Evening star., 1925-12-27
COUNTRY ON THRESHOLD
OF NEW INDUSTRIAL ERA
Million Workers Out i'm l922-Less Than
len Thousand Today-That Is Result
of Davis ConciliationP Policy.

/ strike or at work, find that standing
behind them ready to counsel With
them and with their opponents, is the
strong, steady hand of guiding
policy of the Government they usually
come our way. We never inject our
rolicies into a situation forcibly. We
prefer them to come TO US. For we
are then in the strategic position of
being sought to mediate.
As matter Of fact. the Labor De
partment. although 1t wields gently
hut firmly the strong hand of public
opinion in any broad controversy in
yoIVinr the public interest, has no
Yuwer TO enforce its awards. It's power
il only that of persuasion, of urgency
hacked by the power of the Govern
ment. representing the thought of the
entire administration. Its very name.
cancellation service the branch
through which the department oper-
ates in trade and industrial relations
bespeaks the gentle hand OF per-
suasion rather than the mailed fist of
cuercive cndeayor. II is conciliatory.
but Cenciliatory with the massed
power of Il great Nation behind it.
Couiented Workers Needed.
"Contented workers constitute the
greatest asset in industry; another
way of saying that the discontented
worker is industrES s greatest liability.
These are the words offered by the
Labor Secretary in eXtenuation of his
policy and the new era Of the silk
glove in industrial relations.
Human friction is as wearing as
mechanical friction. Wise men in bust
ness are rapidly coming to see this.
They know that just 3 necessary as
oil is to the actual mechanical ma
chinery is moral. mental and spiritual
fabrication FOR the human machinery.
This easing of the human friction is
our aim, and it is gratifying to note
that many employers are learning this
and are coming to the department in
ever larger numbers for the harnoniZ-
ing influence which they find in great
est abundance in this Government
service. The desire OF the service is
always to secure not only a fair set
tlement, but a permanent one
These diplomatic agents Of the con-
citation service. headed personally by
the Secretary of Labor-for he han
dies the ultimate end of the larger
controverSicS-Work on far-iung
battle line. They spread into every
Industrial community in the Nation.
travelling from place TO place, wher-
ever a danger spot appears, to spread
the gospel of the golden rule.
How we'll they have succeeded is
shown in their record for the past
three years.
Strikers Decrease.
In September. 1922. more than a mil
lion men We're on strike in three great
Industries. Railway shop workers,
textile employees and anthracite and
.bituminous miners. dissatisfied with
yA-l pyal q ND
ON strike during the Summer and well
into September. The railway and coal
strikes were settled at about the same
time-early in the Fall of l922-a nd
Secretary Davis, working with Presi-
dent Harding and other cabinet Of
ficials, learned we'll the lesson he has
applied since. The textile strike hung
on longer. but was settled in the early
Winter Of that year.
a million men out in 1922; only
few thousand out today-less than
10000.
That is how the doctrine is working
out. Mr.. Davis hopes this golden era
III industrial relations will spread and
continue until that far day dawns
heralding a complete cessation of in
dustrial controversies. The millen-
mum has not arrived. and when it
does arrive the Cancellation service
will have no further reason for exist
ence, but until il does come Mr.. Davis
believes his policy is best. The results
tell the story.