The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-09-21
Frederick Haskin's / Letter
FIcHTIT OUT OR STOP FIGHTING

And many sueA . man has been be-
trayed BY his righteous Indignation
into MAKING decorations fully as
incendiary and suDsersive of law
and order as those things Of which
he complains.
The radicals or "reds- are mill.
tant because that is their creed
They seek to overturn existing
forms Of governpent and social or
ganixation and they know no better
way of bringing this about than
through a finish fight between capt.
tai and labor. They are the ones
who commit or incite and are re-
sponsible for practically all the
lawlessness that is 50 inexcusable
and so disastrous to the cause Of
labo..
Those Who Would Stop Fighting.
The other school OF thought
those who would end the industrial
conflict by involving ways and
means Of settling differences with
out fighting them out 10 finish.
includes students Of the problem Of
industrial relations. employers who
view the relation of capital and la
Dor in the light Of partnership,
and government officials who have
tackled the job Of protecting the
public against the evil consequence
es of strikes. They are all paci-
fists. although not in the sense in
which that word was made a term
of opprobrium during the World
war
Theodore Roosevelt vas Of ttis
school when he ended the great an
thracite coal strike OF 1902 because
he compelled the miners and oper-
ators to stop fighting and then pre-
scented a plan for working out
peace that continued for almost 20
years.
President Harding and Secretary
Hoover and others of his associ-
ates have identified themselves with
this school by the efforts they have
made within recent weeks TO stop
the costly warfare in the coal and
! transportation industries.
; John D. Rockefeller. Jr-. the late
H. B. Endicott and Henry Ford
/ have been conspicuous among the
great employers Of labor who have
acted upon the theory that the way
to end the industrial war is to make
it unnecessary and undesirable.
Lord Leverhulme. perhaps the larg-
est employer Of labor in the British
empire is another such None OF
them or Of their kind has ever adj
vocated fighting it out
| Students of the industrial prob
I lem point out that the war with
Germany and the Central powers
| was fought to a finish, with re-
suit that has not as yet proved al
together happy. Ultimately the
world may be all the better for this
demonstration of the militant idea,
but that remains to be SEEN Russia
Is also cited as an example OF what
it may mean to fight it out
I IE the light of history as it has
been recorded during the last cen
fury and half in the United States
it is not to be expected that either
the militant or the pacifist idea will
completely dominate in dealing
with the strike problem. There will
be a compromise. There will be
enough fighting to demonstrate thai
it would be lad thing for society
N general for either side to emerge
from the conflict a complete victor
Perhaps there has been that much
already.
I Or the other hand. It will be
shown that i. would net be for the
general good to work out peace
that involves the complete surren-
der Of either side. After all, CAPT
tai and labor. must live and work
together if industry and civilization
are to 60 forward. and this is no,
possible il one is TO be subordinated
entirely to the other as a result
either Of war to the bitter end or an
,injudicious peace.
One real danger in the present
, situation, as leaders of affairs il
Washington view it. IS that the gen
, eral public will cease 10 be con
cerned about the industrial prob
t .em as soon as the immediatei,
> disturbing conflicts are over. Il
. that event little or nothing will b
: done to. prevent recurrence o
5 such troubles or toward workini
: 'ou, a permanent solution Of III
' problem, for such steps are takel
D in response to an insistent, over
|. whelming public sentiment