Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-05-19
WHY WORKERS STRIKE
BY EDWARD FIENE Director of the Chamber
of Cmerce

census Of informed opinion, both
among employers and employees,
recognizes as practical and just. This
moderate program, if achieved, would
go far to do away with strikes.
The right of employees TO a voice
in determining the conditions under
which they shall work and TO a stable
and living wage have already been
dealt with. Other goals that are now
generally recognized as right and
just, include
% The right Of employees to unite
for purposes of collective bargaining;
~ A gradual and reasonable re-
duction in hours of labor;
(3) Compensation for industrial
accidents as a just charge on indus
try;
"a The right Of labor to be safe
guarded in all matters pertaining to
health, steady employment and good
working conditions.
Men and women fit for American
citizenship, the working hours of
whose lives must be spent in stores
and factories, in mines and on farms
and railroads must and will demand
just solutions of such problems as
are presented by these statements of
principle. 1t is to the advantage of
US employers to lead in finding these
solutions. 1t is to the advantage of
the consumer and of society that we
shall do so. If the elimination of
outgrown ideas and the righting of
old wrongs is left to labor alone,
wage conflicts and strikes will con-
tinue on an increasing scale. The
strike is their principal weapon. If
they are forced to fight for their
rights they must and will use it.
The Basic Remedy for Strikes.
Important for the establishment of
good industrial relations as are the
three matters of which | have spoken,
there is in my judgment fourth
reason of a still more fundamental
nature-namely, that business shall
more and more become profession
and be carried on in a spirit of serv-
ice to the community.
The motive with which the em-
ployer directs his business and with
which the employee works will in the
last analysis determine whether there
will be industrial war or industrial
peace.
A Code of Business Ethics.
Asked recently by the editor of The
Annals to prepare an article ON A
Simple Code of Business Ethics as
one of a series of studies on the ethics
of the several business and profess
sional groups, | venture to base it
on these two brief formulas
l. That a business, in order to
have the right to succeed, must be of
t.na 10 ha
2. That real service in business
disc of reliable quality for the lowest
practically possible price, provided
that merchandise is made and sold UNI
der just conditions.
Philanthropy becomes a sin and an
offense, when it uses for charity the
earnings of industry that should be
used for justice to employees and the
public.
The First Lien on Large Profits.
The first legitimate use of large
profits, and the main use, is to re-
duce prices. These lower prices will,
in turn, cause increased demand, in
creased production and increased
total profit, at which point prices can
again be reduced. 1t is worse than
useless to merely increase produc-
ton. Prices must at the same time
be reduced enough to bring in the
greatly increased number of pur-
chasers needed to absorb this greater
output. Employers are wrong when
they endeavor to obtain mass produc-
ton through lowering wages to a de-
gree that lessons the number of pos
sible consumers for their product.
Employees are wrong when they try
to get higher real wages or more
work through limiting output. Both
will find it far more profitable in the
long run to join hands in efforts to
furnish reliable and essential mer-
chandise to the public at prices lower
than it has been sold before. In this
way they will greatly increase the
number of consumers and increase the
demand for workmen. They will at
the same time increase wages, and the
purchasing power of those wages.