New Britain herald., 1922-08-02
Vice President Gives Good Advice to Labor and Capi-
 tai at Babson Conference '3
 Today.


 Wellesley Hills. Mass, August D.
 During the past few months Calvin Coolidge. vice president of the United
 States has been giving great thought and study to the labor situation ow. ing to the coal and railroad strikes
 In view Of the masterful way in which he handled the Boston police mans strike in 1919, he was invited to the Babson Industrial conference to state his position on this moment out question.
 Mir Coolidge assumes we will ac- cePt labor unions and that capital, labor and management will unite in bringing about true industrial de- mocracy. But,--he states fearlessly that no democracy-political or in- dustrial--can survive without disci- pline. organization. and obedience. There must be law and order Boards Of arbitration must be created and obeyed in order for the wage workers themselves to get on. His own words are as follows:-
 The Word Democracy"
 We neel fuller realization and a broader comprehension of the mean ing both of political and economic de- mocracy. In this age of science and invention and organization. there is a special need for full understanding of the foundations of industrial democracy The word democracy is used very inaccurately. It is often taken to signify freedom and equality Many have thought it represented an absence of all restraints. Others have considered it as providing re- lief from all duties. The people of America have long been committed to democracy. The best thought of the world has been compelled to follow them. The easy way to understand what may be expected of it is first to understand what it is.
 There has never been any organ lzed society without rulers. The great power of mankind has been created through unity of action This has ment the adoption of common standard. In most ancient times this was represented in the chieftain. In modern times it is represented by a code of laws. The important factor to remember is that it has always re- auired obedience. Democracy Is obedience to the rule of the people
 The failure to appreciate this double function of the citizen has led to much misunderstanding, for it is very plain to see that there cannot be my rule of the people without a peo- pie to be ruled. The difference be- tween despotism and democracy is not ! difference in the requirement of obediencee, 1t is a difference in rulers The American citizen is at once a sov- ereign and a subject. He becomes an absolute sovereign by absolute obed lence. The criminal loses all his free dom. Itis easy to see that democracy will have attained perfection when laws are made wholly wise and obed- fence fs made wholly complete.
 One of The Tragedies
 ".One of the great tragedies of Am erican institutions is the experience of those who come here expecting to be | able to rule without rendering obe- l dience They have entirely miscon- ceived the meaning of democracy But they need not disturb its defend | CTS. TO cast 1t aside could only mean the acceptance of some old kind of rulers which have already been dis carded. The true hope of progress lies only in perfecting it. Already it is, better than anything else in the world. But it rests entirely on the people. It depends on their ability both to rule and to obey It is what they are. The government is what they make 1t. This same principle has been working out in our economic and industrial life, We are slowly, and of course painfully, arriving at a state of democracy in this field. In its development it has been analogous to the development in political life. It Is not very long ago that the man who owned an industry assumed to be the absolute lord over it. $1e ruled it. He fixed the hours and the conditions of employment and dictated the