Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1922-08-31
RAIL AND COAL
STRIKES To Be
/. AVOIDED SOON
ROGER BABSON, STATISTICIAN,
SEES PUBLIC INTERESTED
IN ELIMINATION.
Must Develop Plan
TO Stop Them, VielU


in the temporary settlement of the
coal strike and the railroad strike rs
in developing plans so that they will
not periodically re-occur. 1t is not
enough to know that we shall have
coal this winter or that railway traf-
fic is not now suspended. If the
people of this country are to be heal
thy, happy and prosperous, we must
know that some plan is being evolv-
ed to prevent these strikes from re-
occurring. In view of these facts,
Roger w. Babson was this week ask
ed to make forecast as to future
labor developments. His diagnosis
of the strike situation follows:
When in Washington during the
war, assisting the Secretary of Labor,
it was evident that the students of
labor problems were divided into two
distinct groups: one group believes in
compulsory arbitration as illustrated
by the Kansas Industrial Court, and
the other group stands purely for
Cancellation without any compulsion.
Conservatives and radicals can be
found in both groups. Investigation
leads me to believe that there is a
field for both of these lines of work.
Labor disputes in connection with
general industries, such as the textile
industry, the boot and shoe industry,
and possibly the steel industry,
should be kept on a Cancellation basis.
1t surely would be a mistake to at
tempt compulsory arbitration in con-
nection with these businesses which
are operated solely for profit. The
best means of avoiding trouble in
these industries is by keeping these
industries in two major labor groups,
one group to be strictly union" and
the other group strictly "non-union.'
Let the union group adopt the closed
shop and let the other group be strict
ly non-union. Then let the two
groups compete. | do not mean nee
essarily in production, but rather see
under which system the public, the
employees and the stock holders, all
combined, are most prosperous. My
own guess is that none of these three
parties would long be healthy, happy
and prosperous with all union or
with all "non-union." When one
group secures control, it becomes in
efficient, careless and arrogant. My
guess is that an industry would be
most prosperous and all concerned in
it would de rendering the most serv-
ice and be happiest if the industry
were equally divided into a union and
a non-unon field. SO much for gen.
eral industry When disputes arise,
only Cancellation should be applied by
third party. There should be no
compulsory settlements in such cases.
when, however, we come to trans
portation, fuel. public utilities such
as water, light and gas, or to the
distribution Of milk, bread, etc, we
find a group of industries to which
compulsory arbitration must be ap-
piled. The first two groups to which
such strong-arm method will be ap-
piled are the railroad and coal mines.
First let me say that the railroads
and the mine operators are them
selves largely to blame for present
troubles. Although the owners of
these properties are now behaving
themselves, they have not always
done so. Most of the unwise methods
that labor leaders are using today
were applied by the railroads and
mine operators of twenty years ago.
Hence these corporations now are on
ly reaping what they have sown.
Nevertheless, two wrongs do not
make a right. Our nation must have
transportation and fuel at fair rate
and the operation of its railroad and
coal properties must be undisturbed
by either labor leaders or stock mar
ket operations. Regarding the rail
road situation: to secure fair rate
the Interstate Commerce Commission
has been organized, and to secure
undisturbed transportation the Rail
road Labor Board has been created.
The first of these-tnat is, the In
terstate Commerce Commission lis
functioning very well, and the strug-
gle is now over the Railroad Labor
Board"
At this point Mr. Babson was
told of a strong feeling on the part
Of both the railroad arrangements
and the employees that the Railroad
Board was not properly made up
Concerning this, Mr.. Babson stated
Experience has shown that
boards consisting of three groups
Zone group representing capital, one
group representing labor, and one
group representing the public) do
not function well. The group repre-
senting capital vote in one body for
the corporations; the group repre-
senting labor vote in one body for
the wage workers; this leaves the
decision to the three men who repre-
sent the public. The problems involv-
ed are too great to permit leaving
the decisions to three men chosen
more or less for political reasons
To have the Railroad Labor Board oil
any other such board properly func-
ton, five, seven or nine men should
be selected who represent neither
the CORPORATIONS nor the wage work.