The Tobacco Worker.

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The Tobacco Worker.

REPORT OF U. S. COMMISSION

ON INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS.

[Continued from last month]

VIOLENCE AND STRIKEBREAKERS. "c. The immediate cause of violence in connection with industrial disputes is almost without exception the attempt to introduce strikebreakers to take the place of the workers who have struck or who are locked out. The entire problem of policing industrial disputes grows out of the problem of the strikebreaker and the attitude of the State toward him.

"All experience shows that if no attempt is made to operate the plant, violence and disturbances requiring the police are practically unknown, whereas the attempt of strikebreakers to reach the plant, particularly where strikers are enjoined or prevented from using reasonable means to inform them of the existence of the strike and to use persuasive methods to keep them from entering the plant, is invariably accompanied by disorder and sometimes by active violence.

"The plea of the workers for the assumption of a new attitude in relation to strikebreakers is based not only upon the negative character of the rights of the employer and the strikebreaker, but upon a positive though somewhat undefinable demand for recognition that strikers have a right to the jobs which they have left until their grievances are in some

No. 6

way adjusted. The argument is not only that when workers are willing to strike and sacrifice their livelihood, the conditions against which they protest must be assumed to be socially injurious, but, even more, that the worker who has struck in support of his demand for better conditions has not abandoned his job, but, in fact, has a keener interest in it than when quietly submitting to distasteful conditions.

"At the very basis of the workers' contentions, however, lies the realization that working conditions can be improved only by strikes and that no strike can be won if the employer can operate his plant without difficulty. This is becoming increasingly true with every step in the Nation's industrial development. During more primitive periods, if workers struck, their places could not be filled except through the existence of a surplus of qualified labor in the community or by enticing workers from other employers. Now, the development of transportation, the establishment of specialized agencies for supplying strikebreakers, and the growth of large corporations which can shift employes from one plant to another, have given each employer a command of the labor market of the entire country. There are agencies in every large city which will contract to supply any kind of labor on short notice, while almost any of the large industrial corporations can either supply the normal demand with one-half or threequarters of their plants, or recruit from the surplus labor around their various plants a skeleton organization which can resume operations in a short time.

"d. The greatest disorders and most acute outbreaks of violence in connection with industrial disputes arise from the violation of what are considered to be fundamental rights, and from the perversion or subversion of Governmental institutions."

STATE CONSTABULARY,

"6. The Gommission devoted a great deal of attention to the question of a State constabulary as a method of policing industry. Extensive investigations of the organization, personnel, and activities of the Pennsylvania State Constabulary were made and a number of witnesses were heard at length. The findings with regard to this particular police organization may be briefly stated: It is an extremely efficient force for crushing strikes, but it is not successful in preventing violence in connection with strikes, in maintaining the legal and civil rights of the parties to the dispute, nor in protecting the public. On the contrary, violence seems to increase rather than diminish when the constabulary is brought into an industrial dispute; the legal and civil rights of the workers have on numerous occasions been violated by the constabulary; and citizens not in any way connected with the dispute and innocent of any interference with the constabulary have been brutally treated and in one case shot down by members of the constabulary, who have escaped punishment for their acts. Organized upon a strictly military basis, it appears to assume in taking the field in connection with a strike, that the strikers are its enemies and the enemies of the State, and that a campaign should be waged against them as such.

"There are certain features of the State police system, however, which seem to be preferable to the present haphazard methods of policing strikes. It is desirable, first, that all kinds of police should receive their entire compensation from the State. Second, an organized force, whose records are known, is preferable both to the private police of corporations and to the deputies ordinarily sworn in by sheriffs. Third, it is desirable that the force should be strictly disciplined and subject to definite orders. Fourth, it is desirable that those in command of any police force should have a reasonably secure tenure of office and should have had previous experience under similar circumstances, as an inexperienced person is likely to become panic stricken by the mere presence of crowds, regardless of their actions.

"If these desirable features could be combined with other features which would insure their impartiality during industrial disputes, and raise their ideals from the present militaristic basis to the police basis of preserving the peace and protecting the rights of both parties and the public, the establishment of State police systems for use in connection with industrial disputes might be recommended. But under present conditions, it seems desirable rather to leave the State policing of industrial disputes to the sheriffs and the militia if the restrictions hereinafter suggested are rigidly enforced so as to protect both the organization and the personnel from partisanship."

FREE SPEECH.

"7. One of the greatest sources of social unrest and bitterness has been the attitude of the police toward public speaking. On numerous occasions in every part of the country, the police of cities and towns have either arbitrarily or under the cloak of a traffic ordinance, interfered with or prohibited public speaking, both in the open and in the halls, by persons connected with organizations of which the police or those from whom they receive their orders did not approve. In many instances such interference has been carried out with a degree of brutality which would be incredible if it were not vouched for by reliable witnesses. Bloody riots frequently have accompanied such interference and large numbers of persons have been arrested for acts of which they were innocent or which were committed under the extreme provocation of brutal treatment of police or private citizens.

"In some cases this suppression of free speech seems to have been the result of sheer brutality and wanton mischief, but in the majority of cases it undoubtedly is the result of a belief by the police or their superiors that they were 'supporting and defending the Government' by such an invasion of personal rights. There could be no greater error. Such action strikes at the very foundations of Government. It is axiomatic that a Government which can be maintained only by the suppression of criticism should not be maintained. Furthermore, it is

the lesson of history that attempts to suppress ideas results only in their more rapid propagation.

"Not only should every barrier to the freedom of speech be removed, as long as it is kept within the bounds of decency and as long as the penalties for libel can be invoked, but every reason able opportunity should be afforded for the expression of ideas and the public criticism of social institutions. The experience of Police Commissioner Woods, of New York City, as contained in his testimony before this Commission, is convincing evidence of the good results which follow such a policy. Mr. Woods testified that when he became Commissioner of Police, he found in force a policy of rigid suppression of radical street meetings, with the result that riots were frequent and bitter hatred of the police was widespread. He adopted a policy of not only permitting public meetings at all places where traffic and the public convenience would not be interfered with, but instructing the police to protect speakers from molestation; as a result, the rioting entirely ceased, the street meetings became more orderly and the speakers were more restrained in their utterances."

To remove the causes which lead to violence and to promote the impartial and effective action of police during disputes, the following recommendations are made:

"1. The enactment by Congress of a statute prohibiting, under severe penalties, the transportation of men from State to State either under arms or for the purpose of arming them as guards or as agents either of employers or of employes.

"2. The enactment by Congress of a statute prohibiting the shipment in interstate commerce of cannon, gatling guns, and other guns of similar character, which are not capable of personal use, when consigned to anyone except military agencies of the State or Federal Governments.

"3. The regulation or prohibition of private detective agencies and private employment agencies. as hereinbefore suggested.

"4. The strict enforcement in all pub

lic and private employment offices of the rules requiring full notice of the existence of a strike.

"5. The complete assumption by the States and municipalities of the responsibility for policing, and the prohibition of the maintenance of any private police (except a limited number of watchmen without police power except on premises).

"6. The definition by statute, by the States, of the conditions under which sheriffs may deputize, such regulations to include provisions that a deputy must be a bona fide resident of the State; that a sworn statement of the complete activities of each deputy covering a period of ten years immediately preceding his deputization shall be filed with the Secretary of State; that no person who shall have been convicted of any misdemeanor or who shall have been imprisoned in any State shall be deputized, and that no deputy shall receive any money or other thing of value from any person connected with an industrial dispute during his period of service or in connection therewith.

". The enactment by statute, by the States, providing a uniform code governing the militia and embodying the following principles:

"a. A proclamation of martial law or a state of war, insurrection or rebellion, by the Governor of a State, as the result of an industrial dispute, shall have no effect upon the continuance of the constitutional guarantees of the State and Federal constitutions, nor upon the law and statutes, nor upon the jurisdiction of the courts, nor upon other civil authorities.

"b. The writ of habeas corpus or other process of the courts cannot be suspended, interfered with nor disregarded by the military. It is part of the duty of the military to assist in enforcing the process and decrees of the civil courts.

"c. The ordinary courts shall have jurisdiction for the punishment of crime, and in all cases where the same act constitutes an indictable offense under both military and criminal law, courtmarshals shall have no jurisdiction nor authority to try officers or soldiers accused thereof,

but the offender shall be turned over to the civil magistrate for trial.

"d. The military may not hold, detain, nor imprison persons arrested by them any longer than is necessary to hand them over to the civil authorities. No person arrested by the militia shall be detained after noon of the following day, without being brought before a committing magistrate.

"e. The military may not forcibly enter nor search a private house in order to seize arms or other property concealed therein without a search warrant.

"f. The military shall have no authorty to establish a censorship over the press nor to interfere with the publication of newspapers, pamphlets, handbills, or the exercise of the right of free speech, except under process of the courts.

"g. The military shall not limit, restrict, nor interfere with the freedom of movement of peaceable citizens or the rights of public meetings, assemblage, or parades in streets and public highways or elsewhere, except under due process of law.

"h. Every military officer under whose orders a civilian is arrested shall within twenty-four hours thereafter report in writing to the commanding officer the name of the prisoner, the offense with which he is charged, and what disposition has been made of him. Failing, he shall be liable to such punishment as a courtmarshal may direct.

"In times of industrial disputes no private guards, detectives, nor employes of either of the contending parties shall be enlisted or employed as members of the militia, and all persons found by the commanding officer to be in the employment of either party to a dispute or actuated by animosity or personal ill-will toward either of the contending parties, shall be forthwith released from active service.

"j. The Governor may, in times of disturbance, by proclamation forbid the sale or transportation of firearms, ammunition, and intoxicating liquors, and may require all firearms and other weapons to be deposited with the military at certain places, receipt being given therefor. Proper search warrants may be issued to discover concealed weapons.

"8. That the State and municipalities should provide by law for the fullest use of schools and other public buildings for public meetings and lectures and for other similar purposes."

MIGRATORY WORKERS.

One important part of the report deals with the problem presented by large number of migratory laborers, many of whom find difficulty in obtaining employment during several months in the year. The following recommendations to improve their condition are made:

"1. The Interstate Commerce Commission should be directed by Congress to investigate and report the most feasible plan of providing for the transportation of workers at the lowest reasonable rates and, at the same time, measures necessary to eliminate the stealing of rides on railways.

"If special transportation rates for workers are provided, tickets may be issued only to those who secure employment through public employment exchanges.

"2. The establishment by States, municipalities and, through the Department of Labor, the Federal Government, of sanitary workingmen's hotels in which the prices for accommodation shall be adjusted to the cost of operation. If such workingmen's hotels are established, the Post-office Department should establish branch Postal Savings Banks in connection therewith.

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"3. The establishment by the municipal, State and Federal Governments colonies or farms for 'down-and-outs' in order to rehabilitate them by means of proper food, regular habits of living, and regular work that will train them for lives of usefulness. Such colonies should provide for hospital treatment of cases which require it."

Other subjects treated at length by the report are: unemployment; organization; methods and policies of trade unions; methods and policies of employers' associations; joint agreements; agencies of mediation, investigation and arbitration; sickness insurance; scientific management; prison labor; immigration; labor conditions in colonial possessions, and Chinese exclusion.