The Connecticut labor news., 1922-09-01

tirety, IS not sufficient to save men or
 igion.
 Not only so, but the industrial and
 economic factors in the life of our
 people condition, to a very great ex-
 tent, their religious interests and ac-
 tivities. Health and happiness are,
 generally speaking, necessary to the
 attainment of the higher life The
 church cannot be indifferent to the
 physical well-being of it's people
 which depends so largely on their
 economic status, nor to those rela-
 tionships within industry which con
 stitute for vast numbers of people the
 chief sphere of moral activity.
 Christian teachings as applied to in
 dustry include three cardinal princi-
 ples: the worth of personality, broth
 erhood as between all those engaged
 in industry, and the motive of serv-
 ice. The first principle requires that
 every person shall be treated as a
 spiritual end in himself. Christianity
 aims at the progressive liberation of
 human life so that every individual may have share in the life abundant.
 Brotherhood in industry expresses itself in cooperation between work CTS and employers as between human beings who possess measurable
 spiritual worth. It is the spiritual content of democracy. The supre- macy of the service motive relegates competition for gain to an inferior place of human endeavor. From the Christian point of view industrial power and privilege are justified only on the basis of the service that they render to those who participate in the industry and to, the entire commun- ity.
 We .are still in the period where. the dominant mote in the industrial world Is one of strife and contro- versy. There probably never was time when there was more bitterness and conflict, some of it due to mis- understanding between \ employers and workers, and some of it, unfor tunately, due to a very clear under standing of hostile aims and pur poses. Employers and workers have too commonly arrayed themselves in hostile camps, and have been inclined economic force. This has been mani fest especially during the last I2 months.
 Local controversies for the most part relate to a countrywide struggle in which labor IS seeking to retain or advance it's position of power and and employers are endeav- bring, with equal determination, to limit the power of la bor The public in general, is more ] conscious of the unpleasant and often disastrous results. of this conflict than of the moral quality of the issues in | volved, although these issues inevit- | ably tend to disrupt community life. 1 The precise facts are often difficult l to secure and the issues are frequent Iy too complicated for the average individual to comprehend.
 The church has a very patent op- portunity to study and interpret the moral issues of industrial controver- sy, to interpret each group to the other and to the public at large, and 10 teach the principles of sound hu- man relationships in industry. It is safe to say that the majority of our people have an ill-informed at itude of hostility to one or the other, or to both of the parties in any in 1ustrial conflict which interferes with he public's convenience Much Is made of the practices of labor or sanizations, some of them reprehen- ,ible, which seem to be dictated by ;lass interest and by disregard of he welfare of the entire. community. The labor movement itself Is but title understood. Likewise there IS tendency on the part of many peo- ,le to attribute, sometimes with req on and justice, predatory self-inter- st to the employing class. Not only s public opinion, which should be the most potent, factor in the settlement # industrial disputes, often ignorant f the major facts, but the judgmentl f the public is too commonly die ated by considerations of self-interI st rather than of justice and right An increasing recognition of these ( ifficulties is leading to a new ap-l raisa1 on the part of the public gen ( rally of the possibilities of the ( hurch and of the ministry in further ng the aims of justice in the indus , rial world.
 The large number of strikes which s ave occurred during the period of $ usiness depression have, of course, ( esulted from the tendency to de ( ate" 1abor-a tendency which in part I 5as to- be taken for granted with a ( ecession of prices and of living ( osts, and a corresponding defation ' f the farmers. It cannot be too ( ften said and repeated that high ( ,ages during the war were by no 1eans so general as believed, and ( nat the demand for a reduction of . ages in proportion to the reduction l l living costs has been made with { Tt reference to the fact that wages, rior to the war, were too low and annot fairly be taken as basis of t