Evening Star Newspaper, March 23, 1937, Page 7

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C.,. TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1937. A7 INDUSTRIAL PEACE PLAN IS BROACHED Thomas, in Forum Address, Asks Definitions of Fair Practices. wants security for himself in his home and in his job. He wants relief from anxiety about the morrow when he thinks in terms of his wife’s and his children’s welfare. He wants a chance for his children to be educated on an squality with his neighbors’ and given 8 decent and a happy childhood. He wants a secure old age. If he can get some leisure, some right to come and 80, to see, to study, to own and some simple happiness out of following a hobby, either by himself or with his neighbors, the average man is very well satisfied. And the greatest of the great, no matter how they become honored and envied by other men, and no matter how rich they become, very seldom get out of life any more than that. In the Attainment of these simple objectives surely the problem is not unsolvable, because on all sides of us we see it attained by some few, and when we analyze how that attainment has come, we discover that it comes primarily because man is made secure in his job, and that will hold as long as our cap- italistic system holds, for all good is dependent upon the right to work, the ability to work and the continuing of cur working possibilities. If T am to te measured by my labor the ultimate success in measuring me depends upon my continuing to labor. There is probably not a thoughtful man in America who will disagree with these simple conclusions. Why then, cannot these same thoughtful men work toward the solution of them? Shall we turn to Australia and adopt in America some modified form of their Izbor or industrial court? Shall we tarn to England and take from them seme ideas in regard to labor organ- ations’ responsibilities? Shall we furn to New Zealand and adopt their £ustem of compulsory conciliation and arbitration? Shall we turn to the Far Tast and bring about the organization «f trade and labor guilds and group activity as has been practiced there for centuries? Shall we turn to the Scan- ‘navian countries and learn lessons labor peace from them? Shall we tirn to Russia, to Germany and to ly and adopt some forced or coercive rm of governmental labor and indus- trial control?> Better than any of tnese would be for us to develop in America a branch of American indus- trial and labor law administered not in a spirit of legal prohibition or man- date, not in a spirit of political right and wrong, but in a spirit of mutual helpfulness based upon the theory that industrial law and labor law can never be absolute, but always relative, as to rights. Weighs Sit-Down Strike. Without condemning or condoning, st us illustrate our point of the great complexities of labor disputes by pointing to what is now a popular labor medium of attaining a desired end: the sit-down strike, as it is called. This medium is very old Society has known some aspects of iis use in many parts of the world for hundreds of years. The Chinese butchers, for example, would protest ~gainst a tax by using the sit-down method. Here it is an aspect of the Loycott. English Kings with numerous and hungry retinue used to humble haughty nobles by calling on them and receiving royal entertainment by sitting down in the noble’s castle until the noble’s resources had been ex- hausted through entertainment. In the story of Odysseus, Penelope's suitors did something like that. Gandhi's non-assertion, non-resist- ance tactics are related to the theory behind the sit-down strike. Japanese shoguns controlled feudal lords by at their castles during troublesome times. It is in essence Lao Tzu | Taoist'’s theory of the attainment of @ction by non-action. He expressed it by the saying, “Do nothing and everything will be done.” As one who has seen the force, power and the results, and sometimes the consequences, of these mediums in the Orient for attaining class or group objectives, I cannot refrain from saying that American industry is now playing with something they know | little about. This holds not only for | industry and for the general public but also for labor. The non-action methods are so strong in their final aspects that labor itself could easily destroy its very objectives. ‘The —_— O DOG and CAT FOOD..}| p——= Not a Laxative “The continued use of laxatives and cathastics only aggravates constipation,” says a prominent medical authority. Nujol is an internal lubricant, pot & laxative, so it cannot gripe. ‘Take Nujol regularly and you will escape the consequences of the “laxative habit.” Constipation is dangerous for aaybody. Nujol is safe for every- body. It does not affect the stomach, and is not absorbed by the body. Medical authori- ties approve Nujol because it is 90 safe, 30 gentle and so natural ia its action. Nujol makes up fora deficiency of natural lubricant in the intes- tines. It softens the waste matter and thus permits thorough and regular bowel movements with. out griping. Juse try Nujol regularly for the next month and see if you don’t feel better than you ever suspected you could. Ask yaur druggist for Nujol #od insist on the genuine. Nujol FOR CONSTIPATION medium may prove itself to be a boomerang. Again I will not condemn or con- done, for industry and labor must learn their own lessons. If they do not, industry may discover a new weapon with which it cannot cope. If such ideas spread among sympa- thetic groups and the general public the result cannot be foretold. If the general public accepts the non-action | theory and uses the simple process of ignoring, that is, carrving a boycott to its ultimate end, a group or a firm with which it feels it has a grievance, that group or firm can be destroyed. That would be a public sit-down. Non-assertion is an invitation to the grossest use of self-assertion, vigi- lantes and direct action. Only those {who understand it should use it. From the legal aspect of such a strike the law of trespass demands respect; and vet we all know that no striker is a willful treaspasser in that word’s or- dinary sense, and few employers would want him treated as such because in ordinary times they are the best of friends. Thus, industrial and labor law reflect mutual responsibility and not individual responsibility and must become wholly relative in its restraints and commandments. We can take some outstanding defi- nitions of what constitute fair labor practice and fair industrial practice and write those definitions into law | and set up institutions representing the public to administer the Govern- | ment's activities in accordance with Ithesp definitions and in a spirit of mutual interest. Great steps have al- {rondy been taken toward this end, if we can be sure that that which has | alreay been done can have the support |of all branches of our Government | and our people. | Public Forms Own Opinion. ‘What, then, might be done to better | our conditions? On industry’s side it | must be recognized that an attempt to control public opinion has failed. | When daily papers fail to print news |items of general passing interest and the weekly and monthly magazines | or the paper from a neighboring place | sent by a friend drifts into a commu- } | nity, the people soon learn of the con- |trol and treat such papers with | | contempt | The spying activities, in all their | | hideous aspects have failed. They | must be abandoned or industry will | never be trusted. | Agencies organied for group action which produce united fronts or pre- | ponderant group control against the | little fellow must be given up or their | money-controlled activities tempered | | on the basis of mutuality. | _Personnel officers must be reformed The ganging-up tactics of all kinds by using the press, public officials and | police officers or phony organizations |to enforce law and order must be | | abandoned. In other words, our great | | industrialists must face their labor | problems themselves and not leave | their solution to hired detective agen- cies or second rate organizations con- | trolled and directed by ill-trained brains. One directing officer of one of these labor-busting coercing, public | opinion-controlling. and spy-employ- ing organizations testified under oath | that he had never talked with a laboring man in his 25 odd years of experience, vet he was respected by great industrialists as a directing force | in labor relations. | key to the solution is trust, confidence | The laboring group must be per- | mitted to be responsible. They must | prove their responsibility by proving | their ability to discipine their own | members. They must dignify their | position by assuming openly that re- | sponsibility. Their spokesmen should | be well trained and their demand | | should be based upon public interest | as well as the welfare of the laborer. | | With the industrialists the laborer | must contribute toward the establish- ment anc development of industrial | and labor law in America as a dis- | tinct branch from the ordinary politi- cal law. Labor must put down the | 1 Responsibility Must Be Proved. ' labor racketeer and cure the abuses of the kick-back. These things can be done only by assuming the above- mentioned responsibility, thus driving the illegitimate groups out of exist- ence. ‘What can Government do? First, it can lay down broad definitions of what shall constitute fair and unfair labor and industrial practices. It can definie by law a labor union, lodge or craft group, thus outlawing the racketeer and the dishonest labor leader. It can then bring into exis- |4 tence institutions, call them courts or boards, for the enforcement of fair labor and industrial practices and re- lations, thus furnishing the third party with the public interest necessary for the settlement of troubles. These third parties might have constant access in an advisory capacity to our major industries. They should be available to both labor and industry on call. Under our present constitutional scheme these institutions should be set up for use in those industries which can be Federally controlled, with the provision that States may pass similar definitions and may, therefore, co-operate with the Federal agencies in the enforcement of those definitions. Thus the constitutional chasm which divides interstate and intrastate commerce can be bridged by co-operative action by both the State and the Nation. Time to Avoid Mistakes. ‘This will develop rather slowly, but in its slow development will come a certainty which will bring peace and confidence. Then whenever a strike, a lockout, a sit-down or a walkout threatens, no action shall be taken either on the part of industry or of labor until two weeks’ notice has been given after conferences around the table where representatives of labor and industry and the public were present and formal demands have been made and refused. Thus, we can bring to industrial strife a cool- ing-off period which naturally leads | to that give-and-take compromise which is always reached after the | strife has been completed, and public opinion also has a chance to bring its influence to bear. These conferences may result in investigations or ad- visory conclusions, or they may fail in stopping the strike and the strife, but at least each side and the public itself will know exactly what labor is fight- ing for and what industry is contend- ing against. 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