Evening Star Newspaper, February 28, 1932, Page 30

THE SUNDAY ST/ AR, WASHINGTON, D. C., FEBRUARY 28, 1932—PART TWO. Making Jobs for Thousands (Continued Prom First Page.) where great Government departmental buildings costing $125,000,000 (ulti- mately) are being erected, the observer gains only an inadequate glimpse of what the public building program really comprehends. Here one sces the great Department of Commerce Building, only recently completed at a total cost of $17,500,000; it is 1,038 feet long, 319 feet wide, seven stories in height, covers a ground area of three or four city blocks and contains 1,100,000 net square feet of floor space, Nearby Projects. Near by are huge buildings completed or in process of construction for the Internal Revenue Bureau, the Depart- ment of Agriculture, e Interstate Commerce Commission, the Fost Office Department, the Department of Justice, the Archives Building and the Labor Department. There are great, gaping holes in the ground, blocks wide and long, and so deep that water must be constantly pumped out while swarms of men labor on the foundations for | more new buildings to house the activi- | ties of the Federal Government. In the mile-long triangle from the Capitol to the White House, and beyond, men are shaping steel and stone into struc- tures of enduring beauty and useful- ness. But impressive and engrossing as this huge activity is, it is only a small part of the public building program of the United States Government, In New York State alone that program em- braces Federal building projects in| nearly 150 citles and towns—all the | way from a $56,000 border 1nspection‘> station (for the immigration and cus- | toms services), at Champlain, to an $11,000,000 parcel post service building | in 'New York City. In some of the nearly 150 cities more than one Fed- eral building is to be erected. The New York City program of the National Government, for instance, includes not only the huge parcel post plant, but also a $9,500,000 anncx to the present post office, & $10,700,00 Federal court house, a $12,0000,000 office building for Government purposes, a $3,765.000 as- say office and a $2,500,000 marine hos- pital at Stapleton, Staten Island. The total expenditure in New York State 1s to be more than $80,000,000. I have cited New York merely as an example of what is being done by the Federal Government throughout the country. The list of California public | building projects for the use of the| United States is nearly as long. And | all the way between California and | |pe pri ing the ultimate expenditure of $235,- | 000.000. Government and private archi- tects at the beginning of this year were working on drawings for 262 ad- ditional buildings and extensions, to | cost approximately $138,000.000. Now more than 300 Government buildings and extensions or additions are under contract. We are letting new contracts at the rate of more than one each working day, and within a few months it is probable that there will be more than 500 Federal building jobs | in_progress. | This, then, is part of the answer to | the question often asked: “What is the National Government doing to counter- act the business depression?” Of course, no possible program of Govern- ment building for which there is actual or anticipated need could fully com- 1sate for widespread cessation of ivete building construction—many Gisands of residences, apartmenc | houses, office buildings and warehouse: | in communities big and little. But all | that the Government can do in the way of building construction is being done, The result is the employment, as I have already pointed out, of many thousands of workingmen. Nearly 200 architectural firms are preparing plans for Government buildings—in addition | to the hundreds of men in Government | offices who are preparing plans and cpecifications. In hundreds of cities there are men working who would be idle were it not for the great public building program of the Government. As it is, they are quarrying limestone, granite and marble, making brick and cement, carving stone, fabricating steel, working in floor and planing mills and doing all the other multifarious and multitudinous tasks involved in the erection of mot merely scores but literally hundreds of buildings. For the men and their familles, and for the owners of industries which sup- ply materials, there could not be a better time for the Government to undertake the work—for building operations generally throughout the country have been at a point only half of what is considered normal. For the Government there could not be a better time for construction of needed buildings for public service—because material prices, and the cost of labor, too, have receded from the high levels of a few years ago. The result is the saving of scores of millions of dollars to taxpayers in securing needed facili- ties for Federal activities. The diversion of funds expended on public building construction is probably more far-reaching and of greater value Maine, from the borders of Canada to |to labor and industry than any other the Gulf of Mexico, Federal buildings|form of governmental undertaking. are under construction. We are buy- When one traces the sources of supply ing land for erecting Federal court|and origin of material used in con- houses, border inspection stations, | struction of public buildings, he is sur- custom houses, immigration stations, | prised to learn of the many localities marine hosplitals, post offices, quaran- |through the country which are bene- tine stations and buildinss to hous€ | fited by this class of public works. other necessary Federal Governmen Steocturall fitedl Traced, activities, Altogether, we have 1,624 projects on the list. Nearly 1,100 places now with- | out Federal buildings are to have them. Where there already are Government | buildings, new ones are being erected; old ones enlarged, extended and mod- ernized. When this program is com- | leted there will be more than 2,600 gulldmgs under the control of !he" United States Treasury, including post offices. Employment Provided. Every one of these buildings that are now being erected, or which soon will be started, means work for men who might otherwise be without jobs, Con- sider the employment that is being | created by one project alone—the new | %L office now going up in Chicago. at building has given jobs to 10,000 men, who are either working directly | at the building site, or are employed | in supplying material for its construc- | Tion. “iren thousand workers—and five persons to a family—that’s 50,000 men, women and children whose lvelthood during this economic crisis can be traced to this mew building, the big- gest construction project now under way in Chicago. That's one example, Here's another: | Just the other day we opened bids for | a new office in Detroit. It will | ,000,000 and it too, will be the | building project in that city. By way of illustration, if one exam- ined the just completed Department of | Commerce Building, beginning with the 75 miles of, steel reinforced concrete piles used in the foundation, one could trace the structural steel back to the mines of the Mesabi range in Minne- sota, then down through the ore- handling docks at Duluth, in freighters on their voyage down the Great Lakes to the rolling mills of Pennsylvania, where at different times 585 freight cars—which would have made a train four miles long—were used in_trans- porting the steel Cut stone by the carload was quar- ried in New England and Indiana; tile from West Virginia; sash and frames from Ohio; wall cement from Medicine Lodge, Kans.; marble from Missouri, Minnésota, Vermont; travertine from Colorado and Georgla and soapstone The plumbing of the st iro Pip! tures from the potteries of New Jersey. Nearly all the States have contributed some of their products and some of their labor to the building of this one great Government building. And so it is that the Federal building dollar flies in every direction and benefits all classes of the population by its expendi- ture, no matter where the building it- self ‘may be located. cost $5,000,000 and it, too, will be the Jobs as a result of that one building; and 10,000 others, the families of those ‘workers, will be supported by it. | In other cities in California, in New | York, almost everywhere over the | country, jobs are being created by the thousand and men are going to work | and pay checks are going into homes that need them. But the beauty of the program is this: These buildings are needed, and | will be in use for the public service and protection—they are not mere monuments _or marble ornaments erected to “make work.” As an ex- ample, there is the just mentioned new post office that is being erected in Chicago. It will be the largest post office building in the world. The cost of the site and building will be about $22,000,000, There will be four great corner pylons more than 200 feet high and 100 feet by 500 feet in area. The bullding itself is to be 800 feet long, 350 feet wide, with 50 acres of floor space on the nine floors in the rear and the 12 stories in the front. And these are to be no ordinary “stories” in point of height, for they will be 19 feet from floor to floor. Extravagance? Not at all. That space from floor to ceiling will be well utilized. It must accommodate air- conditioning apparatus for the protec- tion of the health of 5000 or more employes. It must give space to over- head carriers, conveyor beits and simi- lar apparatus for automatic and speedy handling of the United States mails. It must contain observation galleries for post office inspectors, who keep a watchful eye on the mail, night and day, to guard against theft and other tampering with letters and packages. ‘The huge building for the service of the people of Chicago and surrcunding territory is being constructed over the tracks of the Union Terminal, the lines of carriers that reach all parts of the country. About 300 trains in and out each day will not be interrupted during construction. When the building is completed, incomipg mail will be dis: | tributed without loss of time from train | to post office and outgoing mail as quickly dispatched, without the delay of a haul across the city. In the single hour between 6 and 7 o'clock at night, 600,000 letters will pour into the new post office building. More than 10 times as many letters must be handled each day, plus 250,000 outbound parcel post packages, and 80,000 sacks of papers and parcel post reccived at Chicago. By 1943 it probably will be necs to handle 19,000,000 letters a day. $500,000 Yearly Rental. Now the Government is paying rent in excess of half a milllon dollars a year for inadequate post office quarters at Chicago. With the completion of the huge new post office, there will not only be a saving of rentals, but a speeding up of mail service. This is but one example of the new needs of the Government. Those needs accumulated for a period of years— from the time of the World War until Congress made a beginning on a com- prehensive public building program in 2926 and 1927. Work on the program, intended to cover a period of 10 years, proceeded slowly at first. But when the first evi- dence of a business depression appear- ed, President Hoover began to expedite public building construction. More- over, he had the foresight to recom: mend substantial expansion of the plan first conceived. The result has been the speeding up of the construction by two or three years, and the addition of several hundred millions of dollars to the amount that can be spent for needed public improvements. By December 31 last, $496,424,602 had been specifically , authorized for forward the $700,000,000 pub- program. By the same 142 buildings had been actually completed. There were then under una:m building projects involv~ That the construction is actually needed is readily apparent to any one who examines gome of the existing quarters of Government services. Dur- ing the dozen years or more when there was practically no Government build- ing, there was tremendous growth of parcel post and other mail business. Restrictive immigration created need for additional inspection facilities along the borders. Growth of Federal court business far outdistanced court house or Federal building space. And so the Government had to make hundreds of leases at a “boom” time of high rent- als, for needed space, often ill adapted to the requirements of efficiency and convenient handling of public business. Government work had to be done in dark basements; Government records of public value and usefulness had to be | kept in so-called “temporary” buildings | that were little more than wooden shacks, constantly exposed to fire hazard. In Washington, Government clerks doing necessary work were crowded into plaster - and - cardboard, makeshift buildings hastily erected during war times; and the heat under tar paper roofs ‘during the Summer was often so intense that dozens of employes were overcome and work had to be suspended day after day. Throughout the country, first-class mail and parcel post were handled with delay and difficulty in outgrown quar- ters or unsuitable, poorly located rented buildings. The Government was pay- ing millions of dollars in rents in hun- dreds of places, and still lacked the facilities necessary to serve the public properly. In this situation President Hoover took a personal interest immediately following his inauguration. The pro- gram of public building construction that was adopted took just as much notice of the post office nieeds of Junc- tion City, Kans., as of New York and Chicago, The actual requirements of every State, both now and for years ahead, were carefully surveyed, ~And it is on the basis of such needs that work s proceeding. Pressure of Competition. In a time of business depression, the pressure of competition in labor and materials is greatest. Experience showed that some contractors, unless re- strained, would make low bids based on an intention to use inferior materials from abroad or entering the country at lower prices, because of currency con- ditions, than materials produced in the United States. Other contractors made bids based on a determination to beat down the price of labor to the lowest possible point, regardless of the effect on living standards of American work- | ing men. To safeguard American labor and American industry, there are be- ing_written into all contracts for Fed- | eral public buildings, under authori of law, provisions that insure for the men the prevailing rate of wages in the | community, and that bar foreign ma- terials from use whenever possible. ‘There are those who would have public even faster than it has gone forward. They forget, apparently, that the gov- ernment cannot do business in quite the same way as an individual or a corporation. To safeguard the public treasury and to insure honesty in awarding contracts, giving all who de- | sire govrenment contracts or business a fair and equal ehance, it is necessary to advertise for bids on sites, to draw | up specifications for buildings and ad- | vertise again for bids on construction: to secure bonds for proper completion | of the work; to supervise actual build- ‘inx so that the structures for which | the people pay through taxation repre- | sent a dollar's worth for every dollar | paid. Any man who has ever designed & five-room bungalow will understand | the extent of the government's prob- | lems in scheduling 1,100 buildings in & thousand places! hNevenhehll. "t‘h’“‘ fl&gflu. we ave speeded up the consf on pro- Jgram so that gnflu the year ending m, | he sent out little invitations making building construction pushed | 1 next July 1 we shall have completed 132 buildings instead of the 61 sched- uled for that year. We have more than doubled our rate of progress. Yet we are erecting buildings that are as near perfect in every detail point of utility as well as beauty 5 men can make them. In Washington | and eclsewhere we are raising struc- | tures that should stand for hundreds of years. Each month we are spending mil- | lions of dollars throughout the na- ticn for Federal building purpeses. Yet the expenditure is not in any sense a dole. It is useful, necec % nomically justified and based on s business principles. | The particular strength and genius of America as a nation has alw shown to best advantage in reconstruction, such as followe, Civil War, and, on a sraller scale, the rebuilding of Chicago and San Fran- cisco after their disastrous fires Through years when drought, depre and calamity of almost ev ited the nation, there were ! the thousands of miles of railroaq that were to give new impetus to our eco- nomic progress. Now the government is engaged in a great program of con- struction and reconstruction of equal importance in bridging the gap be- tween the prosperity of yesterday and | the greater prosperity of tomorrow. Middle Ground Is Found In Dealing With Labor (Continued From Third Page) be honest and independent if a decision is ever to be reached. Its meetings are public. Its technique of operation is through committees. A great element of its power is that it deals with the ultimate rather than the immediate; the industry as a whole, not the individual, To give but one example of the spirit | of co-operation it develops, take an incident of the year 1928. The council established a higher rate than the pre- vailing wage. Employers argued that a lower rate would stimulate building. Unofficially, then, through council in- fluence, the workers agreed to relinquish the higher rate. It was soon found that lower wages did not produce the expected effect. Laber then voluntarily lowered its rate still further. Again the wage-rate seemed to bear no relation to new construction. The council then re- established wages at their brevious level. This council has justified its some- what formidable title by totally elim- inating _organized strikes during the hectic decade which has followed its creation. Here, in concrete form, is one method of doing away with that most disintegrating and expensive element on the human side of indus- trial relationship. Another Hopeful Development. But there is many another knot in the tangle of that industrial web Walking along the street one hot Summer night in New York, shortly after the council's organization, Mr. Comstock saw a sign on a little ‘audi- torium saying that Justice Guy and Judge Grossman were speaking on “Industrial Arbitration.” He went in and listened to them and talked with them afterward. That was his first view of another hopeful development in the acceptance of responsibility within industry. He became an ar- dent advocate of & system which sub- stitutes the ease and rapidity of an arbitration committee for the crowded dockets of the judicial process. On various occasions he sat as arbiter in such disputes. It is a long time since he hak de- voted his attention to his cwn pri- vate business. That ‘side Issue” which he had mentioned when first | entlomen all unsuspectingly into a Conference Club,” which had then developed into the “Council,” still kept growing in his mind toward practical action. - The council was for the relation of employer and employe. What about our relations to one another as em- ployers? Are they all they should be? Can they be improved? Clearly they can, How? The title of Mr. Comstock’s address before the 1928 convention of the As- sociation of Electragists illuminates his approach to that question—“The New | Co-operation.” A new understanding among employers, to be mutually of business advantage yet to violate none of the existing laws. “Nearly every one is half the time crying out,” sald Mr. Comstock, “against | competition, and the other half de- manding it. Workingmen cry to sup- press it in labor and to enforce it in trade and commerce. On the other hand, the leaders in the industrial world are trying to secure it in labor and get rid of it in commerce, while the leaders of the regulative or politi- | cal world are trying to maintain it in | commerce and are comparatively in- | different to it in labor. i Job of Reconciling Views. | “It must be our job, through re- search and team work, to reconcile | these divergent points of view, pull to- fgether for a common objective, show | that at least we sense our problems.” As T suggested at the beginning, the | challenge of collectivism is the chal- lenge of a non-competitive theory to a competitive system. | Ours is a competitive system. We | are committed to a belief in its virtues. | Long since its defects were acknowl- | edged, and such efforts as the Sher- |man act made by public legislation to reduce them. Now, while such legisla- tion continues to exist, Mr. Comstock | and_ similarly minded associates seek | legal methods of reducing the evils of | competition by private arrangements within the industry. Significantly, the two methods of pri- vate approach he suggests are research and co-operation. | _After the ‘Conference Club.” after he “council,” enter the “Electrical | Guild of North America,” with its own |new and big idea. | The guild is committed to the em- | ployment of only union labor. You | may be a member directly of the guild | itself or you may be a “section mem- ber.” To be a “section member” you {must do a business whose gross an- nual value is at least $57000, you must have assets equaling one and a | half times your liabilities. And your | books must ‘be open to certified public | accountants to prove it. To me that |1s an incredible change from old-time | “business secrecy.” | “What,” I asked, “does the business man get out of it to compensate?” Gets Other Members' Help. “The help of the other members of the guild,” is the simple, direct and equally incredibly new answer that Mr. | Comstock réturns. “If his business is {not flourishing there are many ways |in which the industry can help him | without any violation of anti trust and anti price-fiving laws.” & |, I leave that statement for you to | think over. S Perhaps a fuller answer is suggested in the guild’s expressed purposes. Take only one: “To establish a code of working rules hich shall be regarded as the common law of the indust; This most modern and scientific of business organizations with its code, its definite hook-up with labor, with its research bureau, its exchange of infor- mation, its adoption of trade standards, its mutual frankness, gives a new defini- tion of such funny, old-fashioned words as “brotherly love” and “honest work- manship.” In its own way outside the realm of politics, American industry is developing its own cures for the admitted evils of a competitive system. “Councll” and “guild” within the electrical industry are brilliant examples of such efforts. By his sympathetic and scholarly handling of the labor ques- tion Mr. Comstock has taken a signifi- cant part in industrial history. Thus, in the life of one so-called | “private business man,” one sees the| possible next public answer of our competitive system to the Uenge of collectivism. = Schoolmaster Runs Natien —Drawn for The Sunday Star by 8. J. Woolf PREMIER LYONS—A SCHOOL TEACHER WHO RUNS A NATION. tinued From First Page.) | obstreperous member of the opposition — | should press some fool point to & snap tries attracted to Australia by the high | division. It used to be grand to stroll federal tariff preferred the bigger cen- | into the Speaker's room with him ters of the mainland states. Tasmania | there, and the Speaker, one Hon. « O’Keefe (better known as found itself breeding an excellent race and educating at its own expense its best children for the benefit of its neighboring and more powerful states. It was not its own fault that it struck hard times. Eventually the bungling of the Con- servatives was so great that it became comical; there was a dissolution; La- bor swept the polls, with Joseph Lyons . and yarn. I can recall those | scenes most vividly now, as outstand- |ing ‘among my experiences in Tas- mania—the future Prime Minister sit- ting there, glass of whisky in his hand with “Mick,” the Speaker, with Albert, | the attorney general, or Jim, the Min- | ister of Mines. (Jim was en old boy | (he drank but little), swapping yarns | with a big beard who had never been known to wear a tie in his life) Yet e e B in 1925, 1t | 8t & second's notice Joey (as his intl- O o 1925 to 1078 that I best knew | Mates knew him) could leap to his feet b e g and stride into the legislative chamber him. During those years I was a re- orter Tor “irhe Meycury” at Hobart, | to take instant command. thrashing out and part of my multifarious duties | some intricate point so lucidly gnd with consfis?:d of “covering” the gallery of | such brlllh;nt clarity that even the the House of Assembly. Tasmania was | argumentative dullards who had been - thy oceedings would s 1 its Parliament; to take the ffi:ce ot ofcial reports, we reporters | trampled on his opponents; he placated were supposed to give a full, complete | them. He showed them where they and fair chronicle of all that trans- Were wrong, peaceably, patiently. pired that was worth reporting, and | Must Have Been Trial the compositions we thus created were | reserved in the official archives as| And he had some rough material in documentary chronicles of the pro-|that Tasmanian House. There was & ceedings. | member with a face like a codfish and It was an easy job. three of us, working in a gang. We | another whose favorite diversion upon were not overworked. The standard of | all public occasions was to lead in the intelligence of some of the members— | singing of the national anthem. 22 is ¥ Common among all politicians, | one knew of any other public service everywhere—was such that, whenever | he performed, Iiliterate, some of them; they rose to talk, we shut up our note- | incomprehensibly dull, others; pig- books and retired to the bar. I don't|headed, biased, hopelessly incompetent, at its head, He became Premier of | know that posterity lost anything by | even as politicians—some of them must | this proceeding. We sat in a gallery; | have been a severe trial the Speaker in his robes was beneath | et at a period of grave seriousness us, and Premier Lyons sat UpOn OUr | i Tasmania’s history, Joseph Lyons right hand. We called him “Joe” and | took charge of that House and made he knew us by our Christian names; if | it work, and led the state well on the ever we were not sure that we had got | way to better things. At the time there something right, we were wont to call | was a growing discontent with the fed- down to friend Joe, in a lull in the | era]l rule. There was a strong move- proceedings, and have it corrected. | ment for secession, powerful citizens When the House was in committee, | bemoaning the fact that the island thrashing out the clauses of some bill ever had entered the federal Joe's favorite place was the Speake: Smallest of the states, Tas- Toom, readily accessible in case some mania was the first to feel the rumbling CHURCH BY BRUCE BARTON. ARS ago an emi- YE nent econo- mist had an idea. Selecting one Protestant de- nomination whose records had been kept carefully, he set down the number of new members add- ed each year. Opposite this, in another col- umn, he clas- sified each year from an economic standpoint as prosperous or bad. The year 1865 was an inflation yeal ple joined tI particular church. In 1866 came panic, and new members Jumped to 30,000. Then years of “good” times, but bad times for the church, until the panic of 1873, when up shot the membershi reaching a “new high 1877, when prosperity reg- istered a “new low.” Panic in 1893 was fol- lowed by a church gain in’ 1894; the pinch of 1907 by a boost in membership in 1908. And so on. I fancy the same thing is happening today; at least our church has been full recently. Last Sunday the pastor chose this un- usual text: ) “And when David inquired of Jehovas (as to whether he should attack the Philistines) Jehovah said: And it shall be when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees that then thou shalt bestir thyself; for then is Jehovah gone out before thee.” The preacher said that religion consists in being able to recog- nize the extraordinary in the ordinary things of life. Many people hear the wind in the trees, and say: “It is the wind in the trees.” Now and then comes one wWho says: “It is the foot- steps of Jehovah.” Many people see the turmoil of the present, and say: “It is con- fusion; it is anarchy; it is hopeless.” But those who are wiser say: “It is God remoldinig His world into a new and better image. Let us bestir ourselves and go forward.” The sermon lifted us. It was a clear prophetic voice announc- ing that the Power which made the world has not deserted it, is still working in it. It made us feel that we ought to lift our eyes and be active, lest these great and far-reaching changes come’ to pass without our recognizing them. I advise all preachers these days to preach & positive faith. To put aside any sermons that criticize people or discourage them, and preach confidence, and courage, and hope. Men need this now. If the church can provide it, the church will make great gains. Bad times have always been its best times. S Copyright, 19332 s There were | rather less than its intellect; there was No | of the big slump which hit Australia and bankrupted New South Wales. For years the state was at loggerheads with the federal legislature. In Australia, Americans must com- prehend, the states are sovereign and the federal body has power only over a few definitely settled things—defense, the post office, customs, foreign rela- tions and so on. The fight since fed- eration has been to prevent the central government from usurping more and more power at the expense of the states; Tasmania early repented that it joined the federation, but Premier Lyons took the view that, having gone in, it must stay in and pull with the others. The high tariffs protected everybody but the primary producer, whose costs they raised without giving him the slightest benefit. Tasmania was a primary producing state. tralian seamen, bolstered up by fed- eral shipping acts, arbitration courts and so on, took to striking annually. In all their strikes Tasmania was a heavy sufferer. The other states had land communications to fall back upon; Tasmania was surrounded by sea, and when the ships stopped it was cut off from the world. S ‘These seamen's strikes became & curse. ‘They ruined the tourist busi- ness, since the mainlanders, having ar- rived in Tasmania, were never sure whether they would get away again The government tried to run its own line of steamers, and burned its fingers badly. It wouldn't work. Chambers of commerce and chambers of manufac- turers and every kind of public body waxed hot at meetings, protesting against the iniquity of these annual meung hold-ups; but nothing was one. Invites Heads for Visit. ‘Then Premier Lyons, always strong for action rather than protests, took an unusual step. ‘The firebrands who aused these strikes were domiciled in Sydney, Ne outh Wales; few of them were really Australians. Lyons, a La- bor Premier, conceived the ideal of bringing them down to Hobart, to see the trouble their hold-ups caused. He invited the whole agitating outfit of the Seamen's Union. Tom Walsh led the delegation. was married to one of Mrs. Pankhurst’s daughters and knew all there was to know about dislocating transport. The delegation and the government met in the gilded executive chamber of the Tasmanian public offices. Mr. Lyons brought along representatives of the chambers of commerce and of manufacturers and all the other bodies which had been hotly condemning Thomas Walsh and his kind. At a round table they thrashed things out. It was most unorthodox and most un- usual, but the conference succeeded where everything else had failed. At close quarters Walsh was not such a brand after all. He readily listened s case, eloquently put by the persuasive Mr. Lyons; he did not { listen so readily to the envoys of the chamber of commerce, who did not seem sure whether they should speak | to him or not. But he gave his word: Tasmania would have immunity. In future strikes the Tasmanian ships would be kept running. They were. It was a great victory for Lyons. Not only that, but the number of strikes has steadily de- creased ever since, until now a serious strike is a rarity. At the same time Mr. Lyons was en- gaged in the stupendous task of trying to right Tasmania’s position, of try- ing to pull it from the morass of ap- proaching bankruptcy. To do this he had to convince an uninterested fed- eral legislature that help had to be given. Stanley Bruce was then prime minister of the commonwealth. Stirred up and prodded constantly by the en- ergetic and forceful Joseph Lyons, he sent a commission of one to Tasmania to inquire and report upon the woes of that noisy island. (That was what he_thought about it.) ‘The commission came, and inquired exhaustively. Premier Lyons, backed { by the chamber of commerce and the >ntire state—Labor man though he was. and thercfore their sworn enemy— managed to present so telling a case that even the commonwealth inquisi- rtnr was convinced. Mr. Bruce acqui- esced at last. Tasmania's special dis- abilities under the federation were | recognized and. to some extent, at any | rate, corrected financially by payments {from the commonwealth's coffers. | This, indeed, marked the end of a | cycle in Australten progress; the states of Western Australia and South Aus- | tralia ~ were similarly affected and sought even greater help. It looked s if the federation were breaking V. | Labor Is Defeated. His task done—this was in 19286— and his term up, Mr. Lyons faced the electors once again. In him they had | perfect confidence, and he was re- | turned at the head of the poll. But there had been an unforiunate inquiry into the conduct of the affairs of the | public trust office, under the control |of his attorney general. The affair left a nasty taste in the mouths of thoughtful Tasmanians, and Labor was defeated. Lyons was not unduly perturbed. He set about co-operating with his suc- cessor to carry on the fight for the rehabilitation of Tasmania. But he had been seriously and permanently in- jured in a railroad accident that left his energies impaired. The accident killed “Mick” O'Keefe and so seriously injured Mr. Lyons that he lingered at | death’s door for months. We had his obituary in type in the newspaper of- | fice ready to slip into the press. I know—I wrote it. But he recovered, carrying with him a heavy limp, He fought against the infirmity ang light- ly dismissed the seriousness of the ac- cident. although he knew that I had written his obituary. He read it, and said it was too long. It was three columns. For upward of a year Mr. Lyons, now leader of the opposition, remained in the State Parliament where he had i served so long. Then, in 1929, came | the call to enter the federal field. He had been asked to join the federal scene on many previous occasions, but had always declined, feeling that he must carry on the fight for Tasmania first. That fight was won, so he at last turned his attention to the larger field. He was elected at the head of the poll on his first standing. This was in the general election of 1929, when Labor gained a sweeping victory—a victory which has now just as sweepingly been taken away from it. That is all recent history with which Americans are familiar— they know how Mr. Lyons became postmaster general in the Scullin cab- inet, and then acting treasurer; how he fought the caucus on finance and won; how he upheld Australia’s name while Mr. Scullin was abroad; how Scullin, on his return, brought back the wily Theodore into the cabinet; how Mr. Lyons, fed up with the Wiles of the caucus and the tricks of in- sincere politicians, broke with thel Labor movement and proceeded to unite the opposition forces. Led Sane Forces. Mr. Bruce had been defeated at the 1929 election; there was no other out- standing figure in the federal field to take command. Joseph Lyons was the man—Joseph Lyons, the school teacher from Tasmania. The world knows how he stepped into the breach and led the sane forces to a brilliant victory. Mr. Bruce is back with him now, in the same cabinet; it is strange that the pair who fought so long over ‘Tasmania’s wrongs should now be fel- low members of the same cabinet with the erstwhile premier of the mendi- cant state in command. . . . Of medium stature, perfectly up- right in bearing, with his keen, kind- 1y blue eyes in no need of spectacles, his earnest, somewhat whimsical, ex- pression, his mop of unruly hair (very gray by now) still crying loud and often for a hairdresser’s attention, his longish, thin nose and his high fore- head, his pronounced limp, Joseph Lyons is 51 now, and fit for 20 more years of battling. He looks too cheer- ful ever to have been a school teacher, too mild ever to have been a politi- cian. (Continued Prom Third Page.) the raliroad industry and who does not have a better understanding of their willingness to reason, to sacrifice when there is necessity, and of their broad patriotism, On the other hand, there are many workers on railroads who do not belong to any union. The union representa- tives came to these conferences repre- senting the unorganized as well as the organized. They were the spokesmen for all railroad workers. These conferences were an exempli- fication of the processes of democracy finding their way into fuller practice in a vital section of our industrial life. An issue was settled around that peace- ful council table that was larger than many issues that have plunged oppos- ing groups into war and devastation. Here industry itself undertook the settlement of its outstanding issue. In- dustry did not resort to the cumber- some proceeses of governmental ma- chinery. Industry took no chance of being thwarted or misunderstood or delayed in its vital necessity by politi- cal machinery, which is far separated generally from industry. It called to- gether its own chosen representatives and they grappled with and decided upon the issue. After the problem had been discussed from every point of view and after every consideration had been weighed, the ~representatives of the workers agreed to a deduction from wages which in a year will total that im- posing $250,000,000 of which I have spoken. That, let us say, is labor's contribution to the welfare of the rail- roads. I maintain that it is a contri- bution worthy of a place in history, an example of intelligent self-control, a spectacle of magnificent discipline. Only where the rank and file are organized, only where the rank and file are informed, could such a thing be done. Tt must be remembered that the repre- sentatives who agreed to this tremen- dous deduction from wages must go back to the rank and file and stand before that rank and file, responsible to the rank and file for that enormous Dayésnem. of money back to the rail- roads. Responsibility Grave. We have here an example of the grave responsibility that today rests upon the shoulders of trade union executives. Theirs is, indeed, no light task. And, having still in mind the enormous contribution of cash which the wage earners have agreed to make to the railroads, I wonder where is the organization of capital that can point to any comparable voluntary contribu- tion for the welfare of an industry and its personnel. ‘While the negotiations between the ble, beneath it all ran the tragedy of diminished wages and unemployment, {of which the general public knows lit- tle. Serious unemployment had devel- oped on the Nation's systems almost 10 years ago, and, save for seasonal jumps, had shown no improvement. Handling more trafic with fewer men has been the development up to this day. As a result the distribution of the railway burdens between em- ployes and stockholders has been any- thing but equitable. While thousands of workers were being laid off, divi- dends were regular and millions of dollars of surpluses were being recorded. A study by the Interstate Commerce Commission “shows that in 1930 wage payments declined $346,000,000 from 1929, fixed charges were reduced about $11,000000 and dividends were in- creased about $16,000,000: depreciation 000,000 These figures give a faint picture of what was involved in the fundamentals of the recent conference at Cacas 80. In a statement to the empMyers at the conference the workers were frank in saying that their contentions were not that the railroads as a whole were in a “healthy condition” at the close of 1931. “It must be apparent” the statement said, “that any enterprise which must use almost its entire in- come to pay fixed charges is not in a healthy condition.” ‘This ill health, as the workers shrewdly pointed out, was not caused by insufficient earnings, but an unsound financial structure, unable to support the burden of a business depression. This, it seems to me, is the very crux of the railway situation in America as it exists today. These railway workers, experienced men in the transportation their all to their jobs, suddenly find themselves in the ranks of the idle through no fault of their own. The financial structure of the railroads has broken down. The workers p=y .the employes and the employers were amia- | and reserves were increased by $190,- | service of the country, who have given | — e | Behind the Rail Wage Cut E o i It is such Incidents ae which came out n Chicago b :’11‘ centered public attention on the ber of men directing the rallway unions and meetin, rallway financiers face to the discussion of the greatest industwy in America—transportatios,’ Juvests Life in Joba, B was hrought out that while the workers were being called upos fo ac- cept a reduction in wages in order, as the employers sald, to E meet fixed charges and dividend tions, the employers were not under similar obli- gations to the workers. This is an economic situation that faces all workers. The invests his life in his job. He 2 bsistence of sul his family through his he joins the ranks of th'e‘m he cannot draw on any “reserve,” as the employer can, to meet.a critical financial situa- tion, because the wages allotted him do nloz permit the accumulation of a sur- plu ‘The Chicago conference, at which the union representatives rose to new heights of service to the working classes of America, is an important contribution to the economics of this country. It proves beyond peradven- ture that constructive trade unionism | is advantageous to any industry. | Principles were set out and theories | were met by practicality at the Chi- | cago conference, emphasizing the part- nership between capital and labor. As the workers pointed out to the railvay magnates in that Chicago meeting, labor recognizes that it is the duty and obligation of raillway man- | agement to provide income necessary | at least to pay fixed charges, but in- cluded in these fixed charges are the “fixed charges” of the employes which must be met. | . All workers, incidentally, come un- der this economic canopy. They must | be protected and employers should give sympathetic consideration to policies whereby the worker is not kept alive and nourished, but that he be kept comfortable and self-sup- | porting. Railway employers, and in fact most other employers, are not unfamiliar with this dictum of economics. The | emphasis laid on this particular phase of wage conditions at the Chicago con- | ference will go far toward showing em- | ployers they have a duty in the prem- | ises to their workers, a fact which | organized labor has long pointed out and which employers were loath te accept. | The question was asked: “If employ~ ers cannot provide the mesns of sul sistence to workers in time of depres- sion, from whom is this support to come?” The railroad workers attempted to impress on the railway management | that the human element in industry |comes first, and while some employers \nccefit this, the railfoads couldn'’t | see it. 1t was pointed out that the diffi- | culties the railways found themselves |in were the result of financial policies | which controlled the development of the rallroads, and were in no way caused by unreasonable payments for labor. It was shown that res of the roads were doing more :fll ‘ond | producing more money to a man than ever before. The workers have taken their full | share of the losses the last two years. They contributed more to the reduc- tion of operating expenses than any other factor. That is one thing labor always is called upon to do—help re- duce operating expenses. | But with it all, the railroad workers agreed to consider the pressing needs of the industry by which they were employed. They wished the solving of the problem and did not insist on ‘abstract rights” when they found they were confronted by a fact—a gesture of generosity that even hard-botled magnates had to admire. And as we said in the it is not possible to forecast the effect of the changed wage rate of the raflroad workers, but we do believe that the result of the action of the workers | will have a far-reaching effect on fu- ture management of the tra - | tion industry, and many other indus- | tries which watched the Chicago con- | ference. A new and more humane regard for | the rights of workers and a zealous- ness on the part of employers in viding work will eventually itself as one result of the conference. Railroad financing and operating man- | agement will become better balanced between employee and employer, be- cause the facts developed at the cone ference have paved the way. Not an inconsequential victory for the workers. (Continued Prom Third Page.) that the United States assumes to maintain the Monroe Doctrine and un- der it protect the destinies of Central and South America, so as to assure these lands against dominion of any European government. * * * Japan is preparing an Asiatic Monroe Doctrine. The example of the United States is before Japan, and with this lesson Japan proceeds in the pursuit of her policy at & time when China is in dis- traction. * * * The movement is upon the assumed right of Japan of forcing peace and preserving Asia for the Asiatics as we hope to preserve America on the American continent for the Americans.” Of course the arguments of Japan have not convinced the world. The mistake once committed by a nation does not_justify thé same mistake in others. That a country—rather, a gov- ernment—may have on certain occasions taken the wrong course does not mean that all countries may be justified in following that course. It is true that imperialism and force have played an important role in the history of all the other world powers, it is true that all of them have at one time or another used similar weapons to Japan's, but this is not an honest justification. If civilization is to progress at all, if the world wishes to claim any political advance, the errors of the past must be corrected, not repeated once again. ‘The problem lies, precisely, in keeping Japan from following the example set by others who today acknowledge and disapprove their past mistakes. The new Latin American policy of non-intervention adopted in the last few years by the State Department, and the official statements concerning the real meaning of the Monroe Doc- trine, which it has recently issued, reveal a definite change in the views of the Washington Government to- ward such matters. The Secretary of State has indirectly condemned ~the misuse of the doctrine by previous ad- ministrations, and emphatically denied any connection between the Monroe Doctrine and _intervention by the United States in Latin America. Therefore, the Japanese contentions have failed to convince world opinion. | Far East Crisis Gives Latin America Strong Argument Against Intervention America is particularly interesting. Be- cause the indignation aroused through- out the world by Japan's attitude in | Manchuria may be profitably used by |Latin Americans; first, to stress their | condemnation of the misuse of the | Monroe Doctrine by previous govern- | ments of the United States; and second, | to strengthen their general opposition to foreign intervention, within or out- side the Monroe Doctrine. This opposition to intervention 1is | constantly upheld by the Latin Amer- icans, and restated at every oppor- | tunity, When Japan asked permission | of the Council of the League of Nations to send her troops on a mission of | police into the interior of Manchuria, to “exterminate Chinese bandits,” the three Latin American members of the | council protested energetically against such an authorization. They probably realized the danger of setting & prece- dent in conflict with their principles of non-intervention, and one which might perhaps work against them in the future. The same sentiment may be seen in the editorials and statements of Latin American leaders of opinion, which have been recently printed in connec- tion with the Far Eastern crisis. The Latin American newspapers, almost unanimously, condemn the aggressive policies of Japan, and take an oppor= tunity to reiterate their firm stand against foreign interference and the |use of force in international matters. | Typical of these expressions is an edi- | torial opinion of Excelsior of Mexico | City, which says: “We have always ten- | dered our friendship to Japan, respect: her traditions, energles and progress. | But Japan as’ an imperialistic nation | does not attract our sympathies. Her | expansion by force does not arouse our enthusiasm. On the contrary, it is re- pugnant to our principles, just as well | as the imperialism of any other nation.” | And when the Shanghai incidents followed the Manchurian crisis Latin | American papers had another oppor- | tunity to denounce Japan for its acts | “solely in protection of Japanese na- | tionals and property.” Latin Ameri- cans, particularly those of the Carib- | bean zone, are too familiar with these erms. With what they are not familiar First, because past faults do not justify at all is the attitude being advo- the present ones. And second, because | cated by Government and publie in the case of the United States and |opinion in this country to deal with intervention under the Monroe Doctrine | the situation in Shanghal, as far as this Government has itself rectified its | the protection of the United States erroneous nl}l‘tude of yesterday. citizens is concerned. Even so, however, from the Latin Senato: Tepresentati’ American point of view, Japan's men- | public .mm mev:u seemv:; eahl’l’ tion of the Monroe Doctrine and of |to the advisability of 'jnmm. United States interference in Central | Americans from the danger zome. As = o = an eminent writer puts it in a local paper: “The sane American knows that and integrity of soul. He has the|the sane way to protect American courage of his convictions. Neither lives in communities where a fight is an orator nor a great statesman, per- |threatened or in progress is to remove haps, he is an honest, high-principled, | the Americans to a place of safety.” straightforward Tasmanian in whom | How much trouble and bitterness His principles are still those for which sane Labor stands, just as are Mr. Ramsay MacDonald’s. But above all he stands for honesty of purpose the people of Australia may have per- i would have been avoided. and how fect faith. And while he is in com- | many lives saved, if this had also—and mand, the people of the United States | always—been the policy of the United may have perfect faith in Australia, | States in the Caribbean! % . . (Copysett, WK