Evening star., 1925-08-23
OLD-FASHIONED
COAL DIPLOMACY
By Ida NJ. TUbeU.

How the negotiations which have
beer going on this Summer between
anthracite operators and miners do
smack of old-fashioned diplomacy! So
far as the outsider can see there is
not a hint that the gentlemen con
cerned have learned anything from
what the world has been enduring
thinking and attempting since 1914.
Some of them at least are loud ad-
vocates of mo more war" They pro
fess to believe that it is only the
greed. stupidity and routine of rulers
and diplomats that prevent the opera
ton of well recognized forces Of
accommodation. Apply these forces,
give them time to operate, and you
can prevent wars.
But what is sauce for the goose is
sauce for the gander, and If there be
ways of peacefully settling interna-
tionai difficulties they should work in
coal difficulties. Their cases run
parallel in all that is essential.
Take the causes of wars; almost in
yariably they are like the causes of
strikes-a conflict of economic inter
ests. Two nations want the same port,
coal mine, strip of territory. They
usually have long wanted and have
often fought for ii. Each successive
conflict has left behind a crop Of
hates and suspicious and increased
the determination of the defeated to
try again as soon as he felt strong
enough. They recognized no way to
settle but war.
Il - X x
Is not that the situation in the coal
dispute? Each claims something the
other wants. Each is embittered by
the hates and suspicious which were
bred in old confiictS-each appeals to
force. But how about the new way
OF handling human difficulties which
men have been trying TO set up since
the close of the Great War? What
are its essentials?
% Knowledge-the facts of the
case--not the hearsay or the tradi-
ton In the coal disputes this would
mean a full and trustworthy report
on the cost of producing coal in the
various fields-with a scientific reck-
oning OF the economics possible.
(2) Arbitration based on this
Knowledge friendly arbitration in
tent on giving each claimant the due
not forgetting the public!
(3l Acceptance of the results of
the arbitration even though ii means
sacrifice of claims and pride.
Is there anything unreasonable
about such a method Of settlement?
Is it not simple, direct, honest?S 1t
Is the way of the new diplomacy; the
road men must follow if they would
rid the world of wars. And it is as
good for coal disputes as 1t is for
international disputes.
But nothing of this kind has been
tried by the anthracite bargainers.
The operators have not spread before
us that full accounting of the costs.
expenditures and profits of the bust
ness on which alone arbitration can
be based and by which public opinion
can be guided. We get general state
ments, followed by general denials-
irritating and confusing-not clarity
ing.
We hear of refusals to arbitrate,
warnings to the public TO keep its
hands off. They don't say mind its
own business. for they realize If they
don't admit it that their dispute is
the pubIics business-that operators
and miners exist for it-not it for
them.
From the beginning of the negotia-
tions there has been hardly a sign of
that will to peace which is the very
heart Of agreements. Indeed 1t has
looked sometimes as if war was
wanted
Certainly if an international dispute
were TO be handled in the way the
coal men have been handling theirs
there would be war
Copyright, l9250