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Show jR INDUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION Hwiy Laredo, Texas, Nov. IS. BBwT &amt Gorriper, pres- H ldent of the American WK$ Federation of Labor, in W, th closing Hours of the i jflffljt Pan - American Labor :MBE Conference; herd today, WW served! fortndl warning I wur that no general reduction pgSg, of wages nor Increase In 3fMt workings' hours after the vlmr war would be accepted M' without a- blttor fight by mmSk( organized labor. f mm He Issued a statement 'VIk inspired Dy a recent pub- r)lHn "c utterance of William mfflw H Barr President of the wff National Founders' Asso- U&P elation, that a reduction t' of wag os and longer ijs hours would be1 the only I means to enable Amerl- 1 can manufacturers to I continue to cope with f foreign industries after the war. mr "Notice is given here HK and now," Mr. Gompers MX said, "that the American fw people will not be forced S-vJSjL back by either Barr, his tJMr" association or all t h o IK. bourbons In the United K. States. V'Jw) "The American labor KFYI move raent whole-heart- fjji eHy supported this- world "'' 'W struggle, and we knew ' ' M? ust wna was involved," Mf said Mr. Gompers. W "The Amferlcan Tabor movement will co-operate I wKh all other agencies to IN . hel?) In the reconstruction ill ) time. Our movement la 111 not to destroy, but to Jj J construct. And all may I In? Just as wel1 understand i sjly now as at any other time I jt tht the advantage which; I ifli I tne workers of America I lilf 1 and of the Allied counts coun-ts trIes have sained and II j? which we hope to extend IwSi to tn0 PePla even of the AT? conquered countries, are BJf not going to be taken wc away from us. And wo HV shall resist that attempt til New Ydrk, Nov. 18 Urging joint action between be-tween wago earners and employers, "In peace and in war," the National Association of Manufacturers, Manufac-turers, in a statement Issued Is-sued hero today, declared It would "stand firmly for the spirit of patriotic iriduStrlal co - operation for the working out of the reconstruction postwar post-war problems, so that the-United the-United States will bo in a position to meet every presont and future need here and abroad. Confusions Con-fusions and inequities which have developed in our American industries during the hustle and bustle of waging war on a modenv scale should bo and will be eliminated in good time We must lend our every effort to avoid bitterness, acrimony, calamity cal-amity howling or whining. whin-ing. Nothing is to be gained by either side, if thero ara sides, through cultivation or promotion of misunderstandings. No manufacturer has or seeks any rights or privileges priv-ileges which any other good American is asked to surrender. We believe that absolutism on the part of labor is just as bad for the general welfare wel-fare of the Nation as absolutism ab-solutism of so-called capital cap-ital Both elements ought to be ablo to find a common com-mon and equitable basis on which properly to meet every present and future need. In thla effort ef-fort to" reach and maintain main-tain a common ground, our Industrial (actors need, and expect, constructive, con-structive, legitimate and impartial encouragement from the government and a healthy, well-informed public opinion. Any organization or-ganization which sets for itself the task of creating creat-ing or sustaining an artificial ar-tificial or abnormal economic eco-nomic condition in American Amer-ican industry Is certainly not working for the true and proper interests of its membership." &M" Tf OR the benflt o its 40,000 to 45,000 readers, Jjl The Spectator places these statements side KSw by side. The Utterances of the representatives i,aJr of the wage-earner and the wage-payer should yffy be read with care. In them will be found, the wfi platforms on which must be1 rebuilt the industrial (X and economic systems of this country. The state- U v ments declare that Wage-earners and' wage-payers '' v alike will assist in the reconstruction work the i latter in a spirit of patriotic co-operation, and the former on the basis of the profits extorted from an abnormal condition that gave to labor a fictitious value that the sane laws of neither man X nor nature can make permanent. I Mr. dompers and all the rest of us know that J f l there Mast be reconstruction of an industrial sys- iISTj torn which had many and grievous faults before IT anc grievous and many faults during the war. ' , And the faults still. Mr. Gompers serves notice I ori the country here and now that whatever in- lA dustrial and economic faults are to be cured, IV will be those of the other fellow; Mr. Gompers' Wii methdd of accomplishing reconstruction is to re- i jrffl construct someone else. I Me Thero can be no reconstruction on this basis; JTiy nor can there be economic progress or industrial v rW pteac& Aiid wo are -wasting our time in discuss- 1 lag international peace terms an in attending in- J&A ternational peace conferences in foreign lands if fil a our own country either of the potent factors Ml W tt ou natonal Ife while1 talking of reconstruc- B jjein tlon, arbitrarily declares that it will not yield Hi9 any oC e aQvantases or profits it has gained by flm ke war. N"a one, whose opinion fs worth listening JQwAt to desires to deprive , labor or capital of any Ie- flMr gltimate profit or advantage gained in time of ' I JaU war fPac0, But the fact that capital and labor I I I say there is need for industrial and economic re- construction, and that both declare they will assist as-sist in it, albeit in wholly different ways, is proof enough that pro-war and present conditions--how-ever profitable and advantageous to either or both sides muBt give way to post-war requirements. require-ments. In the face of a restricted demand for products, and, therefore, a greatly lessened demand for labor, Mr. Gompers asserts that labor will yield none of the advantages of high pay and short hours gained from the nation's necessities in war times. How does Mr. Gompers propose to maintain main-tain these "advantages" if there is a greatly decreased de-creased demand for labor and its products? In the war period, labor's high wages were not paid by capital, (the employers) but by the people, with the Liberty bondB they bought. The time is fast approaching when the people will buy no more bonds, because there will be no need for the war products to whose purchase so much of the money raised by the bonds was devoted. "When M. Gompers Gom-pers is not producing war products at war prices he surely will not expect war wages.. It was the hope of nearly everyone that after the war, wo would, have peace that there would be friendship between nations, and amity between labor and capital. These are among the things we are fighting for. It is proposed now to so improve im-prove the industrial system that unemployment will be unnecessary, that there may be work for all of us, and that strikes will be forgotten. This Improvement can only come through a spirit of fraternity exhibiting itself in a desire on the part of labor and capital to make concessions, to forego fore-go war-time advantages, and to share fairly in peacetime profits. It will not come as long as Mr. Gompers thinks the people will continue to pay him war-time wages in times of peace. Portland Spectator. |