Evening star., 1937-04-20
BACK WAGNERACT,
BARKLEY ADVISES
Law Is Great Step for In.
dustriaI Peace, Senator
Says in Forum.


lations act by employers, workers and
the public was urged last night by
Senator Barkley, Democrat, of Ken
lucky. He spoke over the National
Radio Forum, sponsored by The Star
and broadcast over a Nationwide net
work of the National Broadcasting Co.
Nov that this great step toward in
dustrial peace has been justified by the
subsequent course of legislative and
judicial history, let us hope that it will
be accepted by both employers and en-
ployes," Senator Barkley said, "and by
the public generally as a sincere and
practical method by which our indus
trial system may be elevated to q
higher standard Of efficiency and of
justice among those whose brains and
whose muscles and whose very lives
are devoted to the production and dis
tribution and enjoyment of the things
which we have come to regard as so
essential to the American way Of liv-
ing"
The Wagner act, since it has been
declared constitutional. will materially
reduce the causes of friction" between
capital and labor, Senator Barkley said.
More than one-half of the strikes
that have occurred in the past year
have grown out Of the refusal of en-
ployers to accord to their employees the
right to bargain collectively in regard
to their conditions of employment" he
declared
These statements followed a pre-
view of the entire labor situation and
brief history of relations between
capital and labor from the early days
in this country, when mass production
was still unknown.
The text of Senator Barkley's ad-
dress follows:
I have been asked to speak briefly
this evening on some phases of recent
industrial controversies in the United
States in the light of legislative efforts
to resolve them and thus contribute to
industrial peace, and in the light Of
recent judicial interpretations of these
efforts in the field of State and Federal
legislation on the subject.
I presume that all reasonable and
patriotic men and women will agree
that industrial peace, good will and
mutual understanding are desirable,
If not Indispensable, to the progress
and happiness of our Nation.
That the relationship of employer
and employe ought to be one in which
reciprocal confidence and respect pre-
vail cannot be denied, and that it
should form the basis of genuine CO.
,,, ,tar
prises which constitute so large a
part of the social and economic life
Of the Nation is equally undeniable.
/ presume we may also agree that
such confidence and respect may not
and ought not to be secured by the
denial to either party Of the just pro-
portion to which each may be entitled
Of the profits Of the Joint productive
efforts which make and have made
American industry the giant it has
come to be.
Close Relationship Severed.
The growth of industry, the use OF
machinery. the development Of the
industrial corporation, the combina-
ton and consolidation of producing
units, the inauguration Of mass pro-
duetion and the wide distribution Of
these products through the States
and throughout the world have severed
the close personal relationship which
previously existed between employer
and employe.
Under the former system the en-
ployer knew his employe, his cir
cumstances and his family. Frequently
they associated in the same social,
fraternal or religious circles, and the
worker enjoyed an approach to his
employer which made it possible for
each to possess full knowledge of the
others economic surroundings.
II the employe needed more wages
or improved working conditions, he
might go personally to his employer
and lay his needs before him in the
confident belief that they would be
given personal and sympathetic con-
gderation
With the growth of industrialism
and the advent of the 500 LIED ma
chine age, the broad expansion of cor
porate forms and control and the wide
separation of plants and units under
the same management, the personal
relationship between employer and
employe practically ceased, and the
individual employe became a small
cog in the great wheel of industrial
and economic transformation, which
he witnessed but could not guide or
control
Growth of Labor Union.
Out Of this condition grew the labor
union. Under modern industrial sur
roundings the individual laborer be-
came helpless by his single efforts to
improve his condition. If he was not
satisfied with his wages, he was told
that he might quit his work. If he
complained about his working condi-
tions, he was told that he might look
elsewhere in search of employment.
Often no account was taken of stand
ards OF living, of family obligations or
of the worthy and laudable desire of
the head OF family to give his chill
dren the opportunities of education,
social advancement or the enjoyment
OF decent standard of living, accord
Ing to accepted American models.
1t became increasingly necessary,
therefore, for the workers to organize
into unions, in order that they might
present their grievances and their
needs as unit and not as individuals
They realized that In union there Is
|~strength and without union there is
impotence.
The formations Of the unions gave
the employees bargaining power close,
to the level occupied by the employer
and this has given rise to the legis-
lative and judicial recognition OF the
right Of collective bargaining for en-.
ployes in the United States who wish
to enjoy its benefits and participate
In its processes.
This right has been recognized by
both State and national enactment,
over a long periOd of yeArx