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Show STATE, III-UAL III-UAL AND LABOR Tho relation of capital nnd labor, moro particularly tho "missing link between capital nnd hiboi," was tho topic of a recent discussion It. Snn Fianclsco. Tho views expressed touched on fundamental .plwr.f-i of tho problem. Wltl. a lino optimism tho ilenn of tho University of California, Cali-fornia, Doctor Harrows, developed his belief that tho present gulf between employer nnd employco would bo bridged chlelly through the agency of tho stato; that tho gravest danger of Irreconcilable conlllct botween labor nnd capital Iny In u growing want of contldince In the stato nnd In Its agencies nnd laws, nnd in tho Increasing In-creasing effort to llnd the remedy by Individual ns distinguished from stnto action An opposlto theory was disclosed by tho chairman of tho national commission com-mission now Investigating ln)ustilal relations His references to testimony testi-mony given before tho commission suggested that collective bargaining botween classes, It not tho assertion of Individual fnrco In spcclllc rases was tho only mentis of avoiding, or at least delaying a supposed Inevitable- clash between cmp1oers nnd employed. To us It seems that between theso Ideas lies tbo common ground on which the differences between rnpltnl and labor between employer and employe em-ploye will llnd their nearest solution. Organisation for lawful purposes is beneficial and necessary to enable each class to present Its claims, nnd to obtnln Its ends. Of theso claims tho stnto, by menus of tho agencies which represent tho public Is tho ultimate ul-timate arbiter and protector. Tho social progress or our people will best bo Bcrved If organizations, as well of labor as of capital, will sanely seok their ends through tho medium of tho government and If they will sustain its law by accepting at all times tho decision of tno Btuto, whether acting by Its legislative, executive ex-ecutive or Judicial authority. Apt Illustration of tho soundness of this xlow Is to bo found In tho condl tlons of today In varloim parts of our country. Tho theory of Individual Individu-al nctlon, or of collective action In disregard and Independence of tho stato and Its law, Is exemplified nnd most unhappily, In tho Industrial strife now raging In sovcral of our commonwealths. The theory that converts tho stato into nn agency to guidu individual nctlon nnd to palll-ato palll-ato social Inconvcnlenco is oxprcssud and most unfortunately, In tho multitudinous multi-tudinous stnto statutes enacted in recent re-cent years, which aim nt a millennium millenni-um by icgulntlng minutely tho nctlv Ules of tho Individual to tho destruction destruc-tion of his liberty. Tho moro successful mixture- of collective clnss effort nnd representative representa-tive govornincnt Is found In bucIi legislation aB the workman's compensation compen-sation laws, safety appllanco acts and rate regulation. Such legislation is sound because It throws tho protection protec-tion of tho lag about theso Interests which concern tho public and tho utato. Thus tho theory of tbo Industrial Indus-trial compensation laws is as Bound In nrlnclnlo as It Is admirable In practice. In substanco the legislation legisla-tion on tho subject seeks, to compon-sato compon-sato tho Injured, regardless of tho fault of somo othor person. Plainly, under tho old system, It was smnll nid or comfort to a disabled workman to know Hint no ono was at fault for Ills misfortune and that ho was thero-foro thero-foro obliged to sustain It without us sltanco. Permanent botterment of socinl conditions con-ditions 1b within the reach of tho law. In tho enactment or bucIi legiHlntloit and lu tho enfoi cement of a decent respect for tho stnto and tho law nnd not In their violation and overthiow, lies tho truo and ultimata sphcro or nctlon for industrial organizations, whether of cnpltal or of labor. Stan dard Oil Bulletin, (Colorado). |