again."
Secretary Davis said that the
American worker wants no charity.
but he wants a job. The problem Of
unemployment, he said. calls for in
slant and energetic action. Accord
ing to the Labor Secretary the cities,
counties and States should start at
once the making of road repairs.
building reservoirs, and other public
work. Much of this work of con-
struction or repair is In heavy or
rears on account of the interruption
of the war and now is the time to
have it done, he said. "A double
need is met" he added, 1.-The public
Ia served and the idle are given
tasks to do and money to earn.
Neglect Apparent.
For lack Of courage we are neg.
Letting any number of large under
talxings that would give mighty
shove to the great stalled engine of
American production" said Mr..
Davis. What article. for instance,
besides steel. enters more intimately
into every process of life than coal?
Yet the coal situation we have on
our hands Is a perfect example of
that paralysis of mind and will on
the part of US all which accounts for
our paralysis in business.
Mines are idle and miners with
them because people think the prices
Of coal could and may be lower. Deal.
ers and operators are in suspense be.
cause they think that wages and
freight rates should and may be
lower. The railroads are in suspense
-
employees And employees, the miners
with them, fear the attitude and sus'
pect the fairness Of employers. Sc
we travel in q vicious circle and no
one has the courage to break it.
The consequence is that coal Is scarce
and will be high this winter of all
winters, when our people should have
their coal at the lowest possible
price. The price will never be lower,
the situation will never be broken
until one or the other party to II
has the American courage to take q
loss, to make move and start the
now~of coal"
rgecretary Davis, said that some of
the larger undertakings necessary to
break the deadlock Of impulse and
of Government and the duty is being
discharged.
Roads Key to Jam.
For some time the railroads have
been the key log In the business
jam," said Davis. Like the parties
involved in the coal situation, but on
n scale that much more widely and
adversely affected the country, the
railroads.. have been locked in a rigid
tangle, with the alloting of half a
billion dollars to the railroads, at
President Harding's solicitation. one
of the great central vicious circles at
the heart of national business will be
broken
Touching on the subject of labor,
Secretary Davis said that the cause
OF labor is more alive today than 1t
ever has been in forty years. "A
few employers have taken this
period when jpbs are scarce and the
working man 10 at a disadvantage,
TO break down their workers or
ganizations." he added. 1T seems
TO these people a good time to even
UP old scores. to revenge them
selves for the high wages they were
forced to pay a year or two ago,
and see to 1t that such a wage
scale never obtains again. The peril
In this speaks for itself. To en-
ployers everywhere I would say,
Don't set your wages by the hungry
crowd at the gates to your mill
During the war the pendulum
swung over to the side Of the en-
ploves. Now Il has swung back
on the employers side. II employers
play fair they will do more to stabi.
lie business and bring good feeling
than anything else they could do"