| Show I Democracy and Industry Bv Ily MATTHEW The American Federation of Labor has 1118 taken a n alear clear lear cut stand for democracy in industry Work orl used to be with hand by men who vho worked largely alone or In very small email groups Today It is with power and machinery and large masses of men men- toll toil toge together ther In plants made possible b by tremendous tremendous tremendous tre tre- tre- tre aggregations of ot capital With this epochal change in in the manner of doing work worl came an equal great change In the location of the he battle battle- ground of freedom through democratic d action Political Po- Po freedom once the ultimate goal no longer meets meet every need There are distant needs which 1 It t does docs not even touch The rhe autocrat who can ca' boss who have no voice destroys freedom for tor those men for tor them there Is little meaning in democracy I Labor abor In Europe has hIlS turned to the state and to the machinery of ot politics for the righting of ot al almost almost almost al- al most all economic and social l Ills The state does doc not and cannot cure the theIs Ills Is of industry which is i o outside of ot Its scope of action If It political government government govern govern- ment Is to control and make malte the rules of Industry I t then hen the state must become becom a towering bureaucratic bureau era c cs cratic tic institution with Its hand on evel every mans man's shoulder houlder s and its ith nose in ever every mans man's doorway American labor flinches from that and sets Its face I a it t. t Yet Industry uncurbed b by some re restraining retraining re re- s str training straining hand will go a. a as far as ns possible toward o oppression American labor turns toward more democracy i instead of toward less It demands democracy where the center of life is found found In in the tle work vork places It in Is Just being ing discovered generally generally t that hat American labor has taken this position and I t the he fact is creating something of a sensation for which labor is thankful The American Federation of Labor Ibor by unanimous unanimous official action has asked the s secretary of ol commerce to summon a representative national natIon l conference conference conference con con- ference to consider the elimination of difficulties preventing constructive e organization In the In- In in In- Manifestly there cannot b bs democracy without organization Ever Every group that renders service serIce in ir i industry ought to be organized as labor is largely organized as employers are in large arge part organized organ organ- as trade associations are sometimes found It is labors labor's conviction that organized functional I groups will wili find their way to the raising of ot a c a L structure of d democratic self control and self self govern govern govern- ment meat Mistakes l will be made but that always hap hap- II pens Much law for Industry has been made marie b by r I industry alread already Democratic methods in Industry P are not b by any means entirely in the realm of o r fanc fancy There has been a considerable d development t In that direction What labor wants and deems necessary now is a L general recognition of the soundness of the d 1 phy hy o oC o. o democracy In Industry a general consciousness conscious conscious- ness of the Tightness rightness of the idea and of the necessity city sity for its purposed development In other words the time lime has hal come to toton stop ton letting human freedom freedon in industry t Ibe be e a matter of blind groping with hilor hit hil t 01 or miss luck The time has come to understand 1 I what is n needed ded what ought to be done and Vh why a and d to set St about the doing of o-f it The shadow of disaster that falls tails over o so mud much muc of ot Europe should hasten us in our efforts Th The The- C extremes of ot reaction and of communism plunge C m madly fOI yard in the same dictatorial direction I neither having an any use uso for democracy It is th the e good fortune of America Ame that its masses massos believe Ii in ri democracy That is no no doubt cause because democracy y still means much In America But unless it i is S carried on on into the great fl field d of Industry it must inns 1 Inevitably mean less leas and less les with a consequent 1 lessening of regard regald for its sacredness on the par part t of the people Freedom must go where the people a live their lives or it is not freedom The conference which the secretary of commerce corn com m merce has been asked to call may well be one o c of if the gr great t epoch markers of our time Labor believes be be- It will willbe be so co Politically made law fumbles fumble S 'S where It touches Industry The political government govern go L ment lacks S the comp competence tence to govern industry wise 1 ly Industry knows itself Itsel It must have gov sel-go If it lt is to grow glOW I If it does not have sell self government If It it does not see its own need an and d work worle out its own salvation we shall have ha even ever a state bureaucracy and a sta state te ly which every lover of Qt freedom will wish to ae eri a t That Is s wh why labor has taken I HS is s position for d de democracy de- de in Industry Industry among among the machines Copyright 1926 Cosmos Newspaper Syndicate |
