The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-09-14
Continued from page One

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conceals dangerous fallacy. The
truth is, there is no Public of any
consequence that stands off in air
tight isolation from Capital and La
bor. Count the men in this or in any
other community whose welfare is not
inextricably intermixed with the well
fare of one or other or both of these
groups. They are not many. The
proper exploitation of our natural
resources depends on the organizing
ability, the sagacity, the wealth and
the willingness of our capitalists, act
ing in conjunction with competent
and willing labor. On the other hand,
organized Labor is vitality related to
workers, so that the upward or down
ward tendency of wages in one Labor
group eventually affects all groups, as
careful study of wage currents con-
clusively shows. Thus the prosperity
of any one of US is more or less tied
up with the prosperity of all the rest.
The railroad strike itself is indeed a
vivid illustration of this, which is af-
ter all commonplace truth. Yet
certain voices are heard, some of them
from high places, pleading for the in
terests of the great Third Party to
these industrial disputes, as if some
of us could afford to say Let Capital
and Labor be damned. This great
Third Party" is very much of Phan-
tom, which, it is to be feared, some
conjure with only to hide their par
tisanship under the guise of a popular
term.
The Other Public
Nevertheless, there is Public
whose viewpoint should be controll-
ing. This is not the Public of 'the
great Third Party, but the Public,
which includes Capital and Labor and
all of US who are technically neither
the one nor the other. This is the
Public whose interest is most VITAL
Society as a whole. Can this Public
better afford for the Railroads or the
Shopmen to win the Strike? Or does
it matter which wins? Are the wages
demanded unfair? Are they more
than fair living wages? Would it
bankrupt the railroads to pay them?
What would be the effect on society
if it did? Would we get more efficient
management, government control,
government ownership or what? Will
it crush the Shopmen's Union, if they
lose? What if it does? Can the Pub
lie afford to have this Labor Union
broken so that the men who work for
the Railroad Corporations in this de-
partment shall henceforth be obliged
to bargain for their wages not in a
corporate capacity but as individuals?
If this Union were broken, will con-
flict follow with the Brotherhoods?
Would Society be better off, if there
were no Unions? Do you as member
of Society know what Unionism has
done for wages, shorter hours Of la
Dor, and better working conditions?
Well, let US take the Public's point of
view, but let us be altogether sure
that we know what the Public's point
of view really is.
Two Views Of Man
First, there is Hamlet's splendid
raving:-What piece of work is man!
how noble in reason! how infinite in
faculty! in form and moving how ex-
press and admirable! in action how
like an angel! in apprehension how
like god! the beauty of the world!
the paragon of animals!
Then, there is the little girls COM
position or. men:-Mcn are what wom-
!. en- marry. They drink and smoke and
swear, don't go to church. Perhaps
If they wore bonnets they would.
They are more logical than women
and also more geological Both men
and women sprung from monkeys, but
the women sprung further than the
men.
Tie Dreamer
The gipsies passed her little gate
She stopt her wheel to see
A brown-faced pair who walked the
road
Free as the wind is free;
And suddenly her little room
A prison seemed to be.
Her shining plates against the walls.
Her sunlit, sanded floor,
The brass-bound wedding-chest that
held
Her linens snowy store,
The very wheel whose humming died
Seemed only chains she bore.
She watched the foot-free gipsies pass;
She never knew or guessed
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