The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-07-11
The Need for tn e Strike Why Strikes Merely for Higher Wages Are Waste ful-The Waste of Industrial Panic Material Prosperity Can Flow, but from Producing More.


 Some 100000 others idle for failure of the industrial organism to function completely. The total daily loss of man hours of work approaches 26,oOO,OOO. This enormous drain en- feebles society. It is most important to find a cure.
 The strike is a conventional thing It has been a necessary weapon in labor disputes. It is still necessary In the beginning of the machine age, workers were subjected to all sorts of painful and unhea1thful conditions Bargaining as individuals they were subject to the whim of the employer, and the worst employer set the pace for the rest.
 Now however, the workers stand upon a substantial equality with the employing class. They may in fact have the superior position. by reason of their increasing and dominant in fIuence with government, and influ- ence that is increased by arranging the great strikes so that they fall in
  ton.
 
 If the strike is to fulfil it's func ton, it must be put to a more pro- gressive use. There is now little diff ficulty about conditions. Health of workers is protected by drastic laws. Lighting problems are mostly solved Work rest, ventilation, protection in unhygienic industries are well taken care of Whenever it can be shown that unwh olesome or unhealthful con- ditions exist. a remedy is promptly demanded and compelled by the force of educated public opinion.
 
 Strikes, nowadays, when they are not jurisdictional disputes between unions, or refusals of union men to work with non union men, are broad ly dictated by the hope for higher pay. Higher pay is the object behind the coal strike. To prevent the inn position of a lower wage is the pur- pose of the railroad strike.
 But strikes for more pay are large.
  immediately reflected in the market. Higher prices absorb higher wages. Everything becomes just as it was be- fore. Rather, everything is worse than 1t was before. because society is poorer by the amount of waste of all sorts which the strike produced.
 
 In this state of the society every increase of wages even though there may be a benefit to a single group of workers, is reflected upon the en- tire public. and upon all other work CTS, so that a period of rising wages will invariably be a period of rising prices, so that entire groups of the population are actually reduced in their incomes. While some remain as we'll off as they were before and some a little better off.
 Any process of raising. wages, which Is accompanied by a serious reduction in the quantity of com modities produced will in every case leave the people somewhat poorer than they were before. The whole dreary process of striking for more wages. from which more must be ex- pended for all the needs Of life, ar rives nowhere and benefits no one.
 
 Is there then no remedy? Can notl1- ing be done? There are gleams of better days. of a more intelligent type of industrial war, in the present -+r;l-es To +ba ooaI area +bere is +a llS of rationalizing the industry. so that it will function all the year round, and the necessary quantity of coal will be produced by the economically suitable number of workers. working normally through the year.
 In railroad circles there is discus sion about efficiency. about means of checking waste and getting more for the money. Evidently the accumula- ton of economic Knowledge is hav- ing it's consequences. Intelligent in dustriaI disputes may be expected, and strikes may be anticipated from which wholesome social results may flow
 Workers sure have a right to seek from employers such cooperation as may make employment steady. as may produce the largest flow of com modities. and provide the highest ma terial efficiency.
 Employers just as certainly have the right to seek from their employees that full production consistent with the days work which is not injurious to the health and happiness of the worker.
 If society in the United States is to partake abundantly of the good things which Creative Power has placed so plenteously in this country. there must be adjustments which will limit industrial panics on the one side and limit industrial stoppages, through strikes. on the other. Unless the struggle take such a course the ie-