The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1938-08-18

y
the peril Of "Big Business; we were
told about a great invisible power
that was seeking to control the pro-
cesses of government. We are now
seeing the menace Of "Big Govern
ment," which is not only controlling
the destinies of business and utilizing
the public credit to perpetuate political
parties in power, but is making the in
dividual a pawn of the state. While
of the two, "Big Government" is a
greater menace to the peoples liber-
ties and aspirations, neither form is
desirable.
Today, the business community is
alarmed by the intrusion of govern
ment into the whole area Of our econ
omic life. 1t complains of taxes and
benefits of infationary public spend
ing. 1t wants to maintain the price
level of it's products, while it resists
the efforts of labor and Of agriculture
to do likewise. There are still those
employers who dream and imagine
that their business is purely apersonal
affair and who propose to run it to
suit themselves. 1t is mainly such
men and such an attitude, survivals
from the paleolithic levels Of indus
trial development, that have made for
present day tendencies and legislation
complained of. If our system of
private enterprise is to continue, if
business management is to continue to
function under our present economic
order then it must be willing and be
prepared to accept the responsibility
of providing for the security of others
besides it's own.
In. this connection labor's history is
of value. When the trades unions
were first organized and an effort was
made by wage earners to protect them
selves from exploitation, the very
right to organize was made illegal.
Labor organizations were declared con-
spiracies by the courts and it was not
until 1912 that this basic right was
first recognized by the Supreme Court
of Massachusetts. But even after the
right was acknowledged, every posi-
bic impedement was thrown in it's way.
Judicial interpretations and Legisla
ton followed limiting and restricting
the exercise Of this right Time and
again employers went into the courts
and through the useaof the in junction
so restricted the opportunities Of
workingmen to function in association,
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self. Workers in final desperation
sought to invoke the aid of the state.
Samuel Gompers, that grand old lead
er of American labor, counselled labor
against any appeal to the state. He,
too, warned employers of the dangers
inherent in their constant use of the
power Of the State. For he then rec
ognized that industrial relations was
not matter for state intervention but
one between the parties in interest.
Employers have needed this warn
ing too late. Their stubborn resist
ance, their continued use Of the pow
ers of government to prevent the free
functioning of the trade union move
ment turned the tide. Ultimately this
use of government power has proved
to be a tWo-edged sword. For the
state, which in the past has proved a
buttress for the employer and an op-
pressor of labor, has now become a
buttress for labor and an oppressor
for the employers. The shoe is on the
other foot The lesson of this chapter
from history seems to me clear. He
who invokes the aid Of the state to re-
dress grievance may eventually feel
the states power for grievances to
which he is a party. And here the
warning of Gompers to labor is not
to be regarded lightly.
Let me return to my major thesis.
American labor has long believed that
the industrial relations involved in the
operation of our economic system can
not be adequately or accurately con-
ceived in terms Of the ancient doc
trines of master and servant" 1t
must become co-partnership. The
invention of machinery and its oper-
alton upon the scale implied in mass
production have compelled change
Then, too, evolution in the intelligence
and capacities of the workers cannot
be thought of under terms of a relation
having its root in feudalism. The use
of the corporate form of capital own
ership and management imply and
have accomplished methods of control
both of capital and Of industrial oper-
ations, which call for the application
Of democratic intelligence.
The older forms Of personal contact
and personal interest have vanished in
the presence of the gigantic economic
structures of today. The human in
terest, which alone can justify the ex-
istence and operation of these mechani-
cal and corporate dinosaurs, compels
the use of the principles of mutual
and common organized action in order
to preserve and make Of value the hui
man interests of our mechanical civ
iliZation. Whether or not the manag-
ing officials of corporations express
the economic judgments Of the own
ers of the enterprises, they are the hu-
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