Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-09-18

p eOou AlLcI COL, Out there neeQ De
no question about this fact--neither
men nor money will work without a
return. The problem of wage Garner
and employer. then, is not to divide
profits but to assure profits. for GER
tainiy they must be made before they
can be divided. Dividing them is a
mighty Easy Job alongside Of making
them. -
Reasonable Men Agree.
Everybody has a right to opin-
ions as to the cure for industrial ills.
and the business with which I am
connected Is now engaged in trying
out a plan which holds forth great
promise. 1t is not designed to bring
about the millennium; neither does
it promise to give workers high wag-
es and employers high profits. 1t is
founded on knowledge hat the bust
ness must prosper if either employee
or employer Is to prosper. With the
W o factors working together with
mutual understanding and recogni-
ton Of the problems confrontinf the
industry, the results of the law of
supply and demand can be attained
without injury to either factor and,
with consequent benefit to both.
This is being accomplished with
us by the workers organizing into
what resembles political constituent
>ASSs NtSS i AiVli ICpl SSSIlAu
tives to minor and major conference
boards. The minor boards consider
matters Of purely local and depart.
mental interest. while the major
boards broaden the scope of their in
terests up to the point where the
general conference board sits in iudG-
ment on problems affecting the en-
tire organization. The conference
boards are made up of equal numbers
IF nnrnc nj fjN,oS re nr11,1N1-oc - MI TF
the management, and all their de-
'%cisions call for agreements between
the two factions. The plan ssumes
that reasonable men who are ac-
quainted with all the facts abou a
matter will reach an agreement when
they place their feet under the same
table n give honest consideration to
the problem before them. On the
outside chance hat some situation
cannot agree after such honest and
careful consideration, provision is
made for arbitration, but it is not
expected that this will be necessary.
Unions Ieals All Right.
1T takes a very narrow-minded
person to believe that the announced
names Of unionism are other than
right and just, but there is also the
certainty that in practice the rela-
lions between unionism and employ
ers will be tests of strength. A strike !
or a lockout merely shows which
factor is for the moment dominant,
and in no sense determines what is
right or what is best for the bust
ness-and when I say best for the
business I mean best for those who
are investing their labor as well as
those who are investing their capital.
I'VE do not expect this plan to ac-
complish the impossible, out do be-
lieve hat when reasonable men get
together to discuss n consider mu-
tual problems, a solution can be
found which will obviate tests OF
strength, such as the strike and the
lockout. !
Public Rights Paramount.
Under existing conditions, 95 per
cent of the people are made to suffer
mentally, physically and financially.
when 5 per cent engage in industrial
dispute. Everyone agrees that the
whole public ought not be made to
suffer by reason of wage earner-em-.l
ployer' disputes. But as long as GER
tain rights now recognized as inalien-
able continue to be so recognized, the
public will reman the innocent by
stander who gets the most of the
bricks. Wage earners say they have
a right to refuse work: employers
claim the same right. Wage work
ers say they have a right to fight for
what is due them; employers make
Il similar claim. J appreciate the
danger of advocating the abrogation
of any rights, but it does seem that
the public has to have some rights,
and h a is its rights have precedence
over the rights of n minor factions.
be they workers or employers or
stockholders.
Arbitration Should Be Compulsory.
Il am a firm believer in the fact
that men in the main are reasonable
and that when they understand what
is the requirement of economic law
they will find a way to adjust them
selves to it. but if. they fail to do so
and if their failure is detrimental to
public interest. then there ought to
be means for forcing settlement
through compulsory arbitration. I
am. today, an advocate of compulsory
arbitration as a means for ending
temployer-wage worker disputes
which cannot be ended by mutual
agreement.
Il state to the Babson Institute
such character that its integrity and
fairness is beyond question. Upon
that tribunal should rest responsibility
ty for settling difficulties when direct
negotiations fail. The tribunal should
have ample powers to compel sub
mission Of disputes to it and to en-
force it's findings. Only in that way
can the interests Of the great ma
jority be ~safeguarded. Strife between
N misunderstanding of economic
laws. must be brought to an end"