| Show < BBIT3ZC > T > tI81IB ALl A disposition is manifested b3 some of the labor organizations in Pennsylvania to resort to arbitration arbitra-tion for an adjustment of the sources of discord twixt the laborer and the employer The movement Is a commendable com-mendable one for many reasons though it is doubtful whether it will prove efficacious It may be the laborers feeling weak have determined they cannot afford to attempt at-tempt violent measures as they haTe done heretofore or it may be they have awakened to a realization of the fact that whatever violent measures mea-sures are adopted and enforced re suit in greater evil to the laborer himself than to the persons whom it is intended shall suffer Arbitration Arbitra-tion iz the only Christim and brotherly method of settling did culties but owing to the differences differ-ences in human nature it is unlikely that it will ever be adopted to any general extent Arbitration committees in order to discharge the duties of arbitration must be men of intelligence who are capable of grasping fully the subject under I consideration in its various bearings and they must also be perfectly free from bias and without personal interest in-terest In the matter in order that their decisions maY be made on the merits of the case independent of the results It is true there is inhumanity in-humanity a large degree of good honest soundsense which asserts itself without any large degree of cultivated intelligence but such good honest judgment oftentimes is led strangely astray and is not to be relied upon Arbitration committees com-mittees to be effective must possess that which those interested lack that is there must be clear and educated judgmenteducated on the subject in disputeperfect independence rot thought and freedom free-dom of action Suppose such a body give a decision on a subject a decision which as would naturally be expected is free from bias and perfectly conscientious how would it be received In order that its full force might be appreciated it would be necessary that those whom the decision was to effect should be as intelligent rind as fairminded as the members of the committee i whereas it was the vast difference between the characters and characteristics charac-teristics of the parties that made arbitration necessary Such a fair decision on the one side appeals to squalor hard muscle and dogged ignorance and on the other to avarice avar-ice a disposition to command and refined selfishness if not penuriousness penurious-ness How much weighttherefore can a decision which effects to de ermine a controversy between such contending elements be expected ex-pected to possess If those at variance were prepared to accept such a decision then the necessity for the decision would never have arisen for the reason that the fairness fair-ness the liberality and the manly intelligence which would enable all to receive it with favor would have led to an immediate and a just settlement of all disagreements as coon as they arose and would havo obviated the necessity of resorting re-sorting to arbitration The differencesso called between be-tween labor and capital are such that no amount of legislation can remedy them and the reasons which operate against legislation are of equal force when applied to arbitration Labor will be dogged and determined because it is labor and capital will be imperious im-perious and avaricious because it is capital when capital yields It will be for the reason that the inevitable inev-itable law of supply and demand forces it to succumb where labor gains a victory it will be due to the operation of the same commercial force It is idle for laboring men mechanics and artisans to attempt i to force the price of labor up when the trade to which each belongs is overflowing with men Labor difficulties i diffi-culties adjust themselves and no i regulation on the part of trades I unions is powerful enough to work a change unless it be a momentary one If a particular trade has too many followers then young men who are starting out in the world will avoid it and seek one which Is n remunerative and where labor I is scarcer < in a few years his trade will be overdone when other young men will avoid the trade which before was sough after and so on each trade regulating itself according to the circumstances the time and the place The only thing the laborer can do to benefit himself is to be frugal to be Industrious avoid unnecessary expenses shun luxuries and thus save his means so that when trade I Is slack or old age creeps on he will be independent of the changes of supply and demand and above the lash of imperious and dictatorial capital If the laborer would be independent in-dependent and would dictate terms he must himself have capital enough at least to enable him to live whether he works or not and to this end he should save his means No decisions of arbitrative tribunals tribu-nals and no affiliation with trades unions will ensure this result for I him he must depend on his own energies for the desired conditions which he would occupy |
