The Washington times., 1922-07-13

The railroad industry and the coal
industry have Jagged far behind
various other industries in the effort
| to develop cooperation between en-.
ployers and employees in actual daily
work and in the joint increase OF
daily efficiency.
In talking with Mr.. Hunt I find
that his experiences on the Railroad
Labor Board impressed him especial
ly with the fact that the conferences
between the railroads and their EN-.
ployes are not conferences for i'm.
provement of daily working methods
but conferences for adjustment Of
grievances only" In this fact Mr.
Hunt finds the root OF inevitable
discord between the managing force
and the working force.
MIR. Hunt says: What incentive
have railroad employees to exert
themselves physically or intellectu.
ally beyond a job.holding minimum?
With their creative desires for exer-
tion there comes the chilling thought
that such exertion will benefit only
the remote stockholders. There Is
now little incentive for physical or
Intellectual. cooperation beyond the
minimum"
Therefore, says Mr.. Hunt. the rail
road employees. not having been
treated as men who were worthy
OF cooperation" have got thrown
into the attitude Of compelling the
railroads to recognize them as dan
gerous combatants." The physical
and mental powers OF the railroad
employees, says Mr.. Hunt. have
been diverted from constructive to
destructive uses"
Mr.. Hunt suggests that the con.
ferences between the railroads and
their employees for the settlement
Of grievances should now he def
niteiy enlarged and extended to
include such matters as the fol-
lowing:
Reduction OF waste: increase OF
production: the ascertainment OF
subjects OF joint interest to the
ma anagement and the working
force: the means of increasing and
promoting that joint interest; me
removal Of the causes of grievances
before those causes produce the
grievances.
That such ideas are not dreams
ind that in fact they are actually
creasing development in various,
o:her Industries I'learn from many
sources. including Mr.. l.. K. Com
stock, of the electrical construc-
ton industry. Mr.. Comstock Is
president Of an important electri-
cal firm. He has taken a large
rart in the formation OF = joint
body OF electrical employers and
electrical employees called The
Council on Industrial Relations for
the Electrical Construction Industry
Of the United States and Canada"
This council. says Mr.. Comstock.
does not exist for the primary pur-
nose Of settling disputes. II exists
for the broader continuous purpose
Of "pl omoting cooperation" and II
trying 20 arrive-through co-cpera-
tion-at n removal Of the causes
OF disputes.
This council in the electrical in
dustry does not include arbitrators
from outside the industry. 1t con-
sists simply Of five representatives
of the National Associa ton Of Elec.
trical Contractors and five represent.
atives Of the International Brother
hood Of Electrical Workers. The idea
is not that somebody shall come in
from the outside and settle the in
ternal affairs of the industry. The
idea is tSat the people inside the in.
dustry shall get together all the time
and be continuously able to settle
their own affairs. 1t is a getting to.
gether to improve and to enlarge
whatever amount of peace may hap
pen to exist in the industry. The
employers and the employees in the
railroad industry get together for the
most part only to settle wars. The
difference is vital, in the opinion of
most present students Of industrial
tendencies. Il
In the midst of all trials and trou.
bles those tendencies are taking the
world toward employer plus employe
cooperation. Mr.. Comstock, Of a
long experience, analyses the results
of lack OF cooperation as follows:
"If labor is denied the oppor.
tunity of cooperating with capital,
then labor turns to competing with
capital. Industrial life becomes a
guerrilla warfare in which capital
seeks to profit at the expense of
labor and in which labor seeks to
profit at the expense OF capital.
On the labor side in such circum.
stances there is a Misunderstanding
Of producing costs. On the side
of capital there is a lack Of under.
standing Of the workers aspirs.
tions. Strikes and lockouts are a
crude expression Of the resentment
which this mutual lack Of under.
standing begets. Until capital and
labor are both represented in the
control Of the business, carrying
their respective investments, this
warfare and anarchy are certain to
persist" 60 = . ~
II anybody would put that idea
into the settlement Of the present
railroad and coal strikes, he might
be doing something to prevent these