All of these manufacturers recommend that the printed floor coverings they make be varnished with Valspar: Armstrong Cork Co. (Linoleum Dept.). Congoleum Company, Inc. Cook's Linoleum Company Nairn Linoleum Company Parafine Companies, Inc. (Pabcolin) Valspar is easy to apply, and it dries over night. Every coat of Valspar will add months to the life of your floor-covering. VALENTINE & COMPANY 440 Fourth Avenue, New York Largest Manufacturers of High-grade Varnishes in the World-Established 1832 New York Chicago Boston London Toronto Amsterdam W. P. FULLER & CO., San Francisco and principal Pacific Coast cities Copyright, 1919, Valentine & Company THE LABOR SITUATION A PERSONAL, round-table conference between antagonists not infrequently saves an open break and costly warfare. If in 1914 the Kaiser had acceded to the urgent request of Sir Edward Grey for a round-table conference, shared in by the nations vitally interested in the Balkan and European situation, the Great War might have been avoided. The Kaiser declined because he wanted war and he knew that a conference might stop it. If the people of this country want the kind of industrial warfare that is now prevailing in Russia, they will disapprove of the National conference of representatives of wage-workers and employers which has been called by President Wilson for a discussion of the "fundamental means of bettering the whole relationship of capital and labor and putting the whole question of wages upon another footing." The first suggestion of such a conference which we have seen was made by Secretary Lane, of the Department of the Interior. In a despatch dated Washington, August 28, Mr. Lane was quoted as saying: "I believe the President should call immediately a conference of representatives of the four great factors involved in the present economic situation-labor, capital, business executives, and the public. Such a conference would go far to solve the perplexing and dangerous problems the Nation to-day faces." Mr. Gompers, who is the foremost labor leader of this country, if not of the world, on his return from Europe is reported to have approved of this plan, and it is now hoped that such a conference will be held in Washington early in October. Extremists in the employing class who believe that trade unions can be and should be destroyed are for warfare. Extremists in the wageworking class who are opposed, at least theoretically, to private property, and who want to destroy the present industrial system in this country and erect upon its ruins a communistic state, are in favor of industrial warfare. The great body of American citizens, however, wish to preserve our present institutions with such modifications and improve ments as can be added without destroying the foundations upon which the structure rests. These conservatives, who should preferably be called conservationists, should unite and co-operate, whether they are popularly known as capitalists SEPTEMBER 10, 1919 or labor leaders, for their cause is a com mon one. A LABOR PROPOSAL In this connection it is interesting that a committee appointed about August first by President James B. Holland, of the New York State Federation of Labor, to confer with representatives of industrial, commercial, manufacturing, financial, transportation, and other such associations, and which has been holding these conferences in the rooms of the Merchants Association of New York City, has just published a report which states that industrial warfare is not the method by which to re-establish normal conditions in this country. At the same time it recognizes that industry is in a state of war and makes the following recommendations: 1. Your committee earnestly recommends that the Executive Council take steps to cancel and suspend all strikes now in progress in New York State, and to use their influence to prevent the calling of future strikes except in such circumstances as, in the opinion of the Executive Council, render it imperatively necessary to use the strike weapon. 2. That the truce shall be on the basis of the status quo. 3. That the period of the truce shall be six months, or for such longer period as President Wilson may require to enable him to effect a reduction of the cost of living. 4. That notice be served on all employers that any individual, firm, or corporation which attempts to take advantage of organized labor's attitude, to serve its own interests at the expense of labor, shall be left for a reasonable time to such disciplinary measures as other employers or organizations of employers may wish to put into effect, and that if disciplinary measures be not taken by the employers themselves, then organized labor will fight such unfair and disloyal individual, firm, or corporation in a manner that will never be effaced from the culprit's memory, 5. That copies of this report be transmitted to Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, and to the various State Federations of Labor throughout the United States, with the recommendation that the policy outlined herein be adopted by all. While this report has been published, it has not been officially presented to the New York State Federation of Labor, and the committee making it has no special authority in the Federation. It should not therefore be too hastily taken as an expression of the general view of labor in the State of New York. But it does show that conference, co-operation, and reason are beginning to commend themselves to large bodies of men as substitutes for warfare in industrial relations. MR. GOMPERS RETURNS Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, lately arrived in this country from Amsterdam, where he was a delegate at the International Trades Union Congress there. He reports that the Congress marks a new step in the progress of labor. The organization has hitherto had its headquarters at Berlin, but has been unrepresentative of labor. Its headquarters have now been moved to Amsterdam and a genuinely representative executive has been elected, namely, W. A. Appleton, Secretary of the British Federation of Trades Unions. Mr. Gompers proposed Mr. Appleton's name and had the satisfaction of seeing him elected by a two-to-one vote. Mr. Gompers's more notable act, however, seems to have been his correction of the German delegates who had unrepentantly attempted to defend their attitude during the war. These delegates might be, as they claimed, devoted adherents of the trade-union cause; but, if so, why, inquired Mr. Gompers, did they indorse wanton war, why did they applaud the Lusitania horror, and why did they formally approve the deportation of Belgian workingmen? To this the only explanation of the attitude of the German unions was that they had been made to believe they were fighting a defensive war. reso Equally striking was the attitude of Mr. Gompers towards Bolshevism. The Bolshevist delegates proposed a lution expressing "satisfaction with the efforts undertaken by the proletariat classes." Fortunately, Mr. Gompers was chairman of the committee to which this resolution was referred, and through his efforts it was killed. As a majority of all the delegates were Socialists, the defeat of the resolution is, we hope, as Mr. Gompers says it is, a definite and final repudiation by the organized labor of Europe and America not only of Bolshevism but of the whole effort to inveigle labor unions into revolutionary movements. MR. CARNEGIE'S WILL The will of the late Andrew Carnegie is a document of immense human interest. In the first place, it shows that Mr. Carnegie was true to his aim of divesting himself of most of his property for the benefit of mankind. During his life time he gave away some $350,000,000 for charitable and educational objects; at his death he left an estate estimated at between $25,000,000 and $30,000,000. This is divided in a series of bequests to institutions, such as Hampton Institute, Stevens Institute, and the Cooper Union, and to various old friends distinguished and undistinguished. He had provided for his family in his lifetime. Mr. Carnegie's annuities to well-known persons included ex-President Taft and the widows of ex-Presidents Cleveland and Roosevelt; David Lloyd George, Viscount Morley, John Burns, Thomas Burt, John Wilson, and Walter Damrosch. The annuities to Mr. Taft and to the widows of the other two ex-Presidents imply Mr. Carnegie's regard for these executives and also reflect his desire for Congressional pensions for ex-Presidents and their families. He justly believed that those who had served the Nation in its highest office should not be left to the hazards of ordinary business or professional careers when once they were back in private life. Mr. Carnegie revealed himself particularly in his remembrance of the domestics who had served him-his old butler, his old housekeeper, "Nannie Lockerbie, our nurse," and "Maggie Anderson, our oldest servant," and all the others at Skibo Castle, the Carnegie place in Scotland. Nor were the crofters there forgotten, the small farmers on the estate. "Our factor is directed to grant a third year's rent to the crofters provided it is spent upon their homes to their improvement and to the satisfaction of the factor." Moreover, the gamekeeper, the forester, the chauffeur, the yacht captain, the superintendent of the golf course, the piper, the gardener, and all the other laborers were remembered. "We are blessed with fine people on the Skibo estate," wrote Mr. Carnegie into his will with his own hand. Such a document takes unique place. Let us trust that it may soon have a rival, if not in the amounts disposed of in the testator's lifetime and at his death, at all events in the humane spirit which directed such disposal. FRANK BACON: A STRIKING ACTOR-MANAGER The actors, in their first great organized strike against the managers, as The Outlook has already reported, maintain that they are striking for a principle, the labor principle of collective bargaining. Indeed, as far as the great stars of the profession go, it is truly a matter of unselfish principle, for they have all to lose and nothing to gain by a strike. They are highly paid and have few personal grievances. It is for their profession itself and for the vast body of workers that the strike has been made. No one who hears the striking actors speaking on Broadway or who attends one of the performances given by the Actors' Equity Association can doubt this statement. There are actors, great stars, who are not with the rank and file of their profession, but most of these are generally actor-managers, such as George M. Cohan, Louis Mann, David Warfield, William Coburn, Holbrook Blinn. As an offset to such names as these it is worth while to record the story of Frank Bacon, an actor-manager who has gone on strike. Frank Bacon has devoted his life to his profession from the day when he ran away from home and joined a wandering circus. From the circus he joined a stock company on the Pacific Coast, and knew what it was to be stranded on the road anywhere from Salt Lake City to Grass Valley, California. He was a favorite character actor in the old Alcazar Theater in San Francisco, and played the part of G. Whittaker Hay in "Old Tennessee's Partner" and Babs in "Charley's Aunt" whenever a benefit performance was given. Finally the chance for which he had been working a lifetime came to him. He brought his own play "Lightnin'" East to Broadway. His play was not only recognized, but became one of the greatest successes of the season. And yet, after forty years of struggle to reach Broadway, when the call came to him to stand by his fellow-workers, he forgot that he was a manager and a playwright and remembered only the long, weary stretch of uphill work he had in the ranks as an actor. He went to his wife for advice, and without a moment's hesitation she replied: "If we lose all, I have not forgotten how to use the cook-stove." When the actors recently paraded Broadway, none received a greater ovation than gray-haired Frank Bacon, at the head of his own company. THE FUTURE OF GERMANY It is of the utmost importance not merely to the inhabitants of Germany but to the rest of the civilized world that that unhappy country shall progress as steadily and rapidly as possible along the paths of law and order towards reasonable and just international relations. There are those, especially in France, who fear that the Germans still dream of dominating the world by force and will devote themselves during the next ten, fifteen, or twenty-five years to build ing up their military and financial strength for this purpose. Doubtless there is a considerable chauvinist or jingo party alive in Germany who through chagrin or anger at their defeat would like to see the German Empire develop again into a formidable and threatening militaristic power. But there are some indications that the German people are at least be ginning to see that the Prussian policy of terrifying the world by force has proved to be both useless and fatal. This is the view taken in a special article to the New York "Times" by George Renwick, one of the calmest and most judicial of the war correspondents. He has just been making a visit to Germany, and as a result is rather hopeful of conditions there. He says: I believe that a war of revenge-prepared before a watching world—is impossible. Germany is worn and half starved and can only carry her burdens if the reduced strength of her workmen is restored by supplies of food and her trade and industries are set going again by financial credits and raw materials. It will be a long process, and at present Germany's fate does really hang in the balance. Mr. Renwick believes that the truth about the war is gradually but thoroughly getting into the minds of the German people. He thinks that the new Constitution of Germany is genuinely democratic and that if given an opportunity to function it may accomplish much. He does not fear that the militaristic reac tionaries will succeed in again seizing the reins of power, for, he says, "Germany is beaten and she knows it. The evil Prussian spirit which during nearly fifty years had leavened Germany to her hurt, which wrought such incalculable damage to the whole world, which aroused a hatred and a justifiable anger not easily to be overcome-that spirit has gone. All investigators, I think, agree with me there." It would perhaps be safer to say that the Prussian spirit, while not entirely gone, has been greatly weakened. While the rest of the world should not in foolish optimism cease to be on guard to prevent any revival of Prussianism, it should as far as possible encourage and support those Germans who are struggling to de velop a spirit of humanism and liberalism among their countrymen. THE FAR EAST AND A correspondent writes to us as follows: I wish you would state the names of the countries which are included under the name "The Far East," and those constituting what is called "The Near East." I see these expressions often but I do not know what they mean. I think a statement would interest your subscribers. The Far East comprises Eastern Siberia, China, Japan, Korea, Indo-China, the Straits Settlements, and the islands adjacent to the above countries. Sometimes India is also included. The Near East consists of the countries of the Balkan Peninsula and of Asia Minor, including Armenia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and Persia. Of the countries of the Near East, Persia, Armenia, and Bulgaria are now peculiarly prominent: Persia, because of the approaching visit to America of its monarch, the Shah; Armenia, because of the imminent danger of a new massacre and the pressure brought to bear upon America to accept a mandate for the supervision of Armenian affairs; Bulgaria, because of the report of the InterAllied Commission appointed to investigate violations of the Hague Treaty, and also because of the preparation at Paris of the Bulgarian Peace Treaty. 66 The Inter-Allied Commission reports that the Bulgarians' crimes exceed the ordinary infringements of international law. It holds the Bulgarian Government directly responsible for a long record of outrage, pillage, torture, and massacre. Many of the most terrible deeds described are laid to the account of the "comitadjes," or irregular police, organized from the lowest elements of the population. Yet, says the report," some of the regular army officers outrivaled the comitadjes in the massacres of the civilian population. In especial, "the hatred of the Bulgarians for the Serbian Church," it adds, was of a beastly, savage nature. They profaned the altars, stripped the nuns, and outraged the priests and monks." Everywhere "not only were men killed and women violated, but every kind of torture was exercised and every form of sadism practiced." As to the military population, "the massacre of Serbian prisoners and wounded became almost the rule, the slaughter being preceded by tortures and mutilations. Whole groups of prisoners were tied one to another and then slashed to death with swords." The report concludes thus: "The civilized world cannot remain indifferent before such a situation. A people capable of hating up to this point, so blind and ferocious in the expression of its hate, represents a danger for its neighbors." THRACE The danger spoken of above is apparently to be extended, and by the American Government's action at that. In the preparation of the Bulgarian peace treaty, not only have the countries which fought and defeated Bulgaria taken part, namely, Great Britain, France, Italy, Serbia, and Greece, but also America. Why should we participate? We declined to fight Bulgaria; on the contrary, our Administration would not break with Bulgaria, and permitted her Minister to remain at Washington during the whole period of the European war; he was also allowed not infrequently to explain Bulgaria's position and to defend it. The Outlook and other journals repeatedly urged a contrary and virile policy upon the Administration. In vain. Though there is no apparent reason why we should participate in the imposition of peace terms upon a nation with which we have never officially severed amicable relations, yet it seems that our co-belligerents did ask us to assist them in the task. Both Bulgaria and Greece demand the possession of Thrace, that is, of about all that is left of Turkey in Europe. Bulgaria wants it because there are many Bulgars there; she also wants it to assure an outlet to the Ægean Sea. Greece demands it because it was once hers, and because there are more Greeks there than Bulgars. The Greek position with regard to Thrace has been favored by our allies. But not by the American Government. It suggested instead that Thrace become an internationalized state, and, failing that, that it become Greek except the extreme northwest; that the port of Dedeagatch on the Egean Sea become a free port, the passage thither from Bulgaria to be across an internationalized strip of land. If such a compromise should be accepted, Bulgaria will indeed be doubly indebted to the present American Administration. THE RACE PROBLEM THE HE race problem is National in scope, but its final solution must be locally determined. It is a problem of human relationship, and this human relationship is reducible in the final analysis to the one white man, face to face with one Negro. The National race problem is really only a multiplication of the problem of this individual relationship. This is why The Outlook has always insisted that the Negro problem of the South could be solved only by the South. The North can advise and aid, and that is all. Now that the North is becoming acutely aware of the fact that it possesses a race problem of its own, while the situation is reversed, the principle still remains the same. East St. Louis (an Illinois, not a Missouri, city, we ask our readers to observe) and Chicago, Washington, Knoxville, and Atlanta, to each its peculiar problem, to each its own solution. But the intensely local character of the race problem should not prevent the broadest National consideration of its causes and effects. The North can learn from the South and the South from the North. But upon each section and locality must rest the responsibility for putting into effect the conclusions reached in general discussion and study. It is this dual character of the problem in its local and National aspects which lends peculiar interest to the proposal recently put forward by the Southern Sociological Congress, of which Bishop Theodore D. Bratton is President. This proposal, at the suggestion of President Wilson, was laid before the Conference of the Governors of the several States recently in session at Salt Lake City, Utah. The Governors' Conference broke all precedents in permitting Bishop Bratton to speak at one of its sessions. The resolution which Bishop Bratton proposed was made a part of the official records of the Conference, and received high praise from many of the Governors present. The resolution laid before the Governors' Conference and the programme called for therein are of such merit and importance that we republish them here in full. The resolution reads: Recognizing that the Negro is a permanent and increasingly important factor in the development of our National life, the Southern Sociological Congress considers the solution of the problem of race relations as the most delicate and difficult single task for American democracy. We believe that no enduring basis of good will between the white and colored peoples in this country can be developed except on the fundamental principles of justice, co-operation, and race integrity. The obligations of this generation to posterity demand that we exert our utmost endeavor to preserve the purity of our democratic ideals expressed in the American Constitution as well as the purity of the blood of both races. With this belief the Southern Sociological Congress has worked out a programme for the improvement of race relations which we respectfully submit to this Conference of Governors in the earnest hope that this body of distinguished leaders may lend its powerful influence towards making this programme effective throughout the Union. |