Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-09-21
1T OUT NOW
OR STOP FIGHTING
Daily Letter by Frederic >. Haskin

WASHINGTON, D. c., Sept. 18-
out of the industrial controversies
h a have racked the country for
the last year and threatened a
crisis during recent weeks two dis
tinct schools of thought have de-
Veloped. One Is militant: the other
pacifist. One is insistent that the
I'M has come to fight to a finish
the differences between capital and
labor or between the unions and
the anti-union element. The other
contends hal the psychological
hour has arrived to stop fighting
to effect an armistice and negotiate
a peace thai will be permanent.
or the two schools the militant
has been more largely in evidence
and has asserted its views the more
vehemently. 1t would appear to be
the stronger numerically. Strange
ly enough its membership runs
from one extreme to another, in
Guiding both the ultra-conserva-
tives or reactionarles who believe in
the absolute capitalistic domination
of industry and those immoderate
radicals who would destroy practi-
cally all cur existing social, eco
nomic and political institutions
Between these two extremes the
membership OF this element is re-
cruited from the fighting men cap
ital engages in the management Of
industry, from the ranks of m
ployers. large and small, who have
always been FESTIVE under the COM
pulsion of dealing with the unions
and union leaders, and from the
public group that suffers %inconven-
fence or loss as a result of the
ever-recurring conflicts between
capital and labor.
The ultra-conservatives of CAPT
tai say hat the hope of civilization
lies in the perpetuation OF the ex-
listing order of things, and that this
means that the growing power OF
unions and unionism u be crush
ed at least to the extent of max
ing it impossible for any combina-
ton of workers to grow so strong
as to be able to interfere with cap
ital's absolute domination of indus
try.
The fighting men in management
are even more jealous of the rights
of capital than capital itself. More
ONeI, tllCy nave d ptISoHdi lllcI est
in making good in their executive
positions and instinctively they re-
sent and resist any attempt on the
part of labor to assert a voice in
the control of industry. The en-
ployers who have always been res
tive under the compulsion of deal
ing with unions believe that the
man who has a job to give has the
right to fix the wage and conditions
of work. and that labor can take
it or leave it, as their saying goes.
Their dealing with unions has al
ways been a matter of concession,
rather than of cooperation, and it
is human nature not to want to
make concessions.
Adverse Public Sentiment
The public factor in the militant
school is made up of people who
do not inquire into the causes of
strikes to seek to ascertain which
side is right. They are opposed to
strik es sooner or later such indus
trial %upheavals interfere with bust
ness and make living conditions
harder or more expensive. AS they
see it, we have strikes because we
nave unions. Iuey diSue thdt ~
compromise or settle strikes means
merely to invite more disturbances
OF similar character, and they con-
clude that the war between capital
and labor necessarily VIII continue
until one or the other is whipped TO
A standstill. Hence they say the
time has come to fight it out to a
finish.
Lawless demonstrations destruc-
tive of life and property which al
most invariably feature all the big
strikes have unquestionably had
much to do with creating a public
sentiment adverse to the union. me
| fact that the unions and most union
| leaders are opposed to violence does
not offset in the public mind the
fact that the strikes are made the
| occasions for ~offenses against law
| and order, and the average good
citizens idea of the way to dea
with such lawlessness is to stamp II
out, DOT and branch. And many
| such a man has been betrayed pS
| his righteous indignation into max
| ing declarations fully as !ncendiarS
and subversive of law and ordel
as those things of which he com
plains. ,..
The radicals or reds are miht'
ant because that is their creed