Clergymen as Labor Arbitrators
By L. A. S.
AN item in the Chicago Tribune of March 12 gives the interesting information that “arbitration by Biblical precept is to be tried at the union stockyards this week, when the wage and hour controversy between the packers and their steam engineers comes up for settlement.” The country is about to hear the report of the strike commission appointed by President Roosevelt to arbitrate between the Pennsylvania coal miners and mine owners. This commission, it will be remembered, was appointed as a last resort, after it had been found that there was no power in the government of Pennsylvania or in the United States government to stop the strike. Referring to the extraordinary nature of this proceeding, we pointed out at the time that it would lead naturally to the establishment of government by arbitration in the place of government by State and national constitutions; that the arbitrating body also would necessarily be distinct from the parties in dispute in such controversies, the church being in this respect the body to which appeal would most naturally be made; and that of all the churches, the Catholic Church was the one most concerned with labor questions, nearly all the labor union leaders and most of the membership of these bodies being Catholics. With this in mind the significance of the item referred to is apparent. It says: “Arbitration by Biblical precept is to be tried at the union stockyards this week, when the wage and hour controversy between the packers and their steam engineers comes up for settlement. A board consisting of three clergymen, the first of its kind to adjust a labor dispute in Chicago, will hear the case. The board will be composed as follows: Representative of the packers, Dr. Frank Gunsalus, of the Central church; representative of the engineers, Dr. W. M. Lawrence, of the Second Baptist church; arbiter, Father E. A. Kelly, of St. Cecelia’s church. The board will open its sessions this morning, probably at the offices of Swift & Co., packers, and their men will appear and be questioned, and accept the board’s decision as final.”
L. A. S.