Evening star., 1925-04-25

Earnest discussion of the compul-
sorry arbitration principle has followed
| the decision of the United States Su-
preme Court curtailing powers of the
Kansas Industrial Court. While the
weight of public opinion as reflected
in the press seems to be favorable,
comment on the subject shows a wide
range, from complete satisfaction at
the ruling to regret that an intended
remedy for the strike has been found
unconstitutional.
There is a reminder in the decision
that legal formula, however well in
tentioned, is not the panacea for the
! ills of the body polite, social or eco
nomic," observes the Philadelphia Bull
letin. There is undoubted virtue in
industrial arbitration. 1t is the goal
to which effort should continue to be
directed. The cost of strikes is a ter
rible waste of prosperity. But the law
can't compel men to be wise, rather
than foolish; can't order a man to
enter into a contract, whether he be
| employer or employe, which he does
! not want"
The view that the decision is a
Knockout blow for the Kansas court
| is held by the Buffalo News, which
points to the fact that Kansas had
felt that the emergency created by a
! strike in the essential industries of
| food, fuel, clothing and transportation
was so serious that the citizens were
entitled to demand prompt settlement.
| The News, however, adds: 1T cannot
be denied that the law represents a
| wide extension of Government au-
| thority." The decision is declared a
good one, by the Hartford Times, be
cause it recognizes the need of free
@f 10 f,,1,
and of freedom from paralyzing and
restrictive attempts to make a matter
| of compulsion what should be a mat
ter of normal growth in the industries
! themselves.
Labor and capital have been set
back Ia the old arena, leaving them
to fight out their dispute with fang
and claw, according to the New York
| Evening Post, which believes that the
decision discourases the public's ef-
fort to protect itself by some form of
compulsory arbitration. The Evening
| Post continues: 1.-The divine right of
| the lockout and the divine right" to
strike have been upheld, exalted, Civ
en- a peculiar Sanctity and set apart
! from other and equally human rights
seemingly less divine. In this matter,
vitality affecting public welfare, it is
| held disputes between capital and la
bor are private feuds, into which the
| public may not thrust the intervening
spear of compulsory arbitration. Le-
gally this may be sound, but its phi
losophy is that of yesterday. Enlight-
ened national interest demands there
be some power, some force, some tri-
| bunal somewhere, that shall deter
mine. For there is, after all. party
of the third part-that public whose
| interest is paramount"
That the decision is a distinct step
| backward is also the verdict of the
| Wheeling Intelligencer. which re-
i marks: 1T is a denial of the right
, of organized society to protect itself,
| and everywhere it will be received
with favor and laudation by elements
! that seek to pray upon and break
| down existing American institutions.
| 1t means, in short, that in our Con-
stitution, as now interpreted, no pow
ell exists to prevent the arbitrary
| stoppage of mining or railroad oper-
| alton, or any one of the great ac-
! tivities that are necessary to sustain
| life in our great cities, and the sue
| cessful operation of industry through
( out the land" The Manchester
| Union, however, points to the fact
that the Kansas machinery is still
available for the composing of indus
/ trial differences. if both parties de-
! sire It's good offices and agree to ac-