Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1922-07-27

IN one respect. II directly involves
more employees than ever were pre-
viously involved in any railway strike
in this country. There were about
: AIS, 900 employees in the shops when
/, the strike order went into effect.
Estimates Of the number woh quit
differ; bat large majority quit.
In other respects the strike is sim
liar to those which have preceded il.
j Like most other strikes, il was the
result of a difference Of Opilicn be-
tween arrangements and employees
!, concerning the rules under which the
employees should work and the
wages they should be paid. Unlike
other strikes in this country, it dis
regards decisions made Dy a govern
ment arbitration body regarding the
matters OF controversy, but stikes IA
disregard OF decisions o. government
larbitratiCIi bodies have not been IN
I known. Australia and New Zealand
have tried compulsory arbitration.
{ 1t has resulted in peaceful settle
ments when the decisions have been
against the employers, bat repeatedly
Z has resulted in strikes when the de-
cisiOns have been against the EN-
ployees
Differences of opinion between EN-
ployers and employees regarding how
much the latter should be paid have
arisen throughout the history Of the
wage system. InnumeTaDie plans for
so settling them as to prevent lock-
outs and strikes have been advocated
and tried: but no such means has
ever been successful long. The EN-
ployer is prone to underestimate the
l.. III.
opinion and law can compel him
either 10 pay what a gOystment tri- !
bunal holds just or go out OF bust [
ness. Employees, Individually and |
collectively. are equally disposed TO I
oVerestimate what the employer can !
afford TO pay: but up TO the present 4
time public opinion ana law seldom /
have succeeded III forcing them peace !
fully to accept wages that they have 4
really regarded as too lew. They .
often, have been forced to accept /
lower wages than taey demanded,
but the only really effective compul
sion has been that OF economic con-
ditiOns.
Regardless of the employees opin-
ion OF what he ought to have he
cannot by the strike or any other
ployer can afford TO pay In the
preceding the present
strike the labor leaders contended
that the railways should be required
to pay an average wage of S2.637 a
year because the employees need this
much to support their families ac-
cording to a certain standard. But,
hard as it may seem to say SO, the
wages any industry can afford TO pay
never have been and never will be
determined by what its employees
need. What any industry can af-
ford to pay out is determined solely
by what il can earn. A business
concern can stop operating Just as its
can stop working. \ bust
ness concern not only can but must
stop operating if for any consider
able time il is forced to incur ex-
penses which exceed what it can
earn. II is more difficult Tor rail-
way than any other lind OF business
concern to stop operating, because to
do so is 10 forfeit its rights ever to
do business again. Already, however,
many small railways in the United
States have been forced to stop oper-
ating by inability to earn enough to
pay their expenses.
II the demands made by the lead
ers of the railway labor unions should
be compiled with. either an enormous
advance il rates would have to be {
made, or every railway company in
the United States would have TO
stop operating. The public would
not pay any such advance in rates.
II has successfully insisted upon re-
luction of rates. \ reduction OF
ages was enevitable. The shop en- ,
ployees refused to accept it. There !
was presented such situation as has /;
developed in industry over and over
again. 1t had the same result that
L has so often had strike. The
decisions and mediation of the Rail-
road Labor Board made no differ
snee.
Will this always be the course of
events in the future? The labor lead
ers doubtless will answer that il will
De as long as the wage system exists.
rhe more radical among them would
iyoid the developments o. similar ir-
differences, and the re-
,ulting lockouts and strikes, by abol- '
shing capitalism which Is an
1ther name for private property $
and the wage system with it. They
would have all the means of produc-
ion and distribution owned by the {
public and managed by the workers
under some guild or soviet plan. But
would that prevent the workers from
more than industry could ;
produce. The soviet system has been
adopted in Russia; but the workers
in Russia still have to live on what
industry can prove. II does not
produce as much as it did before the
hated capitalist and wage systems !
we're abolished, and therefore the {
have to live on less. The {
are supreme in Russia, {
but the incomes of the workers are
not based there any more than any
where else on what the workers need
DR. demand. They need and demand
more than is required to keep them
rom starving; and yet thousands
and even millions of them are starv-
ing. Economic laws cannot be re-
oealed by strikes or revolutions, al
though many labor leaders convince