Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-08-24
NOW MY IDEA is THIS! -.
Daily Talks With Thinking Phlodelphans Subjects They
KnotU Best
ditions must be 90 and 30, that wages are
too high or are too low, and this decision

ditions must be 50 and 50, that wages are
too high or are too low, and this decision
Is final. -, :,
1T is important to get these things clear
in the public mind, because loose talk about
compulsory arbitration is confusing and
prejudices the cause of permanent economic
peace. When the Canadian Industrial Dis
putes Act was first enacted it was bitterly
,, opposed by both employers and employees,
but the fact that 1t has remained fifteen
years on the statute books of the Dominion.
with never an attempt to repeal 1t, shows
that 1t hns been good thing. The same is
true in Kansas.
Zone of the unfortunate things about
both the Canadian and the Kansas laws Is
that both were passed to meet some great
crisis and not as the result of a deliberate
and broad minded effort permanently to i'm
prove industrial conditions. 1t was a coal
strike in both cases.
Cost Of Rival Organizations
The enormous sums expended annually in
| maintaining labor unions and employers
associations are n great drain on industry,
| which could be eliminated entirely II the
| State found some simple and adequate ma
chinery for Investigating and adjusting in :.
dustrial troubles. The Industrial Relations
| Committee of the Chamber of Commerce Is
| spending as much money annually in nm ef-
fort to bring about desirable industrial con.
ditions in Philadelphia alone as the Do.
minion of Canada spends in administering
its Department Of Labor.
| but private citizens cannot be expected
! to give the time and money necessary to
establish the best working conditions, and
whatever they might do would be only of
local character and subject to unfavorablc
reaction in other parts Of the State, while
State agencies could view the field from
| broader outlook.
1T is conceded by thinking persons that
the present war and waste following in the
wake Of strikes and lockouts will prove
fatal to the economic order II permitted to
remain unremcded. There is no difference
| except in degree between the forces employed
In industrial warfare and those in the late
international war; and 1t cannot be ex-
pected that the parties involved will ever
approach their problem with that degree of
forbearance and patience which will effect
q solution.
- A Function Of the State
THAT Is distinctly function of the State.
1t Is to be hoped that the people of Penn
sylvnnia will take to heart the present
indifference, and will set in motion influences
which will compel the next session of the
Legislature to establish q Court of Indus.
trial Relations. which will serve the entire
State and set an example to the sister States
Of the Nation. This need not follew either
adapting the best Of each and making such
additions as our local situations may re.
quire, It would seem that great rovements
could be made on both these systems and n
way opened for IN era Of industrial peace
which would mean much to our progress and
prosperity.
"A survey of present conditions must
carry to the minds Of all an apprecia tion
of several conditions which confront this
country. In the midst Of railway strike
which Is not only prostrating industry, but
Is a menace to the lives of every person
In the country who travels, and n threatened
coal famine, the severity of which can be
determined only by the character Of the
winter we are to have, there can be no
doubt that In the language of the Psalmist
these disputes are like the pestilence which
walketh In the darkness and the destroye,
that wasteth at monday
| Force Of Public Opinion
"Our State should declare In it's SOVEREIGN
capacity that men shall be protected In
| the right to choose their own wny of life
but that they shall not Interfere with IN,
same right Of their neighbors by indulginr
in disputes. the causes and the condj,ion,
of which nre shroudcd In mystery. Let m
intelligent public opinion force n law on IN,
statute books which shall lay bare the fact,
In the disputes, and then let public opinion
force Just judgment based on these facts
| 'Thts Is a question of such tfar- reacbin,
': importatce that no citizen ctn shirk nj,