The Ontario Argus. (Ontario, Or.) 1???-1947, 1922-08-17
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Wellesley Hills, Mass, August
10, 1922. In view of the newspa-
per space recently taken by the coal
strike, the railroad strike and Ger
tain textile strikes, wa are prone to
think that strikes are very general
at the present time. Roger w. D'ab,
son, however, refutes this opinion
in statement issued today as fol-
lows:
"As a matter of fact, wo have very
few strikes at the present time.
Ever since the war the strike curve
has been below the point which was
then called normal The fact that
we have had three strikes of a large
dimension blinds us to this basic
truth. Two of these strikes, the
coal strike and the rail shopmen s
strike are in industries which have
not been deflated, so far as war
time wages go. The other, the
cotton, textile strike, has been par
TALLY deflated and the trouble is
about going the rest of the dis
tance. The difficulties in these
industries are then cases of belated
!, hostilities.
For the most part labor is not
striking, wages are being gradually
let down to lower levels and the dis
position of men is to keep at work.
There is always a rise in the strike
curve during the summer. We are
having that rise now. Nevertheless
we are not having the number or
the wide distribution of strikes
which we had last year or at any
time since 1915. We will not have
a repetition of those conditions this
year. The strike curve is nearer
normal than almost anything else in
industry.
GAS to the future, the answer is
to be looked for in conditions.
What made the tremendous wave
of strikes which marked the years
that there were more jobs than
men; that the cost of living was
going up;that labor was in posi-.
tion to force it's issue. No such
prospect is in view for the years
right ahead. Therefore, we need
not look for repetition of the
/ ,fv.s1r 0f hn 1nx
Those days are passed. Neverthe-
less, we are going to have strikes
There are going to be good many
Of them. They are going to be
called for reasons other than the
ones that backed the strikes of war
time. These men went on strike
rageous, confident bouyant. They
were seldom disappointed. In the
future, just ahead, they are going
to strike against wage cuts, against
attempts to rule out the unions.
They are not going to be as success
full as they were in the war time
strikes.
SIN consequence of this the real
question of the next few years is as
to the frame of mind which Labor
is gAng to have. In contrast with
the bouyant confidence of the war
years, Labor is now going to be
sullen, revengeful. resentful. What
they do not gain in open victories,
they are going to be disposed to ac-
complish by indirect means. A man
who cannot get his pay raised can |
stall ON the job. He can get the |
best of his boss by all kinds of mas
ty tricks in the factory.
These are short-sighted policies.
In the long run they work to the
disadvantage of Labor. Still. they
are the usual recourse of Labor
when it is met by obstacles that do
not yield.
Right here is the problem of the
employer of the next few years.
How shall he meet the new temper
of Labor? In my opinion that ugly
temper must be met by open deal
ing, by setting before labor the
facts under which business is done
and by admitting Labor progressive
ly to greater share in manage
ment of the elements of the indus
trial relation which most directly
concern Labor, That is to say:
The time to develop personnel de-
partmepts. set up profit-sharing,
shop committees and all I
If the rest of the things that be-
ong to this class is, not when La
Tor is in the saddle and holds a gun
t the employer himself is in the
addle and is in the position to die
ate terms.
"The employer does not have to