The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-11-30
c. y LOOKING
Va" E AHkaAD
;sy BY GEORGE S. BENSON
Ia s SsSS8sA President Harding Cofitge
n n Il, " SSA Seany. .Arkahsas
Fair Play

Unequal advantages in any kind
Of contest spoil the sport for most
Americans. A sense of fairness is
deeply rooted in our people. Some
times a champion athlete is not q
popular favorite because the fans
suspect some mysterious advantage
that makes him invincible. Actually
exposing crookedness in a profess
~ional team is all it takes to bank
iupt the club, because fairness is
cardinal.
Practically all forms of competi-
ton take on the features of game
in this country; business and poll
tics are no exceptions. 1t has been
said that "all's fair in love and war;"
but it might be said another way,
When emotions overcome reason,
people forget to be fair. The con-
testant who gets all worked up re-
grets it because his public turns
against him if he is unfair.
Popular Decision
The public has taken a hand occa-
sionally in the bout between those
heavyweight contestants, Capital
and Labor. Until very recently, La
Dor was the popular favorite, and the
choice was, sane. The laborer has
been "the man on the bottom" in
many lands for countless years and
sympathy for the under dog is hui
man trait. But this generation of
Americans has seen the tables turn.
Labor in the United States is not
the under dog-far from it. Every
mature person, who has given the
subject any thought at all, knows
that Capital is no match for Labor
in this country now. Labor has
club that management can't use; the
strike. What is even more, manage
ment has no weapon that will APP
proximately match it in force and
violence, and has no defense from it.
Times Are Changed
There was time when an employ
err could fire competent workman
for voting wrong. A straw boss once
could dismiss female subordinate
for resenting his overtures. Intelli-
gent persons were let out for express
ing general discomfort over long
hours, low wages and unwholesome
surroundings. 1t was disgraceful. 1t
was also a long time ago. 1t was
not fair. The public resented it and
it stopped.
People still remember those days.
Nobody cares much now if employers
have to hire whom the union says
hire, pay what the union says pay,
and blow the whistle by the union
officials watch. But there is some
thing that the public does care about,
namely strikes. When a home own
er's family shivers in a cold house
for want of fuel he is anxious to buy,
he finds out ,ohy
UnfairneSs Shows.
In finding out why, people discover
Labor's unequal advantage. John @.
Public might not froWn on a strike
over wages or hours, but he gets
plenty huffy doing without necessi-
ties while somebody retaliates
grievance-or while men sit idle, try
ing to force point that might bet
ter be settled peaceably, settled with
both shifts working and business go
ing on as usual.
Strikes are violent and unfair and
the public dislikes them. Destructive
as arson, they hurt many people
instead of one. ! am a lifelong
friend of Labor, and l predict that
the strike will be outlawed by popu-
lar indignation. The lockout and
the blacklist were so outlawed.
Peaceful ways to settle industrial
disputes exist now. Unless they are
used voluntarily, we can look for the
public to create some compulsory
method.