Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-29
RAILROAD AND COAL STRIKES
WILL ULTIMATELY Be AVOIDED

! that enforcing men to work for
profit is only form Of slavery.
Forcing man to work in steel
plant which is operated for profit
may be a form of slavery. If COM
pulsory arbitration was applied to all
industry, we certainly would be re-
verting to slavery. When, however,
it is applied only to transportation,
public Utilities, coal mining and one
or two other industries, thus leaving
the great field open, compulsory ar
bitration cannot be called slavery. I
say this because under such condi-
tions any man who did not wish to
work for the railroads, the public
utilities or the coal operators would
be free to go into competitive indus
try to which compulsory arbitration
would not apply. The labor leaders
! state they are willing to accept COM
pulsory arbitration-as best exempli-
fled by the Kansas industrial court
provided the railroads, public utili.
! ties, coal mines, etc., are operated
by the government, not for profit.
/ They illustrate their case by stat
ing that this is the reason they are
willing to be drafted for the army,
because the army is operated by the
government, and not by individuals
ing drafted for the army is not a
form Of slavery.
This may be all right in theory"
continued Mr.. Babson, "but the pub
] lie is in no mood at present for fur
Their government operation. The re-
suits of the war, in connection with
| the operation of the railroads, the
! building and operation of ships and
the various other interests in which
| the government took a hand, show
that under present conditions gov
eminent operation is expensive, inef-
ficient and unsatisfactory.
1.-THE public believes today that bet
ter organization, better discipline
and lower costs come through pri-
vate operation. The public fur
ther believes that private operation
should continue so long as the pres
ent employees of the railroads, public
utilities, and coal operators are not
| compelled to work for the owners
of these properties, but are free to
leave them and work for other peo-
pie, and so long as there are plenty
of other men available and willing
to work on the railroads, public utili-
ties and coal mines under a system
of compulsory arbitration.
I'm view of these facts, it seems
to me that the public will not at
present take seriously the claim Of
the labor leaders that compulsory
arbitration applied even to indus
tries operated for profit is necessari-
ly slavery. If it were to apply to
all industries or if there were not
a group of men perfectly willing to
work on the railroads, public utili-
ties and coal mines under a system
of compulsory arbitration, then there
might be some justice in the slavery
argument. Today, however, railroad
men are perfectly free to go into
other lines of activity for which no
compulsory arbitration is suggested,
while hundreds OF thousands Of men
are willing to work for the railroads,
public utilities and even the coal op-
orators under a compulsory arbitra-
ton system. How will such a com
pulsory SYSTEM be put in operation in
connection with the railroads, pub
lie utilities and mines? Possibly the
people will be so irritated that con-
| gress, will with one SWoop apply the
Kansas Industrial court idea to the
railroads, public utilities and mines.
hope, however, this will not be
done. The need of the hour is to
have workers feel right. We shall
never have efficiency and a reduc-
ton in the cost of living until those
engaged in industry feel right to-
ward their work. People never feel
right when forced to do anything
| f,oc4 IL, IoA Il
my forecast is as follows:
THE railroad labor boards rulings
will not now be made compulsory as
to the present employees, but they
will be compulsory on every employe
who goes to work for the railroads
after a certain date. Those EN-.
ployes who are now at work for the
!, railroads came on a free, compete
tive basis and have done faithful
, work. Although theoretically they
: can change to some other job, yet
, practically they cannot. They know
. the railroad business and this is all
they do know, and it isn't fair tc
say they can quit at their present
; time of life and enter a new field OF
= work. Therefore, say that unless
! these present employees will volur
, tarlly> come under the compulsory
arbitration system they should be
free to continue as at present. But
every additional man hired will be
hired with the distinct understand
ing that he will conform to the de
cisions of the railroad labor board
as must tn e stockholders of such
, corporations. This would be per
fectly fair and would bring about q
result which would be gracefully &C
cepted by all in the course Of time
] Under this system it would take q
> few years to bring about the desired
result but it would rapidly approach
1t from year to year, and wher
adopted it would have the full CO
operation of all concerned. This is
, my forecast of the way that the
. problem will ultimately be worked
q out. Then there will be no more
= strikes on our railroads, nor in con
= nection with the public utilities
mines, etc, when the same method
, is extended to include them also.
: The Babson chart continues 4
. reflect existing conditions with re
:, markable accuracy. 1t now stand.
:, at S per cent below normal. Wer.
; it not for the strike situation of thu
:, past few weeks it would be mucl
higher. Nevertheless, the ti6e Ia.
=, turned for the better and bushes:
? will be better this fall than last. il
: spite of the strikes"
d RICHMOND, Va, Aug. 2S.-Ar
J. thur Dawson, internationally known
" artist, died here last night. aged six