Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-08-24
c. BURGESS TAYLOR
n Settlement Of Industrial Troubles


THE business Of protecting the public
L against the results Of protracted or
violent industrial disputes is one which
belongs primarily to the State, according
to G. Burgess Taylor, of the Northwestern
Life Insurance Company. member OF the
Industrial Relations Committee OF the
Chamber of Commerce. and man who has
much experience in the field Of industrial
disputes.
Every man, no matter what his-business
or civic status" said Mr.. Taylor, "hns
n vital interest in all industrial relations,
because these conditions affect every one In
the end. All the talk which we hear OF
n finish fight in Industrial disturbances Is
nonsense. There never has and never can
be such thing because of the human equa.
tion, which makes it an ever shifting and
a new problem as new phases of the old sit
uation arise.
zone thing always develops in every
strike or lockout. The monkey wrench In
the works of the railroad dispute today is
the matter of seniority; everything else is
settled. But when this strike was declared,
this was not an issue Mt all, but 1t has be-
come by product of the trouble. In every
dispute of like kind, 1t is the by product
which causes most Of the trouble and not
the original dispute.
'"There hns never been any question about
the legai relatlohS OIL employers anu 'he en
ployes. This is as old rs the common law
itself The thing which we lack is the
judicial machinery which particularly is
adapted to adjust these disputes. 1t Is
the one weak spot today in the social order
When employers and employees have dis
their own terms. This would be all right II
it did not dislocate everything else in the
area in which 1t takes place.
The Canadian Act
NEARLY every one who has heard OF the
adjustment of industrial disputes by legal
machinery has something to say about com.
tried in Australia and New Zealand. and
resulted in a complete failure. England
and other nations were groping In the dark
for solution when the Canadian Indus
trial Disputes Act. was passed by the Cana :
dian Parliament, as q result of the rec
concentrations OF w. l.. Mackenzie King,
the present Premier.
'"The salient difference between the Cana
dian act and all other former labor legis-
lation is this: The act forbids a strike or
a lockout being declared until after an in
yestigation Is made Of the facts in the
case. and the results OF their investiga :
tion made public in a report over the
signatures of the investigators. This gives
public opinion n chance to crystallize on
| the merits of the case before work can be
| suspended by either side. 1t is easy to see
| that after the investigation has been made
and the facts published, public opinion will
deal crushing blow to the element in the
dispute which is seen to be in the wrong
| or to be unreasonable.
| "The first step along the Zines Of the
| Canadian act which were taken In this
| country was the Kansas Industrial Court.
| There is no more compulsory arbitration In
the Kansas act than there is In the Cana :
| dian act, but 1t looks at the matter from
| n different angle, and both acts have worked
out in highly successful manner.
| Three Basic Principles
| ''There are three principles which Away,
have been the basis Of all industrial legis
| lation First, compulsory arbitration, which
has broken down completely second the
| Canadian Industrial Disputes Act, with its
investigation and making public the result,
| of that investigation, and, third, the Kansa,
act. which embodies the principle of adiudi
cation. ..
| .'This last means that where the Cana
dian act came into the dispute with Its in
vestigation and the laying of the facts be
fore the public, trying to adjust the matter
as the investigation proceeded, as 1t gen.
,eraliy succeeded In doing, the Industrial
Court of Kansas enters and makes nm in
ysstigation just as would be the case in q
ldwruit and gives its findings, that Con,