IV Representation in Industry[4]
I speak as a member of the Public Group. I hold no executive position in any business corporation, and am not here representing any business interest.
I have come in response to the request of the President to accept appointment as one of the representatives of the general public in this Conference and am considering the questions which come before the Conference from that standpoint.
The resolution before the Conference is predicated upon the principle of representation in industry, which includes the right to organize and the right to bargain collectively. In supporting this resolution I beg leave to present the following statement which, for the sake of brevity and clearness, I have reduced to writing.
The experience through which our country passed in the months of war, exhibiting as it did the willingness of all Americans without distinction of race, creed or class to sacrifice personal ends for a great ideal and to work together in a spirit of brotherhood and coöperation, has been a revelation to our own people, and a cause for congratulations to us all. Now that the stimulus of the war is over, the question which confronts our nation is how can these high levels of unselfish devotion to the common good be maintained and extended to the civic life of the nation in times of peace.
We have been called together to consider the industrial problem. Only as each of us discharges his duties as a member of this Conference in the same high spirit of patriotism, of unselfish allegiance to right and justice, of devotion to the principles of democracy and brotherhood with which we approached the problems of the war, can we hope for success in the solution of the industrial problem which is no less vital to the life of the nation. Surely the men and women will stand together as unselfishly in solving this great industrial problem as they did in dealing with the problems of the war if only right is made clear and the way to a solution pointed out.
The world position which our country holds to-day is due to the wide vision of the statesmen who founded these United States and to the daring and indomitable persistence of the great industrial leaders, together with the myriads of men who with faith in their leadership have coöperated to rear the marvelous industrial structure of which our country is justly so proud.
This result has been produced by the coöperation of the four factors in industry: labor, capital, management and the public, the last represented by the consumer and by organized government.
No one of these groups can alone claim credit for what has been accomplished. Just what is the relative importance of the contribution made to the success of industry by these several factors and what their relative rewards should be are debatable questions. But however views may differ on these questions it is clear that the common interest cannot be advanced by the effort of any one party to dominate the other, to arbitrarily dictate the terms on which alone it will coöperate, to threaten to withdraw if any attempt is made to thwart the enforcement of its will. Such a position is as un-American as it is intolerable.