Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-11-19

From a LdthoEraph by Forain.
ton and irritation, we are likely to be-
have toward them as we behave toward
real enemies in the older sense Of the
word. In such cases as these, 1t is our
behavior which counts and not the logi-
cal conclusions Of a detached philoSo-
pher.
The more impetuous and less dfsci-
plined faction OF the wage working
population has not yet realized that, in
labor disputes, it is facing this new kind
Of enemy. In labor disputes, as in most
economic disputes, our so-called enc
mics are the kind which it Is to our
interest to multiply.
What wheat growers, for example,
now need is not to have cantankerous
consumers thinned out. but increased In
number. When We were, few years
ago. complaining about the high cost
Of living, our wise policy was not to go
cunning for producers who were charg-
ing US high prices. 1t would not help
us to thin them out; we needed more
Of them. If we had thinned them out
the survivors would have had more
power to ask and to get still higher
prices. BY increasing their number we
forced them to sell at lower prices.
Now that the process Is reversed, what
producers need Is not war to dis
courage or thin out consumers, but
some policy to encourage consumers
and either increase their numbers or
their puying power.
1t Is equally true that what our wage
&c
or any policy which will discourage en-
terprising men from becoming employ
ers. What they need Is not to thin out
the number of employers or decrease
their ability to hire workers, but to In
crease the number of employers and
enable them to hire more men. When
strikes are frequent they constitute a
risk which every enterprise must face,
as he must face the risk Of fire or
food. When there are sympathetic
strikes he cannot avoid that risk by
treating his own employees well. They
may be compelled to strike, even against
their own wishes, by national union
which has controversy in another part
of the industrial field
Natural But Unwise.
This risk is a encouragement to en-
terprise as definitely as the risk of fire
or flood. One of its effects Is to divert
an uncertain number of young men who
might otherwise become employers into
the ranks of those who seek employ
ment. In so far as it does this, it thins
out the number of employers and in
creases the number seeking employ
ment, which is the precise thing which
wise employees do not want. Yet the
fighting temper, bred into our race by
millions Of years of experience in fight
ing enemies of the old type, prompts us
to do that precise thing. 1t is "natu-
ral' thing to do. but it is not the saga
cious thing. It is as natural, and about
as wise as 1t is to kick the chair over
which one has stumbled
In war and politics numbers count in
your favor. The more men there are
on your side, the stronger you are. On
the market, numbers count against you.
The more there are on your side the
weaker you are. The more wheat or
cotton growers there are, the weaker
they all are on the market. The fewer
they are, the stronger they become in
the struggle over prices. The more
wage workers there are, the weaker,
and the fewer there are, the stronger.
The employing classes generally are per-
fectly aware Of this. That is why they
try to increase the number of wage
workers by free immigration and the
encouragement of large families. That
is also why they support policies which
limit the number of their own rivals.
The wiser labor leaders are aware of
the same principle. Hence they favor
restriction of immigration, closed shops
and other ways Of reducing the number
OF workers available for employment.
The more imperuous and less sea-
soned workers, however, are more likely
to be controlled by their fighting tenn
per than by economic sagacity. They
behave very much as did the man who
threw clubs at his chickens because
they cid not come when he called them.
II they were wise they would encourage
more men TO become employers This
would increase competition among them
and compel them to pay in wages a
larger percentage of the total product
Of industry. They would also. and for
the same reason, restrict immigration,
and do wha*ever else was necessary to