Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-01

REMEDY SOUGHT FOR LABOR STRIFE.

, be made unlawful can they be made
, unnecessary and undesirable? Indus
| trial experts answer this question in
| the affirmative. They say that it is
| only essential to create conditions
under which both factors in the in
| dustrial equation are assured of q
square deal and a fair deal. and the
adjustment upon that basis Of the diff
f~erences which they cannot settle by
and for themselves.
These experts advocate the estab-
! lishment Of an Industrial code which
defines the fundamental principles
governing all relations in all industry.
Every community, every industry. and
every plant presents problems in en-
ployment that are peculiar to itself,
but there are certain phases of the
relations between employer and m
ployed that are universal and basic and
with respect to which there should be
rules or principles that are basic and
universally accepted and applied.
Workers either should or should not
have the right to organize in trade
unions, the right of collective bargain
ing, the right to a living wage. and the
right to an eight-hour day or some
restriction upon the hours of labor.
Women in industry should or should
not have the right to the same paw as
men for the same or equivalent service.
Employment of children under a Ger
tain age in mines and mills or should
not be permitted. The public should
or should not be protected against in
terruptions in industry growing out of
controversies between capital and
labor.
Organic Law Of Industry
Whatever is ethically. socially and
economically just and wise with re-
spect to each of these questions should
be clearly defined and promulgated as
the organic law of industrial relations.
and this organic law or code should be
accepted and enforced as the basis of
all employment and the adjustment of
all differences between capital and
labor.
If unions are useful and lawful. saw
the experts. then that fact should be
established and universally recognized.
There should be 20 denial or abridge-
ment of that right. A situation such
as has prevailed in West Virginia, for
example. is regarded as preposterous.
There in certain coal fields the miners
have had absolute freedom to Join
tHtli hbIoH. NhiIt III OtHtE IltluS tUeS
are not only denied employment il
they are union members but they dare
not hold meetings to consider the or
ganization of a local or ever discuss
the union question. one with another.
Surely whatever rights in this respect
are enjoyed by one of these groups
of miners should not be denied the
other. Furthermore. the fact that dis
sention over this question led to civil
war in West Virginia is cited as proof
that it would be for the best interest
of everybody concerned 10 have the
question of the right to organize set
tied, one way or the other. beyond all
question and for all time to come.
Similarly the case may be made for
all the fundamentals in industrial re-
%lations.
Without such an industrial code. il is
pointed out. arbitrations of labor dis
putes become mere trading affairs in
which the better trader triumphs. 1t
is all very well to say that arbitration
means a settlement on the basis of
what is sound and just. hut what is
the rule or yardstick with which to
what is sound and just? DIFF
arbitrators will have different |
if the determination is solely
a matter Of opinion. Confidence in
is not based upon confidence
in the integrity and wisdom of the
judges but rather upon the fact that
the judges are governed by an organic
law. by precedents and by a procedure
that is universal in its application.
Such in substance is the case that
is being made for the establishment of
industrial code in these trying days
of almost constant strife between cap
ltai and labor. President Harding him
self has advocated such n code and
are evidences of n growing pop
ular belief that strikes and lockouts
be made unnecessary and undesir-
able when both labor and capital have
the assurance that their differences
be adjusted by a tribunal in which
have confidence, on the basis of
rules or principles that they
TO be fair and that are appli-
to all workers and to all en-
ployers.