Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-05-19
SPEAKERS STRESS
=. UPL|FT OF LABOR
American and British Union
Officials Present Plea of
! Workers.
DEPLORE HOSTILE FORCES
Johnston and Mallon Address So
cial Work Conference
Here.


self with academic laws or adopts
solely the point of view of the profit
maker, and as long as politics is
merely struggle sbetween political
machines for patronage. neither has
much social meaning. "-William H.
Johnston, president of the Interna-
tional Association of Machinists.
Labor conditions over a wide area
Of modern industry are intolerable to
A free man and inconsistent with his
human dignity."-James J. Mallon OF
London, England. honorary secretary
of the advisory council of British
Trade Boards.
These are the keynotes of The Pub
lie Interest in Industrial Organiza-
ton" and of Social Aspects of the
La Dor Movement" sounded by inter-
national leaders in the cause of labor
at the general session in Memorial
Continental Hall last night, closing
the all-day discussion in score of
meetings on the problems and as
poets of industry" as related to social
work.
Function of Industry.
THE function of industry" Mr.. NAL
Ion continued. lis not to flll the
pockets of employers and 6nanciers:
it is to minister to the high purposes
of life.
Mr.. Mallon is also head worker Of
Toynbee Hall, London. and was one
of the prime movers IN the enactment
of the British trade boards act. The
theme of Mr.. Mallon's address was.
how can industry fulfill the functions
of production. pay adequate divide nd
and yet conserve the life and health
of workers?
THE social worker" he said. has
a vision of society in which men
and women will not any longer be
bruised or overthrown. in which
children will be cared for and the
good things of this life more evenly
shared than they are today. He sees
4 society in which there will be no
NAL of the facilities which human
beings need for their reasonable ex-
pansfon and happiness. no ignorance.
no avertible pain. He has a vision Of
dom and beauty: where men will be
associated in a great cooperation to
augment the happiness and blessed
ness of all
Service, Not Profit.
How can this dream be realized if,
as is the case today. industry is dis
ordered by feuds between employers
W Ho men Wnen there Is DTOnt TO
be made out of them and discard
them when there is none. and en-
ployes who object to being hired
and discarded and as long as they
are so treated will give to industry
only such service as necessity COM
pels? The answer of the social
worker is plain. If industry is in the
future to hurt and throw down none:
If It is to remember the humanity
of the worker. respect his personal
lty. safeguard his strength. develop
his intelligence. enlarge his status
and dignity. it's motive must be
transmitted. 1t must aim not at maxi
ing a profit but at serving man.
kind.
THE social worker. with the ideals
which he cherishes and with his long.
practical experience in the combat of
social ~ills. is forced by the nature of
his task more and more to take a
leading part in this re-orientation of
our industrial life"
Mr.. Johnson. as spokesman for
American organized labor. argued
that lit is one of the chief social
contributions of organizations such as
trade unions that they can attract
the attention of economists to prac-
tical problems having to do with
welfare. and that they can lift politics
to a plane where ii must take account
of the effect of government on the
daily lives of the great masses"
Have Much I'm Common.
Social workers and workers in the
labor movement have much in COM
rnon," said Mr.. Johnson. They both
face a somewhat hostile world. l do
not mean that the world as a whole
bears them any personal Ill will, but
at present the most powerful forces
seem to have different standards of
value and to be pressing toward diff
ferent goals from those which are
nearest their hearts
ANY one who is familiar with in
dustrial conditions in this country
knows that a great many employers,
and even public officials. are not yet.
after century of growth of the labor
movement, convinced that voluntary
and independent organizations of
wage-earnerS are here to stay and
must be recognized in the establish
ments where their daily life Is lived
and where they earn their bread. Such
elementary standards as the eight
hour day are not yet practiced in vast
stretches of the nations industry. 1t
is a continual struggle, in many
branches of work. to keep wages any
where near the level on which a man
can support a family in health and
decency.
insufficient wages, insufficient leis-
ure, insufficient employment. fatigue
and unwholesome or improper work.
part of our social troubles, and 1t Is
ten times as important to eliminate
the causes as 1t is to attempt to
alleviate the results.
Labor also has Its eyes on the
more fundamental questions of eco
nomic waste. and is coming to use it's
efforts to further management of in
dustry in the public interest rather
than for private profit We are con-
scious, for instance, of the disorder
and the need for a basic change in
the coal industry. I think it will be
found that among the most valuable
contributions to a solution of the
coal problem will be the studies made
and the recommendations submitted
to the United States coal commission
by officials of the United Mine Work.
ers and the technicians whom they
have engaged.
Organizations Of labor are not
mere negative associations for mu-
tual protection. They are also con-
structive forces. necessary for the
building of better social order"