Arizona sun., 1949-01-21

IuSk Or dH axle OF SOIneClmS-
and all the poor man wanted was
to borrow an extra tusk. But since
the Cro-Magnon was unable to COM
municate his perfectly peaceful de-
sire, and before he could present
his drivers license or his member
ship card in the loyal order of
moose, for identity, the Neander-
thaler, after showing his wife in the
corner and calling his dogs. would
step out and welcome the unfortun-
ate visitor with a hearty wallop ON
the Uranium.
The result was probably a
war between the NeanderthaIers
anu the CrO-MagnOns in which
the Neandcrthaler had fifty
fifty chance of eating Gro.
Even if the innocent visitor had
been able to grunt without nis-pro-
nouncing his consonants and lacera-
ting his labials, and even if his in
hoSpitable hoct ha6 listened to him,
that host probably could not have
digested his ;;lea-as easily. at least
as he later dIgested him.
We have words to work with. and
thus are able 10 fashion the tools Of
communication. But unless the
speech teachers (and all teachers)
furnish the .;kills for the use of
those words. the effort is n vain.
Unless the idea behind what
we believe in can be comrmnnica-
ted, land it can't be, unless we
agree on the meaning OF wOrds)
it Withers ON the vine.
Thus, the speech teacher must
teach his pupils not only the medium
of communication but the means Of
using it and convince them it has
concrete value.
In the field of labor relations at
home, or international understand
ing abroad, Ve never can hope to
achieve a real bulwark for demo-
cracy unless mental contact can
be made, communications estab-
ished-words and ideas joined so
that they have universal meaning
and the message they convey can
be digested
AS Eric Peterson, general secre-
tary-treasurer of the International
Association Of Machinists, put it:
1.-THE need :or better lines of COM
munication between labor and man.
agement, and between the concilia-
tor and disputlng parties is dis
tinct challenge. For baSically, the
failure of these two groups to iron
out their disputes without ill-wiD or
violence is part and parcel of the
broader problem of discord which
plaques the world today in its quest
for peace"
Peterson went on to say that
a starting point for speech tea
chers might be to pay less at
tentiOn to DemOsthenes who be-
came great orator by practic-
ing shouting until he could be
heard above the roaring of the
waves, and little more to de-
velOping men whose voices may
not be loud, but whose skilfun
persuasion can be heard above
the misunderstanding in mems
hearts.
Speaking for management at the
conference, Robert Chester Smith,
director Of industrial and person
mel relations for the Pullman Stan
dard Car Manufacturing company
of Chicago, expressed his belief that
each Of the three members Of the
industrial triImvirate-the inves-
tor. the manager and the laboring
man-'has been and continues to be
too short sighted. Each has been
looking at the problem through its
own specially-conditioned glasses,
and has been unable to see either
upward, downward or sidewise, and
unfortunately not very far aAead."
John Q. Jennings, head of Indus
trial Relations for the Singer Manu-
featuring company, told an inter-
esting story about how New York's
great tugboat dispute last winter
had been settled. The negotiations
had dragged Oil for hours until well
after midnight. Management and
union men had basically agreed on
the point at issue, but whenever
they tried to phrase the agreement
on paper, th.y got entangled in a
maze of complicated terminoiogy.
Shortly after / a. m, one Of the
negotiators happened to say in
simple language what everyone else
was trying to say in technical Ian
guage. Somebody had brilliant
idea:
''Why not put it just that way
in the cOntract?" They did-a
twO-sentence paragraph in or
dinary rank and file English was
inserted-a departure Jennings
described as something brand
new In union contracts.