The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-06-21
Taking Steps Toward Peace in Industry
Employer and Employee Must Solve
Their Own Problems

(Written for the Mining Congress
Journal by James }. Davis, secretary
OF labor)
We live in an extraordinary age.
We are just learning the fun value of
the words organization and coopera-
ton. We are approaching the day
when labor shall be really free, when
industry shall be really unshackled.
The day of master and man is gone
in American industry. 1 hope that
with that unhappy time will disappear
the period of discord and strife i'm Am
erican industrial life. and that we
shall enter upon an era of intelligent
cooperation based on mutual interests.
mutual good will and mutual under
standing between the worker and the
employer Many forces in this country
are today working toward this end.
as day after day we demonstrate the
futility of fratricidal conflict between
those who manage industry and those
whose labor makes industry possible
Employers and workers everywhere
are learning that they stand no longer
in the relation of master and servant
as in ages past, but that they are CO.
workers. partners whose joint and
mutual interests march side by side
They are coming to know that the
prosperity OF industry depends upon
production, and that industrial war
fc N Of
tiOn. To end industrial warfare we
need understanding and cooperation
between the men who manage indus
try and the men upon whose labor |
industry is founded The greatest /
for employer and employ |
ed, will be found in that industry |
where the employer knows intimately /
the problems and needs and aspira-
tons of the workers, and where the |
workers have a sympathetic under
of the difficulties and dis
and purposes Of the
employer. Many of our present day
industrial difficulties We're unknown
IN the days when industry, organized
On a small scale permitted closer per-
sonal relations between the man who
industry and the men who
worked in it. The successful sur
of these difficulties lies in
developing some system whereby that
close personal relationship may be
restored or some adequate substitute
found for it,
We are gradually learning in Amer
ca that employer and employee must /
stand or fall together; that one can
not long prosper at the expense of the
other Both must gain. If one loses,
both must lose. If one dies, both must
die. 1 have a firm belief that we can
the era of good will in Am
erican industry We are ready to take
Two long strides in that direction. We
must place at the disposal of the
workers accurate scientific informa-
ton as to the problems, conditions and /
purposes which confront the employ
srs. We must see to it that the en-
plOyers are made thoroughly familiar
with the aims, objects and difficulties
which lie before the workers We
must make sure that when workers
md employers get together to arrange
wages and conditions of employment
both sides are in possession not only
If all the facts that bear upon the
matters before them but that each
tide has an appreciation OF the point
# view of the other When we reach
his point the way will be clear to
ternal peace in industry.
l know something of the weaknesses
nd something of the strength of
rade unionism in America. Some
rade organizations have provided the
est experts that are known in their
lines to furnish necessary
and statistics to the rep
esentatives of the organization who a,
cal with management Their expert ,
nee has demonstrated the wisdom of
roviding the representatives of the
'orkers with full and complete data
s to their industry. We can do much .
y lettering the facilities of the work
RS for securing all information as to
he problems of management as well
8 to their own problems. c
When men meet with the manage i
lent they should meet on equal terms. '
he. representatives Of the men should '
now the problems which confront the /
the problems of finance, G
{ sales or markets, of raw materials. {
The trade union principle is funda I
lentally sound, but like every other +
reat human institution, it has its 1
lults, and it can be abused. Not q
lany men in industry today are quar- a
cling with the trade union principle. a
tut some of the abuses have stirred c
lany men in the management of in r
ustry against it. c
One evil that has crept into our =
-ade union system is the jurisdiction e
/ dispute. honestly believe that the
dispute has done more