The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1923-04-27
THE RIGHT TO STRIKE
AND IT'S IMPORTANCE POINTED OUT BY PRESIDENT GOMPERs
--STRIKES CONSTITUTE VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE
OF WASTE IN INDUSTRY
The Good Their Use Has Done For Humanity Ouwghs ANY
Temporary inconvenience Suffered Because Of Them
Declares Labor Chief

cause they have been able to make
of their discomfort a creative force
for their own benefit, the wealth of
the United States, both individual and
aggregate, exceeds that of any other
country in the world. AS result. we
have an organization of production
in the United States, instead of an
organization Of destruction A par
allel with China suggests itself, be-
cause there labor is not organized.
Capital does not derive any benefit
because of the few cents a day wage
that prevails, and the human instinct
for organization and personal ad-
vancement expresses itself only in
the organization of robber bands. The
countries that abound in revolutions
will always be found to be least eff
cient in the organization of labor.
3. Anti-strike laws are not neces-
sary as a means of settling indus
trial disputes Strikes have been set
tied and will continue to be settled
without the interference of govern
ment Strikes constitute a very small
percentage of the waste in industry
Losses from strikes are partly fcti.
tious The recent coal strike, for in
stance, can be used as an illustration.
Anti-labor propagandists have been
freely quoted in the newspapers as
saying that the miners lost huge sums
in wages, figuring this loss on the ba-
sis of the men in the industry and
the time the strike lasted As a mat
ter of fact, nothing, generally speak
ing, was lost by the men. They
merely fixed the time for taking a
vacation, instead of leaving it to the
discretion of their employers. The
previous year the average working
time was 40 working days, leaving
200 days for idleness. The men earn
ed as much, and more, during the
course of the year 1922 as if they
had not gone out on strike. They
mined the same amount of coal for
wages that had not been reduced.
4. There is less need for anti-strike
legislation now than ever before. 1t
is not anti-strike legislation that is
needed 1t is fact-finding agencies
to determine the basis for settlement
of industrial disputes. The American
workmen have neither the intention,
nor the desire, to kill the goose that
lays the golden egg. Justice, fair
dealing, education and knowledge, are
the best means of obtaining industrial
peace in a democracy such as the
United States.
To quote the following extracts
from an address by the president OF
the American Federation of Labor
before the New Jersey legislature in
1920, in opposing the anti-strike legis-
lation then pending:
"You and | are made uncomfort-
able and caused inconvenience by rea-
son of any cessation of work. Just
so are we Inconvenience and made
uncomfortable during the process of
changing from one condition to
another. There has never yet occur
red in the history of the whole world
any great change for righteous
cause without inconvenience and dis
comfort.
'The labor movement of our country
is the expression, the intelligent ex-
preston, the rational expression, the
natural expression of discomfort of
the people to establish through or