INDUSTRIAL WAR

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11173, 31 March 1922, Page 6

INDUSTRIAL WAR

AMERICAN ANTIDOTE. EXPERTS AS CONCILIATORS. i -r “Tlie average business man running' His eye over the headlines of his morning paper, pauses for a moment at one that tells him of a strike that has thrown a large number of men out of work. Does he read about it? Probably not, unless the quarrel affects his oevn industry. ' Instead, ho contents himself with the first line of the heading, and turns on over to the market .page.” James J. Davis, United' States Secretary of Labour, in the February isBue of “The Nation’s Business,” discusses tlie problem of cutting down industrial war. The records of his department showed that during the last ten years labour quarrels increased and decreased as the prosperity of the country rose or fell. During 1919, a year of great business activity, 1780 strikes and other disputes were reported to the Department of Labour for mediation ; when, this period of inflation ended, and 1 industry started on the back trail towards normal conditions, the number of plashes had an astonishing decrease. During 1921' there were only 457 strikes and other disputes recorded. “Labour dispute® are,” he writes, “the growing pains of industry, increasing with the over-stimulated trade, and decreasing as the limit is readied.”

FACING ECONOMIC ELEMENTS. Labour alone must face the elements of economics, says Secretary Davis. The frightful cost in wealth held back from production constitutes the strongest argument against warfare in industry. Disarmament is popular these days; it should be applied throughout industry. The strike, the only weapon of the past, is now an anachronism, and will in the future he regarded as a relic of barbarism. 1 To work out the aim oh the Harding administration for a better understanding between employer and employee, the' United States force of conciliators was supplemented during February with twenty men with ispecial training and l skill. There is now a conciliator for each of ,tho fifteen main industries, each man a specially-qualified expert in his own line. It is hoped, through them, to present complete and unbiased evidence to the public. The special men are not to have ffny more authority than tlie conciliators; it is only intended that they will be more effective, through their unusual qualifications. Preventive, rather than curative, measures are to be their “strong suit.” In case of a national disagreement, they are to be further Slemented by experts from the inries affected. “Most boards of arbitration are forced to lose valuable time in collecting necessary technical information; the supreme need of industry is speedy action,” says Mr Davis. “These special men, singly or in boards, will supply the ready knowledge necessary to prompt and fair judgments.”