The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-09-14
WHEN NOBODY, "WINS"

you STORY anu StOp CIllS lcCCullIlS.
WHEN NOBODY, "WINS"
If there is any lesson to be drawn
from the railroad and coal strikes, it
is that the strike has outlived it's use
fulness as means of settling indus
trial ouarrels, and that substitute
for it must be found.
In the great majority of cases no.
body "wins'' a strike. Everyone con-
cerned loses, and the general public
loses more than either party to it, if
the strike is general one.
In the coal strike the men returned
to work at their old wages after sew
eral months of idleness. They lost
their wages while idle. The employ
ees lost their overhead expenses for
that period. The public will suffer,
doubtless, in higher coal prices.
If the railway strike is settled, it
probably will be settled on somewhat
similar basis. The men will return at
the wages fixed by the labor board,
which they refused to accept. They
may lose some of their seniority rights
at least, and all of their wages dur
ing the period Of the strike. The roads
have been put to a very heavy ex-
pense, and the public to unending in
convenience with the prospect Of ac-
tual hardship and heavy financial loss
eS.
! Nobody has "won" then in either
strike, no matter what the exact terms
of settlement may be-? On the con-
trary everyone has lost.
-. Strikes must take their place be-
side war as Improbable even when
successful.
:. The day has gone when war pays,
if it ever did, even for the victor. And
the day has passed when any wide
spread strike "pays.'
Under present conditions, unfortu-
nately, there seems no alternative to
a strike at times. Labor has no 9TH
.er way of enforcing it's demands, and
if those demands are fair and just a
strike is warranted.
But it is not too much to hope that
two such strikes as the country has
Experienced this year, will set both Ia
Dor and employers thinking about the
possibility of finding substitute for
the strike and the lockout.
i President Harding insists that ev-
cry man has the right both to strike
and to work if he so wishes. That
connotes the right of the employer to
lock out and to hire as he wishes.
Under present conditions both rights
must be recognized. But hasn't the
country as a whole the right to de-
mand that both labor and capital give
up these rights in the interest Of what
Governor Allen calls "the party of the
third part''-or the general public.
In the old days, men insisted on the
right to fight out their private quar-
rels with clubs or guns or swords. But
society stepped in and provided tfi-
bunal, and insisted that all private
disputes be settled before that tribu.
, nal. The working men of those days
didn't protest against this tribunal as
> restricting their freedom. On the con-
trary they looked upon it as a bill
=. of rights for them. The rich man was
no longer able to hire soldiers to seize
!, what he wanted. The courts were the
defenders Of the poor man.
Perhaps we will yet come to regard
industrial courts as defenders of union
labor. Perhaps labor itself will see it
: that way some day. Certainly it
. couldn't be much more costly to the
individual union man than a great
u strike. Perhaps he could we'll afford
to give up the fright to strike" if he
> got justice in return for it--Forum