road Our Ows Conszsroxext Washington, Aug. 14.
The United Siates is suffering from an unprecedented epidemic of strikes Which have done much to neutralize the advances towards recovery which the natural recuperative powers of the country and the vigour and splrtion of the Roosevelt Administ tion had made possible.
"Truckmen have struck in Minneapolis, textile workers in Alabama, copper "miners In Montana, onion weeders in Ohio, peanut, shellers in hatters in Connecticut, taxicab drivers in New York, and longshore-men in San Francisco. It would take far too long to enumerate every dis-with by the National Lations Board, a. commission men sanctioned by the last Congress to. replace the National Labour Board. Disputes are not count ed by the dozen but by the hundreds though only the more sensational and violent become of national interest. There have been numerous strikes in Washington itself under the nose of the government, of ice cream workers, of carpenters engaged on government gonial "The URA, self has not Mr. P. L. Bergott, of New York, whose business it is to previde private nards for industrialists. In strike areas announced, "This thing is going to spread. We're going to have ten times as many in the coming year." Some oflcials draw comfort from the thought that strikes are the growing pains of Industry and, therefore, a ood sign. 'They mean that matters fare on the mend. 'The workers, see-Ing. 'Improvements all' around them, wish fo make certain that they get their fair" share, "The statistics of the Department of Labour show that in. past periods of Labour unrest, notably in 1919, 1921, 4027 and 1928, the essential issue in 78 to 80 per cent. of the cases centred upon wages, hours and working eondl~ tons. To-day the wage issue is the main cause in ess than onesitth of the cases! Under the N.R.A. sweated labour is a thing of the past. The. strike threat is not over "hours or wages, it is not even over collective bargaining. Tt is over recognition of a particular union headed by a par~ teular set of professional leaders ret ponsible in turn to the national leaders of the American Federaton of unt us examine a few eas the most publicized strike was that of the Pacific longshoreman at San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. the former city it developed into 2 short-lived general, strike, before, it was finally' ler 62 days strife, The original issue was not over hours or wages but over methods fof hiring the dockers. In the old days when ® ship required workers, It would collect them from the saloons ring halls" of the dispute. The dockers complained that they were Fun tinfafeiv: that the men ina would give jobs only to their men who spent money at their {ean citizen. trol of the halls. This would. have meant closed. shop. Every worker would have had to belong to. the taunton or he would have had no chance fof employment. The employers refused this. They had no, objection remedying abuses in. the bir halls, but they objected to the prin ciple of out and out union control.
The strike infection was catching. Other marine unions—seamen, pilots, cooks, and stewards—jumped into the fray with demands of their own. The President appointed a. special Longshoreman's Board to arbitrate the di ute, headed by Archbishop Hanna, 'The' President of the International Longshoremen's © Union, "Joseph P. 'Ryan, suggested a settlement on the Dasis' of non-bartizan control of the halls, "Bridges turned it down because it did not provide for his allies. Employers tried to open the waterfront by moving freight under guard. Pickets" attacked the police." The National Guard was called in. The Government was attacking the strik-fete, 20 Bridges called a general strike attack the government, This proved his undoing. Unions in America are not political organiza tons, s0 that the confusion between legitimate activities connected with industrial disputes, and. political activities designed to bring about pol ical objectives did nol exist. The Press and ofielale—even the leaders of the America Federation of Labour: saw very clearly that, with the de-loration of the general strike, a new {ssue was superimposed upon the old new antagonists faced each other in the arena. Tt-was no longer. a case of fongshoremen quarreling with Shippers over the method in which
tion of the population attempting thay should be Wired. Tt wae 2 see usurp the functions of duly constitute ed authority. The strike leaders may for" have. realized it. but Wiliam Green, President of the American Federation of Labour, did.
"Through an assumption of authority growing out of certain autonomous tights conferred upon local of Tenlzatlons, their' representatives or-ered the strike and must accept full Fesponsibiity for this. action." The American Federation of Labour nelther ordered the strike nor authorized It" Atma time has its council or ad-Wice"been solicited or its services requested" "When it was over Mr. [Green added "No sympathetic strike any consequence or possessed of any ational significance was ever. Won"
He was not, of course, stretly accurate." General_ strikes" in. Belgium in 1802 and 1913, secured extensions jot the suffrage In the frst case. and promise of universal suffrage in the Second, Since the. war a general frike in Berlin In. 1020. defeated the Kapp. putsch. A' general strike led the downfall-of the Machado 3é- ime in Cube. But they were all Political weapons carrying out popu-Tar will against. a minority support fed group or government. The San Francisco strike was aimed against {he general public. who were told Where they could eat and what they could buy." The strike was foredoom-to perish of its own presumption
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.