Evening star., 1934-10-01
All other States and Canada.
A Labor Truce.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT TdulO duuIcoS
10 the American people last night
called attention to the conflicts be-
tween labor and capital which have
cost many lives and much money
and retarded recovery during the past
year. The President announced that
he would tackle the problem Of in
dustrial peace himself. 1t is his pur-
pose to pursuade the leaders of great
Industrial enterprises and employers
of labor and the leaders of great
groups Of workers to agree to "spe-
cif1c trial period Of industrial peace"
In other words, the President calls
for truce while the new agencies to
adjust disputes between labor and
capital, set up by the Federal Gov
ernment, are given a fair trial.
The President emphasized that he
does not intend to ask either labor or
capital to lay aside permanently the
weapons common to industrial war
fare" These weapons include the
strike, the walkout the lockout, etc.
What he intends to ask, apparently,
is that there shall be a halt to the
Industrial conflicts which have broken
into open fame in many parts Of the
country.
The country would welcome, indeed,
Q truce between labor and capital. 1t
would rejoice If a permanent peace
could be established. 1t will wish the
President well in his attempts to
bring such a truce, to be succeeded
by such a peace.
For many years the Government
has maintained the machinery for
mediation and arbitration of indus
trial disputes. The great trouble has
been to prevail upon both sides in
these labor controversies to agree to
mediation and to abide by the results.
Much, it is true, has been accom-
plished along these lines. But far too
often one side or the other, or both
sides, have preferred to fight 1t out.
In some quarters it has been de-
clared that the enactment Of section
7 (a) Of the national industrial re-
covery act has been responsible for
much of the industrial unrest. 1t is
this section which by law specifically
declares the right of labor to bargain
collectively with its employers.
The President last night ranged him
self again firmly on the side of
this provision Of the law. Ap-
parently he sides thoroughly with
those who desire to organize labor
for the purposes of collective bar
gaining. But, at the some time,
the President said that the workers
who turn away from the impartial
agencies set up to aid peaceful solu-
tion Of the labor disputes, like the
employers who decline to use them,
"are not fully cooperating with their
Government"
The interest which the Presidents
announcement of his proposed demand
for an industrial truce aroused over
shadowed for the moment, at least,
the remainder of his address. 1t was.
In effect, reply to many Of the critics
of the New Deal. particularly those
who have insisted that the New Deal
is hamstringing business and Is in
fringing upon the constitutional liber-
ties OF the American citizen.
In no way could the Presidents ad-
dress be interpreted as meaning that
he is abandoning the New Deal, al
though he did mention the fact that
notifications Of the N. R. A.. relating
to control of production and price
fixing would be considered, and that
the scope of the codes might be mate
rally limited. Nor did the President
tell business that the Government bud
get would be balanced or what he in
tended TO do about the currency. Never
theless. the President spoke encourag-
ingly to business, showing what the
Government has already done to aid
business. And if he raped his critics
In the American Liberty League and
former President Hoover, whose new
book, The Challenge to Liberty" has
Just been published, he did not men
ton their names.