The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-02-02

the lQQuStIidl realm the ABSTRACT TlSu|
of such persons either individually
or collectively to bargain with whom
soever they wish is not denied by any
body. But in the appropriation OF
these rights, there are those who ex
pand them beyond their meaning, for
getting that the right to organize
does not carry with it the right t.
use such organiztion harmfully to the
unworthy ends, and that the right tC
bargain collectively does not imply
an obligation on the part of Others
to become the second parties to such
bargaining if for satisfactory
to themselves they are unwilling tC
do so. They forget also that all mora
law is indis criminate and universe,
in its application, and that the right
to do a thing c%onnotes the right to re
frain from doing it. The exercise OF
one mans right does not necessarily
~abrogate the right of another.
There are p~rovidentially imposed
limitations upon all rights. Other
wise, they would be absolute, and an
absolute right can not exist perman-
emily out of Heaven. If the character
and dues of an organization had moth.
ing to do with its right to existence,
lynching parties might be organized
with moral impunity; and civil
statues, deprived of a base, would
be ineffective and shOrt-lived. Even
the pursuit of happiness, for the Sc
curing of which all law is instituted,
can be and often is forfeited because
of its abuse.
The confusion arising from the oper-
alton of the principle of collective
bargaining seems to be general and is
very difficult to dissipate. Those who
directly profit most from the exercise
of this right construe it to mean that
they may bargain with their employ
ers through any representatives whom
they may choose or who may be
g~ratuitously furnished for the purpose
by those in the organization having
higher authority. The rejection of
this Interpretation is usually met with
the protest that the principle of col
~lective bargaining itself is denied.
Most if not all those holding a con-
trary view would be willing to recog-
nize the principle by dealing with
their own employees collectively
through representatives voluntarily
chosen by them out of their own
number and without outside sugges.
ton or interference; but they are not
willing to bargain for the labor of
their own employees through repre-
sentatives outside their employment.
They predicate this position upon the
supposition and belief that their own
employees have sufficient intelligence
for the purpose, that an alien dictator
ship is 10 necessary. and that they
are themselves better friends to those
whom they employ and are more un-
selfshly interested in their welfare
than a be foreign agents who live
upon the tolls they arbitrarily take
from those whose labor they sell.
These sharp differences in the I'M
~destanding of moral rights are the
real basis Of industrial antagonisms.
They have grown as our industrial
processes have multiplied and be-
come more complex, and have been
highly accumulated by the sordid uses
to which they have been put by in
dustrial parasites parading in the
guise of friends to the toilers. So
industriously have laborers been re-
minded Of their rights by political
and economic buccaneers that obi
cation as an important item in the
program of life has been almost lost
sight Of. A large portion of the wage
earning masses has been indoctrin-
ated with the idea that work was
sent upon man as a curse and that
only those who work with their
hands are to be regarded as working
men. The idle life has been held up
before them as the only happy life.
They are made to believe that their
employers have little or nothing to
do except to draw dividends and play
golf.
The thousands of men in America
who derive material profit from strife
between employer and employee I'M
d~oubtedly constitute the chief OBJ
stacle to the establishment Of harmony
and good will in the industrial world.
The Overwhelming majorities of both
employers and employees are essenti,
ally honest harmonious relations ex
cept for the assiduous meddling of
outsiders. Ninety-five per CEN of all
men who employ labor have them
selves been w~age-earners and have
earned their promotions by hard
work and sacrifice. They know the
~wage-earners viewpoint much better
than the w~age-earner does or can
know theirs, and the average employ
er of labor is very naturally the best
friend his employees have outside
their own family circles. May the
time soon come when the public will
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