Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-05-22
WHEN LABORING
MAN is AFRAID,
TROUBLE COMES
BY FREDERIC j. HAsKIN.

Washington, May 21.-Fear il
potent factor in fomenting con
/ troversies between employer anc
| employed. Experts on industrial
| relations are going in for psychic
analysis at least to the extent Of
agreeing on this. Indeed, some Of
them are ready to state it more
vigorously and say that feal
breeds labor troubles.
1t is recognized that fear is one
of the great springs of human ac-
ton. and history shows that in
timidation which superinduces
fear has always been the favor
tie weapon of autocracy That
autocracy may be czarism or boil
shevism in Russia, or a self-cen-
tered and unenlightened industrial
policy, either of capital or labor,
in America.
Thus, to illustrate in a general
way, the open shop movement
among considerable element OF
influential employers has instilled
in the minds of workers through
out the country a fear that the
strength of their unions is to be
broken down or destroyed. They
believe with all the fervor of
fanaticism that their economic
well-being depends upon the
maintenance of their unions. In
the open shop drive they see a
purpose to take away from them
all the benefits and advantages
they have gained through trades
unionism. They visualize a return
to low wages and long hours and
undesirable conditions of labor,
They believe that the worker has
been exploited by capital ever
since the days of the sons of
Mary and the sons of Martha.
and in their minds only eternal
vigilance and constant struggle
can guarantee them industrial and
economic freedom.
On the other hand. many we'll
informed and well-meaning en-
ployers see menace to estab-
lished institutions and property
rights in the labor movement.
Radicals and radicallsm within
the ranks of labor, which are ar
raigned and denounced even bv
labor leaders such as Samuel
Gompers. arouses a fear that chills
the hearts of these EMPLOYERS.
Bolsheyism, to them, is a spectre
that Will not down. in the sprea d
or trades-unionism they read n
plan of the workers to dominate
all industry and conduct IT for
the benefit OF the workers alone.
Confiscation of capital is tho real
goal or extremists in the labor
group, according to these en-
ployers, and some of them go so
FAR as to say that "if you scratch
any trades unionist he will bleed
radicalism."
NO matter which side is right,
or whether each is partly right
and partly wrong, the important
iact from the viewpoint of the
industrial relations expert is that
fear turks in the minds and hearts
OF every individual on both sides
When men are dominated or ac-
tuated by fear their every faculty
Is impaired. Their vision is dis.
torted. Their judgments are UNI
sound. Their reason gives way tc
impulses, and their strength
alertness and skill are sapped.
a Case i'm Point.
a specific illustration that is
very much case in point is to
be found in the West Virginia
coal controversy. which has been
featured by little bit of every
thing from strikes to civil war,
with climax of murder and
treason tri1ls now on the stage in
old Charles Town. West Virginia
independent coal operators decid-
ed that their employees should not
he unionized and that the United
Mine Workers of America should
be barred from the counties in
which their mines are located.
Certain of the employees. on the
other hand, decided that they had
a right to belong to a union
and that they would exercise that
right. The union. as an organ
ization, decided that it had a right
to send organizers into those coun-