Evening star., 1945-10-07

have before it concrete plans or pro-
grams for the settlement of worker
management differences already are
bearing fruit. Various individuals and
groups are known to be working on
plans, and it is fairly certain that when
the conference opens it will have plenty
of material with which to go to work.
All of these plans, so far as can be
learned at this stage, are anything but
complete, leaving "details to be worked
out later" Almost all of them, how
ever, include provisions of the "or else"
hnd-must be accepted, their sponsors
say, if the dove of peace is to hover
over the conference. Play our way
or we won't play" is the concise def
milton of 'or else" Samuel Gompers
said precisely that at the 1919 industrial
conference, it will be recalled, and it
does not augur well for constructive
action now if any group of delegates
brings forth plan which is wholly or
largely of an "or else" character.
Logically, u the first step toward any
adjustment of worker er-management diff
ferences is negotiation through the pro-
cedures of collective bargaining. Labor
leaders Of any group will make that an
"or else" provision of any plan or pro-
gram they will approve. However, in
aSmuch as collective bargaining, as en-
bodied in the National Labor Relations
(Wagner) Act and upheld by the Su-
preme, Court has been Federal law for
a decade it is not to be expected that
any employer or employer group would
at this time force the issue over which
the woodrow Wilson Industrial Con-
ference broke up in a spectacular row.
Mediation May Be Bar.
Failing settlement through negotia-
ton, the second step in any program
seriously to be considered will be con-
ciliation through the ong-established
agency of the Department of Labor
Neither side Is expected to object to
that. But the third step-mediation-
may prove to be another "or else" 1t
has been made clear that in the mind
of Secretary SchWellenbach mediation
is closely linked with conciliation, and
in view of the enlarged facilities and
powers to deal with all labor problems
that have been given by President
Truman to the head of the Labor De-
partment, that official easily may make
it an indispensable article of any labor
industry peace treaty.
On the other hand, mediation, to be
effective, must be required and must
be enforceable, and that smacks of
compulsory arbitration, which will
strike several Snags. Some impartial
observers are of the opinion that we
cannot have compulsory arbitration in
this land of the free, primarily because
it would not work and would precipi-
tate crisis in industrial relations even
more quickly than if labor and man.
agement were left to fight out their
differences without any governmental
interference. Moreover, leaders of both
employees and employers say they will
not assent to compulsory arbitration.
That is at least moot subject upon
which they are in complete accord.
They point out that in the effort to
settle any given controversy, when ne
gotiation and conciliation have failed,
there may be recourse to either of two
kinds of mediation-voluntary or re-
quired. The first kind, they say, obvi-
ously means agreement by both sides
to a controversy to accept mediation
and abide by the result. Such agree
ments are rarely obtainable in any case,
and never in case involving major
issue. We can always have voluntary
mediation without any governmental
action, save possibly by way of setting
up machinery or procedures for it,
hence, these leaders argue, there is no
reason for Incorporating it as part and
parcel of any labor-relations adjust
ment plan or program.
CompuIsion Is Opposed.
The second kind OF mediation-re-
quired-must be viewed realistically,
they say, and when so seen it is nothing
more nor less than compulsory arbi-
tration. Compulsions are not to the
liking of the parties to labor dispute.
If applied to one side, that side will
object strenuously, although the other
, side may approve; if applied to both
sides, both will protest with equal vigor.
When the question is broached, the
mind of labor reverts instantly to the
calling out of troops, Federal or State,
and the use of company armed guards
and strike breakers; and the memory
of labor, which is long, calls up specters
to tell of losing fights on dark and
bloody grounds. The mind of capital
equally quick on the trigger, and its
memory, equally long, conjure up
kaleidoscope panorama of strikes, riot
ing, sabotage, destruction of property,
production stoppages, and industry in
the red in its bookkeeping.
Bitternesses are easily stirred in sem
sitive hearts, and the heart of labor
and the heart of capital are all of that,
even if they can become as hard as
+, flint. This has been seen in a thou
sand and one controversies; it was seen
as the disrupting force in the first
national industrial conference, and it
may be revealed in the one now at
" hand.
Now let's try to take some of the
sting out of compulsion. AS matter
of fact, there is nothing necessarily
/, hurtful, harmful or Objectionable in it.
Organized society is essentially based
upon compulsions. We have always
had them, and always we shall have
them. The great bulk of our law is
compulsory. AL our regulatory agen-
cies, Federal, State and municipal, are
compulsory. in character. So is the