Evening star., 1934-08-28
Test of the New Labor Board.

Test OF the New LABOR board.
The only successful way of settling
ne issues which divide the workers
ind the manufacturers in the great
textile industry is through mediation.
r'hat will be the way they are settled
ia the end, strike or no strike, order
cr disorder. Neither side intends an
outright surrender. Without oppor-
tanity to know the detailed arguments,
t1e public in general is in no position
to Judge the issues as to working
hours, wages. ETC., which are at the
Eottom of the present disagreement
er deadlock.
But there is one clear-cut issue,
vlnich the public readily understands.
II is whether such controversies as
those in the textile industry are to be
titled peaceably, or whether there is
t) be resort to force through strike,
With its waste and suffering and
economic disorder until the battling
f,rces, weary at last, come together
and make peace.
Judging from the record of indus
t.ial disorders in the past year, one
might be justified in the view that the
whole machinery for averting indus
( .ial warfare has broken down, and
tlat the mediation or arbitration of
disagreements is now possible only
after-but not before-the Gripping
effects of strikes
It is encouraging, therefore, to note
that the Governments new National
I labor Relations Board is now en-
gagged in a last-minute effort to bring
the warning factions Of the textile IT,
d Istry together and attempt to avert
the great strike which otherwise will
bagin next week. This is the first time
the National Labor Relations Board
has attempted to mediate an indus
trial disturbance of such magnitude
In advance Of the threatened strike.
IT. is, Of course, the most important
ttst of the new boards ability to cope
with industrial disputes. It Is possible
tllat the boards success in this case
win determine its future usefulness.
As it happens, the Government, 1t
would appear, has an unusually
strong weapon In demanding a peace
flll agreement through mediation Of
the questions at issue. Relief au-
thorities have taken the point Of view,
for which there is precedent in the
last year or so, that If there Is a strike
the strikers-if other funds are lack
ing-become the legitimate beneh-
ciaries of Government relief. 1t is
the view of relief authorities that the
strikers represent hungry men and
women, and, regardless of the cause,
the Governments duty is to feed
them.
But, aside from the humanitarian
point Of view, such an attitude by the
Government means nothing less than
that the Government is supplying the
strikers with the sinews Of their war.
The Government becomes partisan
If the workers in the textile indus
try are forced into strike by refusal
o. the manufacturers to mediate ques-
tons in dispute, or later to submit
them to arbitration, the strikers might
be held to be the helpless victims Of
industrial strife and eligible for Gov
errment aid through relief. But If the
union authorities should refuse to
submit the questions to mediation or
later arbitration, then the extension
OF Government relief to the strikers
proceeding directly contrary to the
whole spirit Of the N. r. Ais diff
cult to justify on any grounds.
The Government should insist on
mediation or arbitration of industrial
strife. Its policy in feeding the strik-
ers should certainly rest on the will
ingnesS Of the labor leaders to mediate
or agree otherwise to settle the issues
peaceablv.