Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-27
PLAN TO END ALL RAIL STRIKES
ADVANCED BY BABSON; WOULD HAVE
NEW MEN HELD BY LABOR BOARD

Wellesley Hills, Mass, Aug. 26.-
People are not so much interested IL
the temporary settlement of the Goa.
strike and the railroad strike as In de-
yeloping plans so that they will not
periodically reoccur. 1t is not enough
to know that we shall have coal this
winter or that railway traffic is not
now suspended. If the people of this
country ere to be healthy, happy and
prosperous. we must know that some
plan is being evolved to prevent these
strikes from ~reoccurring. In view OF
these facts. Roger w. Babson was this
week asked to make a forecast as &c
future labor developments. his dag
nosis of the strike situation follows:
when in Washington during the
war, assisting the secretary OF labor. II
was evident that the students of labor
problems were divided into two distinct
groups, one group believing IN com
pulsory arbitration as illustrated by
the Kansas industrial court, and the
other group stands purely for concllia-
ton without any compulsion. Con
servatives and radicals can be found in
both groups. Investigation leads me
TO believe that there is a field for both
of these lines of work. Labor dis
putes in connection with general in
dustries, such as the textile industry,
the boot and shoe industry, and pos
sibly the steel industry, should be kept
on a cancellation basis. 1t surely
would be a mistake to attempt com
n~ulsorv arbitration in connection with
these businesses which are operated
solely for profit. The best means of
avoiding trouble in these industries is
by keeping these industries in two ma
Tor labor groups one group to be
strictly union and the other group
strictly ~'nonunion.' Let the union
group adopt the closed shop and let
the other group be strictly nonunion.
Then let the two groups compete. !
do not mean necessarily in production,
but rather see under which system the
public. the employees and the ~stockhold-
ers, all combined. are most prosperous.
NV w guess is that none of these
three parties would long be healthy,
happy and prosperous with all union
or with all 'nonunion.' When one group
secures control, it becomes inefficient,
careless and arrogant. My guess is
that an industry would be most pros
porous and all concerned in it would
be rendering the most service and be
happiest if the industry were equally
divided into a union and %nonunion field.
So much for general industry. When
disputes arise. only Cancellation should
be applied by a third party. There
should be no compulsory settlements
in such cases.
For Some Forced Arbitration
when, however, we come to trans
portation. fuel, public utilities such as
water. light and gas, or to the distri-
button of milk. bread. etc, We find a
group of industries to which compul-
sorry arbitration must be applied. The
first two groups to which such strong
arm methods will be applied are the
railroads and coal mines. First. let me
say that the railroads and the mine
operators are themselves largely to
blame for present troubles. Although
the owners of these properties are now
behaving themselves, they have not al
WAYS done so. Most of the unwise
methods that labor leaders are using
today were applied by the railroads
and mine operators of 90 years ago.
Hence these corporations now are only
reaping what they have sown. Never
thelesS. two wrongs do not make a
right. Our nation must have transpor-
tation and fuel at a fair rate and the
operation of its railroad and coal
properties must be u~ndisturbed by
either labor leaders or stock market
operators.
Regarding the railroad situation:
to secure n fair rate the interstate
commerce commission has been organ
lied. and to secure undisturbed trans
portation the railroad labor board has
been created. The first of these
that is. the interstate commerce com
missions functioning very we'll. and
the struggle is now over the railroad
labor board"
At this point Mr.. Babson was told
of a strong feeling on the part of both
the railroad arrangements and the en-
ployes that the railroad labor board
was not properly made up. Concerning
this, Mr.. Babson stated:
For Uneven Numbered Board
Experience has shown that boards
consisting of three groups Zone group
representing capital, group repre-
s%enting labor and one group represent
ing the public) do not function well.
The group representing capital vote in
one body for the corporations; the
group representing labor vote in one
body for the wage workers; this leaves