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Show "SHALL WE IMMUNIZE 'AMERICA A GAINST -BOLSHE VISM?" '5 HArt.UvS P.M KU'K SI.I.M.y Washington, I). ('. N VAUVIN,; ,1,., Ijt ;Dt,.,,iy lu, minds r .ncu n .,C1. Ul0 carth ni.e r'"'""'"'1 11 MOIL thr; polities of indu.-.Lrv. U iiUShlU ,.,.,'. e(,erimeilt Of tlnggi'rilig immensity writhes in a VI el-,jf el-,jf blood and famine. Vr..fhn. iMsorgnni.ed Cerium, y Mn:gs, to r- c lahh-h .v,, u, nation;!! c:. i -truce, ami in III,- effort thc dominant .-: li il -i.-i li-ot.i ail ,i,h- js I,,,.,,, t,, ,, ,,.,, t whi-h tl,,' wrV;,.r, ..i,al .-ont.-ol industry indus-try ami shut-.- i tM. ,ii:-t i-il,n i ion of prodm-.-d wealth. Southeastern Kuropc rampant l.v overthrow s every CiistinK if 1 1 1 1 1 .j t-i 1 1, ,,.! inMitiuion in a great 'lass war, the ,, being "the world for Hi" Wolkt-rs." Convulsions, all of thr-in """" in I heir broader aspects, blmk tl'- ol, vvorl-1 lo iis foundation.-. Only in Fnginnd loo; reason U i ' l-aee v, ill, passion. Ainl e--n there an indusl rial i cvolul i,,i, in iillolrol in lh-itish bis- ,0!' ttiin place; iu peace to be ,"'l but M ill taking' place. A ud w lint of A tucriea '! An: we here, l,., sl.c a duplication of file events, non- threatening to scuttle Kiiropn? (tr ,o,s a distance of three thousand miles render Us immune from the iiilluom-cs of these social and ei onninii- ( norm il in-, V Are ti n to go on as v have in the past or is there a (.pit-it for a change, for reforms, for readjust re-adjust nls. for a new- deal in the rola - lions of employer and employed? If eo, how is it to be met in order that we shall be saved the waste of industrial warfare or a destructive period of bitterness bit-terness and di.-.i-oniciitV Or, indeed, is i possible thai run as Ibis is written industrial relations, in America are undergoing un-dergoing a I i n uslm-mat ion and that w alone anion-,' tin- si-cat industrial nations na-tions are destined to write the new chapter of imhist rial history under peaceful skies and in a spirit of harmonious har-monious en operal iun ? Veteran of Labor Campaigns Thee and related questions are forming the basis of much utterance in the luited Slates just now. Theories ; vie with theories in a cross current of efforts to guide the course of industrial S events. I'.ut there are a number of men 1 who deal from day to day with the facts of American industrial life, whose ! business il is to meet and attempt to solve the complexity of problems arising in a land of iVo.OOO industrial employers employ-ers and Li.OOU.tHIO to 'JO. 000, 000 industrial in-dustrial workers, who see passing events in their relation to one another and to the whole of the economic fabric, and it is with these men that the country coun-try uiilit well examine the industrial ttale of the nation. One such man is AV. Jett f.auck. secretary sec-retary of the national war labor board. Mr. Lauek's life has been spcut iu the industrial equation. As .secretary of the war labor board be has handled virtually vir-tually cver.v strike, labor disturbance and industrial dispute in the country siuoe the board was formed iu April, 91S. The war labor board, by the way, kept pence in Aiuericuu industry during the war. It handled llMu' controversies, con-troversies, involving more lhau two million workers. So great was the cou-iideuce cou-iideuce of (he country iu this body that with less than a half do.en exceptions no strike lasted more th.au forty-right i hours. Mr. laiuek during the war has f been connected with the wage ad.iust- ! lnenf board of the Kmergcnoy Fleet i Corporation, which instituted the sys- j tent of industrial relations in the ship- yards and dealt with the industrial re- i lations mutters of the aircraft productive i hoard. Trior to the war he was matt- aging economist to the commission on industrial relatious, director of indus- 1 trial investigations for the con;;ressioua! immigration commission, director of the Hureau of Applied Economics, professor profes-sor of economics at Washington and Lee V uiversity, economic counselor for the railroad brotherhoods, author of 'The Conditions of Labor iu American Industries." "The Immigration Problem." Prob-lem." "Wages and the Cost of Liv- ing." "Wages in Wartime" ami "The I British Industrial Experience During the War." the last named document of ; invaluable assistance in steering our ' owu industrial course after we entered ' the contliot. He was chosen secretary of the war labor board, composed of ' employers and labor leaders in equal number, because so far as a man can ! be impartial he was considered to be ! impartial. In his office in Washington ' h,- has directed the work of the war i labor board's large force of admiuis- 1 trators, examiners aud investigators scattered throughout the industrial see-! see-! lions of the eouutry. i Mr. Lauck's position, therefore, is j 0ie that lends a unique importance to ' certain things Uc bes to say respecting I rhe present and the future of American. I industry- Attilutlo of (he Uorlieu He buds undeniable indications in America of widespread dis-atisfactiou ' a"ioiig workers with much that pre- ) vails in our present system of industrial 1 ,-f'ation-. At Ihe moment, however, he characterizes the situation as psyebo-lo-i.-al a condition, as he puts it. oE t v wailing expectancy or suspended oni-;' oni-;' ,, ati.m' ba.-ed on the hope of the work- ( e'r., that the signing of peace and tne i reiurn of Eresideut Wilson will bring j something, akin to an industrial tn- ' xentory. a readjustment of relaltons ' ,ii to the spirit of the new I ,-orresponding to no a-,- a new understanding to accord ,,-hl'i the as yet uuuttcred dctermiua- I I for change. This desire tor u ? ,.,,,.. Mr. Lauck t-ays, is not con- primarily with wages and hour,. I imi.or.aut. as they loom upon th, ,n- bo,-i-,on. but has to do most . '.,,1 willi th- abatement of Ihe rigut ,;f binary ! , mailers of v.ial Kifre-t to lh : Znlrr, and .he extension of a mea.nic t r.t::-, U'K". tv Pv:iv Lv 1- r .n. of self-government to industrial life. petuate the forms of government control " r. ' ?tl. as a form of assocabon : we must real- In other words, as clearly as this psy- obtaining during the war. Industry , C t ?'K ue that the assocmtion of human be.ngs chological attitude of the workers may should and will be free to develop to its g2C-Stl kJ for thc purpose . of luJilstn;11 . be defined, the workers want a voice co- utmost capacity. Lttt its development r. It x olves w hat is just as nmch a prob.e n ordinate with that of the employer in will be slow, indeed, until employers V, " " r t 7, ot S0""1' f tbe,r a7'tK'" the determination of -aSe rates, hours - reckon with the new psychology of th, xJf . ' " f ' ' the great pohttcal system which we cal of labor and all other conditions of worker, realise the need for his good- . A t f cM lbe SttttC- A DCW ordc: , Vhe employment. They do not care about will and co-operative effort and appre- T X 1 . , -A relatious w dl . be created .that .s tae tunning the finances of a corporation date the value of his counsel in matters - f v- . J W fact whtcl. must be admitted. It is and much less do they want to inter- in wllicU be is concerned. . , U XX H "F3 for "S ,0 ""r""0? .,f ' l ' " fere with the sheer commerical side of "A national industrial conference t t " O- "S. t ? VJ Pached mthespir ' "ew d'- iudustry. But on questions affecting might be convened under government flUT V X L J A. mocraey and therefore in.ugu, a ed tn their owu lives and the manner and auspjccs. called together by the Presi - fl.f K .QSS " " 1,, "'''i ."tifyin- f- of nature of their employments they would dent, for instance, as has already been tS kll I V T , V manner h have something to say. I-'ar-seeing em- Bl,s?L,ld bj. somc cmploJ-m aDU soul, , I frA T ( em, 1 er ecog Plovers, recognizing the trend and an- labor ,caders. Jt 8hou,j. in the ttpJt vtt? SV 3!feVt i V h,Ch " """ , 1 ?' J , e tieipating the future, are not only ce. be composed of the most reVoa- 4 f 4 UlulW 4 ni.ingtlmt a new duc ' granting this voice to their workers, sil)U, ,.0resentatives of both the em AlVVCC. & on tbeir own account, giving it welcome. but are encouraging a universal appli- ,ovc,.s au(, the worker wit mpn " V Jl "Probably the summit of "P"- catiou of the. tirst step iu industrial ., highest caliber to ,- t ti ' tivc management was reached a lew self-government, collective bargaining. , .. " . , f , w- Jett Lauck' secretary of the national war labor board, who 10nlhs ago io the photo-ougraving in- which means, in brief, that the workers ' V ? , , l o , LI , . V proposes national conference of economic interests to solve indus- , j Ncw York. xvheu a new price . , , . . zenship should be unrepresented. Aud. trial nrnblems of the hour ,,ui; i, n,.- elect committees of the,,- own number to os dependent for its exnan- problems wag announ(.0d to the public by the of setf -government to industrial life. In other words, as clearly as this psychological psy-chological attitude of the workers may be defined, tbc workers waut a voice coordinate co-ordinate with tbat of the employer iu the determination of waje rates, hours of labor aud all other conditions of employment. They do not care about running the finances of a corporation aud much less do they want to interfere inter-fere with the sheer commerical side of industry. But on queslious affecting their owu lives aud the mauuer and nature of their employments they would have something to say. far-seeing employers, em-ployers, recognizing the trend and anticipating an-ticipating the- future, arc not only granting this voice to their workers, but arc eueouraging a universal application appli-cation of the, tirst step iu industrial e!f-government, collective bargaining, which means, in brief, that the workers elect committees of their own number to deliberate with management on questions ques-tions affecting the relations of the two. and through which the workers lay all grievances before the employer for adjustment. ad-justment. "A very simple process." snys Mr. Lauck, "but one of extreme importaur-e to workers aud, unfortunately, unfortu-nately, one which ninny employers even now continue to resist as au iuvasion of their right of proprietorship and direction." Principles of His Program Nevertheless he sees the tendency toward self-government moving fast and points, ou the oue hand, to the growth of one uniou. the machinists, from 150.- 000 members in 1017 to 300.000 today; and. ou the other, to such iustauces of co-operative effort ns the federation of the newsprint paper manufacturers and workers into a national industrial council, coun-cil, representative of all thc workers aud all the employers, for a joint council in all questions of mill administration, the establishment of national uniformity uniform-ity of relations and conditions, discussion discus-sion ot operatiug methods, etc. ; already this council is considering plaus for the establishment of health and unemployment unemploy-ment insurance throughout the industry. indus-try. 'nut." says Mr. T.auck, "while w had industrial peace during the war and have had apparent peace since the armistice, ar-mistice, those who look beneath the surface sur-face see iu our current quietude the most ominous harbinger of the future. "To meet the situation," be continues, con-tinues, "something big needs to be done. And it is with more than a view-to view-to allaying unrest that we must act. The day for mere postponement is past. Our aim should be and must be to remove re-move the conditions which cause unrest aud which will continue to cause unrest until they are removed. AVe have crossed the threshold of a new age, a new spirit is abmad in the -world. The ueces.-ities demand a general cleariug of the minds of mnu aud the establishment establish-ment of a new understanding. A new bill of rights a bill of economic rights must be written. Justice and wisdom wis-dom both demaud it. Once it is written industry iu America will go forward iu an era of prosperity hitherto un-equaled un-equaled in our history. With permanent industrial peace will come greatly increased in-creased production, aud that is what we are most concerned about. The one certain method of isolating and removing re-moving the causes thnt threaten industrial indus-trial peace N for thc employers aud the workers of the country to meet in common coiusel in what might be called au industrial conference or industrial congress, create a n a tmosphere for tbe evaporation of contlicting aims and ideas, and come to agreement upon fundamental" fun-damental" principles for the future gov-eminent gov-eminent of iudn-try us a whole. Thi 1 win Id rail co opera t iun plus mhi nd industrial stat, mauvliip. No sane man will 1 i - :j with the wi.-h of employ -cv-5 t" be fn-o from burra mr:n ic cwivru -iiirt i la I interference. oi.e hut the iiju-t ecu Mr m (,d bu iej u'.i uuld per - pet u ate the forms of government coutrol obtaining during the war. Industry should aud will be free to develop to its utmost capacity. Hut its development will be slow, indeed, until employers reckou with thc new psychology of th worker, realize thc need for his goodwill good-will and co-operative effort and appreciate appre-ciate thc value of his counsel in matters in which he is concerned. ' "A national industrial conference might be convened under government auspices, called together hy the President, Presi-dent, for instance, as has already been suggested by some employers and some labor leaders. Jt should, in the first place, be composed of the most responsible respon-sible representatives of both the employers em-ployers aud the workers, with men of the very highest caliber to represent the public. No section of industrial citizenship citi-zenship should he unrepresented. Aud, as industry is dependent for its exnan - siou and its forward-looking policies upon the co -operation and sanction of bankers, the banking community, aud esppeially private bankers instrumental in floating large corporations and iu reorganizing re-organizing and consolidating industrial enterprises, should also be represented. "Inasmuch as they are the inevitable problems confronting industry today or promising to confront it in the very near future, these problems might form the general basis of the deliberations of such an assemblage: "First. Need for the formulation of methods for the universal and uniform application of collective bargaining; encouragement en-couragement of the establishment of shop and works committees and their federation into district and national in- . dustrial boards, representative of employers em-ployers aud employed. ' ; Secou d . N ccssity f or the d e -termination of what shall constitute a . proper working day, with due regard to the rights of the workers to health and sufficient leisure to enjoy family uud social contacts and pursue the higher things- of life, aud the formation ot means for application of a nation-wide uniform workday. "Third. Provision for guaranteeing every worker a living wage, sufficient to sustain himself and his family- in health and reasonable comfort, uud the recommendation of legal means for insuring in-suring the guarautee, such as the imposition impo-sition of a 10 per cent net profit tax on corporations not paying a living wage a5 has been imposed by Congress for the protection o child life or the cuactineut of a statute declaring au establishment es-tablishment paying less than a living wage to he a public nuisance. "Fourth. Adoption of measures to safeguard thc rights of women iu industry, in-dustry, its to equal pay for equal work, conservation of health anil strength aud peusions or payments before aud after child birth : also abaudounicnt by uuious of discriminatory practices against women -iu industry. "Fifth. Consideration of a far-sighted far-sighted industrial housing program, looking to protecliou by federal law of tbe workers' right to adequate bous-itig bous-itig facilities and to the establishment or means ot affording the worker the opportunity of acquiring his own home; us well as measures for . the constant encouragement of efforts toward a general gen-eral raising of architectural standards with respect to the mills and factories in which men and women work and the homes in which they live. "Sish. Recognition of the importance impor-tance of adult education, aud material encouragement of measures looking tj a uniou of working class organizations nod universities and other educational institutions for the purpose of extending extend-ing the benefits of higher learning lo the workers. The importance of providing higher educational facilities will be seen iu the census revelutiou I hat only 1 14 children out of every 10.000 of our population get any continuous etlucii1 tiou after they are fourteen years of age. "Seventh. Need for a permanent court of industrial jurisprudence, erected by mutual agreement upon sound principles protecting the rights of employers em-ployers aud workers alike, but above ail the interests of the community as a v.hole; a court of last resort for the administration ad-ministration of justice and maintenance of production iu cases where co-operative effort fails to achieve settlement of controversies. 1 udustria 1 Statesmanship "I believe that uothiug less thao broad -gauged industrial statesmanship applied nationally will suffice in this period of transition. "Once the nalioual mind frees itself from the fears and prejudices of the old order and tiuds a new basis for cooperative co-operative effort, there will be a greet quickening of the industrial processes ef the country. I'ntil then our nest, obvious industrial characteristic will hi. sluggishness. The most disastrous of all the possibilities, it seems to me. h that industrinl leaders should seek a solvent in patchwork here and there. Concessions will prove bnomeran-'s. "The thing lor all t bear in mind is that the labor problem is no longer (he servant problem. Men are discovering discover-ing that they Aid-; men. And. iu the words of Alfred Zitiiiueru. n0v an olh rial of th- llritp h Foreign ( HI',,-,. , ot.ejyfjV--' .tt,. f iii-i,), se: ,l so" industry not of product iou, but as a form of association : we must realize real-ize that the association of human beings for the purpose of industrial work in-olves in-olves what is just as much a problem ot government as their association in the great political system which we call the state. A new order of industrial relatious will.be created: that is the fact which must be admitted. It is for us to determine if it is to be approached ap-proached iu the spirit of the new democracy de-mocracy aud therefore inaugurated iu peace, or in thc spirit of antagonism. "One of the most gratifying facts of the present situation is the manner iu 'which a number of employers, recognizing recog-nizing that a new day is dawuing. are, on tbeir own account, giving it welcome. "Probably the summit of co-operative management was reached a few-months few-months ago in the photo-u graving industry in-dustry in New York, when a new- price list was announced lo the public by the employing concerns. Trend of (he Times "An industrial council is now functioning func-tioning as the means of closer relatious between - the 3 uteruatioual Harvester Company and SO ,000 workers in nineteen nine-teen of its twenty plants. Works councils, coun-cils, composed of representatives elected by the employes and an equal number chosen by the management, have been set up iu each plant for the consideration considera-tion of all qucstious. including wages, boors, health, safety, sanitation, education, edu-cation, recreation, etc.. ami the disposition dispo-sition of grievances, individual or collective. col-lective. In matters affecting more than one plant n.geueral industrial council is convened, iu which every 100 workers work-ers or fraction thereof is represented by au elected delegate, all traveling expenses, ex-penses, etc., paid by the company. To aid in carrying out the plan of seif-government seif-government the company lias .established a department of industrial relatious, giving special attention to matters pertaining per-taining to labor policies and the general gen-eral well-being of industrial workers. "The so-called .Rockefeller plan of industrial representatiou has uow obtained ob-tained for a year iu the plants ot th Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, with great benefit to production ami apparent ap-parent satisfaction lo the workers. iJuring the year eighty conferences were held by thc managements aud the workers' work-ers' committees. Wages predominated among the subjects under discussion, being .'IS per ceut of tbe total number of topics, which was 111. Cither topics were working conditions. 10 per ceut; promotions and discharges. !) per ecu!; hours. S.o per cent : sanitation, housing aud social questions, ", per cent each. A similar plau is well established in (he "peratious of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, the head of which. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., advocating greater participation of labor in industrial man-ngement, man-ngement, says: 'Obviously the day has passed vvheu the conception of industry ns primarily a matter of private interest ran be maintained. To cling lo it is , only to lay up trouble for the future and to amuse antagonisms.' "Plans similar in their broad outlines to those, established iu (tic Harvester and Standard Oil plants have also been adopted b.v the lh-thleheta Steel Company, Com-pany, the Midv.-ile Steel and Ordnauoe Company and about thirty other large concerns. Is -jiKi otb,.,- ,lauis and groups ot plants the shop committee, or collective bargaining, system has been instituted by the war labor Hoard, ill accordance with its principle guaranteeing guaran-teeing workers the right to a voice in decisions affecting their interests. "These are some indications that the human factor in production is being '' 'gnized in something j,c nc- oordnnre with ils real importance; and, iu s-Miic cases, )) - tin. verv same men who ivi-ted lo the point of tinned conflict con-flict the del eriuinat iou of t li i i- workers to have tl vuioc in management (,uly a h:ill'(h,.-.en v,-ars ag,,. Then strikebreakers strike-breakers ami aimed guards were cm-plo.M-d. and the human problems of in dustry were settled by force and ' blood, or lawvers were retained to " cure injunctions, etc. More rco employers are observing tht m,1Cj ,,' expended would have her,, better v, in seientilic investigations 0f T" operating methods and it, the appj." t.ou of measures designed to wnm the psychological elements of the ing group with the processes of r(u.' tiou. Progressive employers uow Pnlj'', the services of industrial research J perts or industrial- counselors auO si' close ear to their reports and ,eWffl' meudations. Ry the same w. ii ,i , . e lto call in Ihe doctor every s0 often to ' amine and report upoD the state of th.-' own health." Analogy (o French revolution "The development of industry jD country,' he said, "has tmt !c"" quautitative. standardized Hues of out put. with the purpose iu min (l eliminating individual skill aud train'mj The machine lias become paruitwl and the worker subordinate. Thc minii machine, for example, has supplanltJ thc pick miner; the automatic loon takes thc place of the weaver of sUi and experience; the bottle -blowiug ffia. chine is doing the work ouce perform by the highly specialized glass blower-the blower-the molding machine displaces the old-time old-time hand molder. With the eliniim. tiou of the requirements of indirkkiii skill the bargaining power of the crofts, mau has disappeared. For instance, a Slav immigraut, who never saw a ec, mine, can be advantageously empleved within two weeks after his arrival j, this country at the side of aud on i, equality with a mau who lias P.lt years at the work. I know- a man wh, was; a skilled malier of trousers brfort the machine supplanted the journejnm tailor in the clothing trades. This m, has been literally forced to sect n. ployment iu a steel mill, where his wotk as au unskilled laborer yields a larttr income than he could now make at bit trade. The advent of the machine incacs that labor eau hope to bargain m(. cessfully cub eu masse, as it wer. without regard to speeitie tasks, (Qj tbat the uuiouism of the future will h? industrial unionism. Probably it will be more clearly expressive to say Hat the one big uuion in each iodustn will be paramount. Thus tbc prwut craft unions must, and uudouhttlij will. s:ec the necessity of reshaping aid reforming themselves to meet tit changed conditions confronting them. That this has been fully realized b.v tti American, Federation of Labor is indicated indi-cated by the present and highly successful suc-cessful campaign lo form a federal ot industrial uuion iu the steel industtj. This, I believe, certainly is true: ttil labor will be more highly orgaciiH under the uevv order than it crer coull be under the old." Mr. Lauck tiuds an interesting parallel par-allel in thc French Revolution and tb great war. "Tbe great war," be said, "marks thc beginning of a uew, if no: revolutionary, era iu its beariug upo: industrial relatious aud conditions. Tn significance of thc French Kcvolutio: was political. It marked tbc bc:ii nings of political democracy. After i century's experieuce with political de n-.ocracy the workers of the world setD to have reached the decision that polit-ical polit-ical democracy without a correspou'kl measure of economic rights autl fmfe is a delusiou. At any rate, iu ont wi' or another they are reaching out ft' means of adjusting economic institution of democratic ideals. They are seekin 'to gaiu this end by a larger degree f! coutrol iu the direct management of ia-dustry ia-dustry from within and by the coerci:: and direction of industry through ''' ical aetiou. Tbe effect by either mt::: is toward industrial democracy. T-s is" the really signilicaut feature of tt! labor problem both nationally and i: teruationally at Ihe present time. -!! international labor problem will after cousist' iu the development i:' adaptation to our political institute' of industrial constitutionalism and it dustrial jtidicialism in the effort :; realize industrial democracy. Industrial Democracy "While political democracy achieved realization only through P-cratious P-cratious of slaughter, industrial i' mocracy. at least so far as thc Instates In-states is concerned, we may hope become a fact through peaceful co t: , eratiou of the forces which, if wc re ( to cling to onu flirt as the mean; progress, would be at war with e-other e-other for the next twenty-five or t: years, i. e., the employers and i" workers. To make this possible V gospel of production must supplant i rule of profit as the impelling in the direction of industry, and is: rnucc and indifference must, in iK''! ing degree give way to iutoll isrout ; standing by the worker of his "'-'' to the world. T oiler such auspice? j industrial machine w ill tend more more to operate from top to bot'o; thc single. purpose of serving Bt freeing itself wilh advancing f" from every restriction and coii'l't",c ; tractiug from the highest possible ' nine of output. Importance tt:K. ' to class distinctions in industry" is to say. owners, directors ar-J managers as dist inguished from will then ratio out into h common m-' standing of the fact of pnvtnershiP-man pnvtnershiP-man v ilh an equal voice in tl'-'" affecting his interests. What cvir occur will be incidental nod not . A hat should be borne in aiiml ." plovers and workers alike is t trial drmocraov. which menus H est possible product iou on M"(l absolute justice to till l,;""i' 1S'n", - lutiouarv process, incasiircil enteritis en-teritis of progress, by the which coiillicting attitii't''s n t ,-..,. d in joint council and i"lusl standing." h |
