Evening star., 1937-06-20
HOLDS PROGRESS
WRECKED by NAz|S
Col. Knox Draws Contrast
Between Pre-War Labor
and That of Today.
BY FRANK KNOX,
BY Radio to The Star.

Germany was pioneer in what might
be called social and industrial prog
ress. Here, the labor union move
ment attained a substantial uniyer-
salty. In Germany, collective bar
gaining first became the bulwark and
defense of the workers rights,
1t was in Germany, under Bismarck,
that social insurance had its begin
nngs in marking out boundaries Of
entirely new realms of social respon-
sibility. Despite the fact that all this
development had its origin under a
monarchy, animated by the ancient
doctrine Of the divine right of kings"
freedom of the German worker to
express himself, enjoy the right of a
free press, assemble in his meetings
and there discuss without fear his
wrongs, was unchallenged.
Along with this progressive program,
designed to insure to the German
worker his due share in tiae profits
Of industry and to guarantee him his
individual rights as producing men,
Der of society, there was contem-
poraneous era of amazing industrial
and commercial progress within Ger
many.
Golden Era of Industry.
German skill in industry challenged
competition; collaboration between
capital and labor, under an intelli-
gent and universal labor policy, gave
Germany economic entry into world
markets. The period in Germany
which saw the rise Of the labor union
and the collective bargaining princi-
pie was unquestionably the industrial
golden era in German history.
1t is because Of this background Of
German industrial and social progress,
achieved under the auspices Of indus
trial and social freedom, that present
industrial and social conditions In
Germany, when impartially and OBJ
jectively surveyed, shock and dismay
the observer incredibly.
1t may be that the world needed
lesson in how human progress is
made-what contributes to that prog
ress-and what retards social ad-
vances II this, in the inscrutable
way of Providence, was what the world
required, Germany undoubtedly is the
tool thus employed-and with con-
summate effect.
Led Also in Science.
Under the free social order in Ger
many the nation led the world in
many departments of science and the
mechanical arts no less than she did
IN, cnpo1 ho Y,,
community sanitation and health pro-
lection, in impeccably honest admin
istration of great industrial cities, in
many departments of higher educa-
ton, in medicine and surgery, in
adaptation of chemistry to industrial
uses and in many other fields, German
leadership was freely acknowledged.
All this under a freedom that gave
vent to individual initiative and en-
terprise. And under authoritarian, to-
talitarian, Fascist, Nazi philosophy
call it what you will-What have We?
No individual liberty. No freedom
Of speech. No free press. No free
assembly. No personal rights what
ever and hence-no free labor unions
but a compulsory labor front" No
collective bargaining for wages or
hours or working conditions. No in
dustrial progress. No world markets
for German goods. No German lead
ership for the world in science and
the mechanical arts. Deterioration in
all forms OF social progress. All forms
Of higher education stultihed and
niocked. Everybody, everything regi-
mented to suit the purposes of a
political autocracy. This is Germany
Of the moment.
Political Democracy Essential.
1t is the fruitage-perhaps inev-
itable-of collectivism. Cannot the
labor leaders of America see whittier
1asclsm or Nazism-they stem from
the same root-inevitably leads? No
matter what the gains that come
through dependence upon political al
lances may be; no matter how stupid
and fatuous the opposition of tory
minded employers, provocative of re-
sort to temporary political compulsion,
may become, there is but one air In
which freedom and progress for the
industrial worker and industrial and
social justice may live That is the
free air of political democracy. And
Germany supplies proof, If proof is
needed.
How utterly bankrupt the German
labor movement has become; how in
credibly servile the spirit Of the work.
how yI
ship to the welfare of those who
labor, cannot be better set forth than
by a direct quotation of the words of
DR.. Robert Ley, national head of the
labor front, who in addressing group
OF coal miners in September, 1885,
said:
The main issue with the working
man is not his ridiculous wage OF pen
nies, but the dignity of his position,
and ultimately wage questions settle
themselves if the worker respects him
self. In the last resort, the mine work.
er cannot be paid with money at all;
what he receives is only petty re-
muneration for his unremitting labor.
1t Is, therefore, all the more ridiculous
for people to haggle about such little
things"
One could not ask for a more per-
feet illustration OF the colossal stupid
ity. the utter insanity that charac-
terizes both the utterances and actions
OF the Nazi regime with respect to
labor problems than is to be found in
the foregoing quotation from the man
IN Germany who speaks officially for
the German working man.
copyright, 1887, by the North American
NANcnar