The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1944-04-14
The Public and Labor Relations


always supported by the faith tina
the great men on the big board itsel
would always ultimately iron out an.
mistakes that might be made. In al
that period l suppose thought of thu
big board as a kind of ironing board
Now the bearing of these recollections
on the present theme of the Public
and Labor Relations is that the iron
ing process did work on all except
seven of the first three thousand dis
pute cases brought to Washington
In seven cases out of the first three
thousand the board, having no author
ity of it's own, had to appeal to the
President. My question is, which did
the public hear about? The 1893 set
tied without any grievous complaint,
or the seven grumblers?
| can give you the answer. Nobody
rings you up in the middle of the
night to give you good news.
Don't let's blame the public for ig-
norance. The public is to be trusted.
In the long run the two things most
to be trusted in our country are the
Constition and tire public. / mean the
whole public not any special section
of it. | mean the whole public, in
Guiding different races, colors and
creeds. In it's incrutible but continu-
ing wisdom that whole public knows
that no news is good news. That is
the Ultimate power of peaceable pub
lie, rolling along like Old Man River,
willful statement, that whatever isn't
wrong is probably all right. But
neither should one blame the men
who are always trying to needle the
public-the mediums of communica-
ton which harp on bad news-for it
stands to reason that the newsmon-
gers axiom must be the reverse of
the above; namely, good news is no
news. James Gordon Bennett stated
that axiom many years ago: "The
function is not to instruct
but to startle." Both axioms are fair
enough, and they are both referred to
in the opening words of Lincoln's
First Inaugural address: Il do not
consider it necessary at present for
me to discuss those matters of admin
istration about which there is no spe-
cial anxiety or excitement" Natural
ly Nobody disagreed with that phrase
in Lincoln's First Inaugural.
But as Lincoln was also indicating, |
there are times, and we in our time
ought to know it, when good news is
news. Those are the times of "spe- |
cial anxiety or excitement" Those |
are the times when we need patient |
Lincoln more than we need an excit-
able James Gordon Bennett.
For instance when the public does
get excited about labor relations
think it should have some way of
hearing what good news there may
be, though | confess that according
to my second axiom | don't see any
practical way in which to communi
cate it, Consider the publicity re-
GENTLY given to absenteeism and
strikes, and the concern expressed by
military leaders. Don't you think the
public should also be given opportun-
ty to consider that in any large-scale
human effort there ia bound to be
ome percentage of misfit and failure?
That isn't criticism. That's a simple
act of life. | shall not lose my faith
md great pride in our army if learn
hat there's percentage of misfit and !
rrrn in In 9th 1a,s- rs,
nous organization. Indeed, before
citing all stirred up about the loss
f man-hours in industrial effort
through strikes, lockouts, absentee
SIN, sickness or any other cause I'd i
ike to know how it compares, per- &
with the loss of man. {
ours in the army through maladjust- t
lents, absence without leave, sick |
ess or punishment or confinement of |
ny kind. | don't know the answer c
ut on behalf of labor and industry '
d accept that comparison. With all S
he fuss about our ructions and dis L
options, and even disregarding the t
act that the cream of our manpower |
as ben SKINNED off into other serv- S
,es, we're doing better than almost r
nybody dared to hope, two years ago. S
here was a toast at Teheran to the +
liracle of Americas production. 1t
asn't been a miracle. 1t has been a b
tremendous human effort. Do you ex- s
ect such huge effort to be achieved C
'ithout strain? Ii
There's a dead man whose good "
orks have persisted for more than e
NO thousand years, whose memory is l
1erished at Denver university both d
n his firmness and his tolerance. Il
on will remember that his name, S