Evening star., 1934-09-06

the bill for relieving destitution. The
real question Is how can you afford
not to pay the bin? Regardless Of
humane motives, do you think that
you could safely turn away from 100,-
600 shivering. hungry men in the
streets Of a great city and say: "Am
nv brothers keeper" Or would
you enroll half of the employed in
armies and pay and feed them to
protect property from mobs formed
by the other half? The relief bill
must be paid. There is no other
answer; and it is only political
rogue who will descend to criticizing
any public ofiicial for presenting the
facts honestly to the people and for
insisting that we must meet the needs
of our less fortunate fellow citizens
by levying taxes on those whose lives
are made secure and comfortable by
the protection of their government.
There Is another knotty problem
arising out of the relations between
those who are employed and their
employers. There are bitter COM
plants made because the Federal
Government is seeking to uphold the
right Of wage-earners to organize
themselves and choose their own
representatives to Ak by collective
bargaining their wages and working
conditions. But this is the only road
to industrial peace, the only road to
q fair contract between those who
have properties that should be used
and who thereby control opportunities
for work and those who have muscles
and trained skill that should be used
and who need opportunities for work.
Fair Competition Necessary.
Until you establish the means Of
fair competition between these con-
f1icting interests-unfair tactics viii
persist on both sides. Until you
establish the means Of cooperation
in a common endeavor men will fight
each other to earn a living. If we
could obtain general acceptance of an
effective machinery for the peaceful
adjustment of labor controversies,
there would be rarely any cause for a
strike, and the successful labor leader
would then become the wise nego-
tiator who could obtain good terms of
employment, instead of the hard
boiled fighter who is now called upon
to win an industrial war.
We need more thinkers and fewer
fighters on both sides of the confer
ence table: but we will not get them
as long as workers must fight foi
even the right to sit at the table.
Many employers argue that laboi
unions are not responsible. that their
contracts cannot be enforced. The
fact is that labor contracts are, on
the whole, as faithfully observed as
most commercial contracts. But if
they are upset in desperate struggle
to survive, how just Is the complaint
that contractual obligations have not
been fulfilled in the midst of civil
warfare? The Federal Government
has set up mechaniSmS for the peace
full adjustment of all labor disputes;
but so long as the large majority. of
disputes still arise over the elementary
right of workers to be represented
through their own organizations-it
cannot be fairly said that employers
who create such disputes are support
| ing their Government In its effort to
relieve business from the losses and
| insecurity arising out of labor con-
hicts.
We hear much talk today about the
infleunce of theorists and visionaries
in the conduct of public affairs. But
| If we look closely at the facts we will
find that the theorists and visionaries
who menace constructive solution Of
our national problems are not those
men vino bring scientific knowledge
as well as practical experience into
Government service. The most dan
gerous theorists today are those tenn
porarily prosperous individuals who
do not understand that the political
economic system under which they,
or their fathers, made money broke
down in the major calamity of a
World War and has been cracking to
pieces throughout the civilized world
ever since the war. These muddle-
headed persons are so theoretical so
visionary and so mentally warped that
4 -I-s~ A-s< xrH