Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-21
The HQSkin Letter '' , : Rss2z
FIGHT 1T OUT OR STOP FIGHTING

Washington. D. c., Sept. 1S.-Out Of
the Industrial controversies that have
racked the country for the last year
and threatened a crisis during recent
weeks two distinct schools of thought
have developed. One is militant; the
other, pacifist. One is insistent that
the time has come to fight to a finish
the differences between capital and la
Dor or between the unions and the anti
union element. The other contends
that the psychological hour has arrived
to stop fighting-to effect an armist1ce
and negotiate a peace that will be per-
manent.
Of the two schools the militant has
been more largely in evidence and has
asserted its views the more vehement
Ily. 1t would appear to be the stronger
numerically. Strangely enough its mem
bership uns from one extreme to an
other, including both the ultra-conser-
~vatives or reactionaries who believe In
the absolute capitalistic domination of
industry and those ~immoderate radicals
who would destroy practically all our
existing social, economic and political
institutions.
Between these two extremes the
membership of this element is recruited
from the fighting men capital engages
in the management of industry, from
the ranks Of employers, large and small,
who have always been FESTIVE under the
compulsion of dealing with the unions
and union leaders, and from the public
group that suffers inconvenience or loss
as a result of the eVer-recurr1ng con-
flicts between capital and labor.
The ultra-conservatives of capital
say that the hope of civilization lies in
the perpetuation Of the existing order
of things, and that this means that the
growing power Of unions and unionlsm
must be crushed, at least to the extent
of making it impossible for any COM
bination of workers to grow so strong
as to be able to interfere with capitals
absolute domination Of industry.
The fighting men in management are
even more Jealous of the rights of cap
ital itself. Moreover, they have a per-
sonal interest in making good in their
executive positions and nstnctvely they
resent and resist any attempt on the
part of labor to assert a voice in the
control Of industry. The employers
who have always been FESTIVE under the
compulsion of dealing with unions be-
lieye that the man who has a job to
give has the right to fix the wage and
conditions of work, and that labor can
take it or leave it, as their saying goes.
Their dealing with the unions has al
ways been a matter of concession,
rather than of cooperation, and 1t Is
human nature not to want to make
concessions.
Adverse Public Sentiment
The public factor in the militant
school is made up of people who do not
inquire into the causes of strikes or
seek to ascertain which side is right.
They are opposed to strikes because
sooner or later such industrial up
heavals interfere with business and
make living conditions harder or more
expensive. AS they see it, we have
strikes because we have unions. They
argue that to compromise or settle
strikes means merely to invite more
disturbances Of similar character, and
they conclude that the wal between
capital and labor necessarily will con-
'tinue until one side or the other Is
whipped to a standstiu. Hence they
say the time has come to fight it out to
a finish.
LawIess demonstrations destructive
of life and property which almost in
variably feature all the big strikes
have unquestionably had much TO do
with creating a p-5llc sentiment ad-
verse to the unions. The fact that the
unions and most union leaders are OPP
posed to violence does not offset In
the public mind the fact that the
strikes are made the occasions for
offenses against law and order, and
the average good citizens idea Of the
way to deal with such lawlessness is
to stamp it out, root and branch. And