•■U 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



(Ji 



pioneers and all in a position to know, in talking with 

 the editor of this journal, agreed as to the main particu- 

 lars given above. 



DANGEROUS DEMANDS OF LABOR. 



To A i'Koros.\L made by labor interests for the incor- 

 poration in the Illinois State Constitution of an 

 article declaring that the right of labor to organize and 

 conduct collective bargaining should not be abridged, and 

 that courts should be debarred from issuing injunctions 

 in restraint of strikes and to check their promotion. 

 Charles Piez, president and treasurer of the Link-Belt 

 Company of Chicago, and whose valuable service at the 

 head of the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation 

 is well remembered, interposed a forceful objection in 

 speaking for the Illinois Manufacturers' .Association re- 

 cently at the State Constitutional Convention. 



The argument was advanced that the sole purpose of 

 a constitution should be to define the principles govern- 

 ing and the guarantees given all the people of a common- 

 wealth, and it can not justly single out any class or 

 group for special favor; nor should any law-making 

 power or tribunal of justice be inhibited from dealing 

 with abuses of which any class or group may be guilty 

 against the common weal, for the interests of the whole 

 state must always transcend those of any class, be they 

 laborers, capitalists, or members of any other group. 

 Answering the claim that labor has been regarded as 

 property rather than an attribute of life, Mr. Piez cited 

 considerable legislation recently enacted, with the aid of 

 employers, to lessen working time, to make mines and 

 factories safer and more sanitary, to set a fair minimum 

 wage, for accident relief, to lighten women's labor, and 

 to check child employment. Nor has any law been passed 

 to deter workmen from associating for any peaceful pur- 

 pose. 



Particularly did ]\Ir. Piez object to the incorporation 

 in the basic law of the state of an article giving organized 

 labor such an unfair and unwarranted advantage over 

 emplovers as to compel the latter to submit to dealing 

 only with representatives of a trade union instead of 

 with individual employes. To make such a concession, 

 he implied, would be to strike a blow at the foundations 

 of industrial liberty. In return, it would provide no re- 

 strictions to safeguard public interests and impose no 

 collective responsibility on labor organizations in carry- 

 ing out wage or time bargains, just as now practically no 

 redress is afiorded an employer whose property is dam- 

 aged by strikers. If capital is to be held to account, 

 labor cannot escape its obligations while insisting on its 

 rights. The speaker, while freely conceding the privilege 

 of employes to quit work, contented that, at least, the 

 quitters should not be allowed to coerce others "to re- 

 frain from work, with a bludgeon, or through the more 

 cruel and effective method of intimidating their wives 

 and children."' 



The regret is that the sane views of such broad-gage, 

 e.xperienced observers as Mr. Piez are not given wide 

 IHiblicity in the daily press. Indeed, upon the press rests 

 the obligation to discuss these and kindred questions in 

 a generous, judicial spirit, to point out clearly the close 

 interrelation of capital and labor, and, recalling the 

 -Esopian fable of the quarrel of the body and its mem- 

 bers, to emphasize how dependent one is on the other, 

 to stress the need of coordination. 



]\Iany great newspapers are strangely reluctant about 

 discussing frankly the onerous exactions of some labor 

 unions and their retardation of output, which makes goods 

 scarce and dear. Their silence strengthens the impression 

 that they either fear labor or cater to it for an ulterior 

 purpose. Some are so anxious to win mass circulation that 

 they not only gloss over or ignore the most palpable 

 delinquencies of unionism, but they even stir up class 

 hatred by affecting to defend the most irrational de- 

 mands of labor; that is, so long as such demands do 

 not affect the interests of those "welfare of the masses" 

 journals. 



TRUCK TRAINS AND TIRES. 



IN the motor truck road train may be found a solution 

 of the freight transportation problem of the near 

 future. This train consists of one large truck drawing 

 two or more trailers of special design. The trailers are 

 equipped with airbrakes and a steering mechanism, as- 

 suring perfect tracking, the whole being controlled from 

 ■ the driver's seat. Longer trains can be handled quite 

 as easily. 



This method means greatly increased load capacity at 

 the minimuin cost of operation in initial investment, fuel 

 consumption, repairs and labor, only one man being re- 

 quired to drive. Such a train has all the mobility, speed 

 and flexibility of operation typical of ordinary truck 

 hauling, and it congests the road less than would three 

 motor trucks operating independently. 



Motor truck road trains have been extensively used 

 abroad, but for the most part with iron or solid rubber- 

 tired wheels which have rendered them slow going. The 

 giant cord pneumatic developed in America, however, 

 should add speed to their great carrying capacity and 

 multiply the use of this newest type of rubber tire. 



Not specifically of the United St.\tes but of 

 the whole world, Akron stands as the real "Rubber 

 Citv." No other city, county, or state in our Union ap- 

 proaches it in rubber factories, number of employes, and 

 product. Only two foreign countries exceed it in pro- 

 duction of rubber goods. 



The last census shows that with a population of 

 208,435 persons, an increase of 139,368 during the last 

 decade, Akron's rate of growth has been 201.8 per cent. 

 Due chiefly to the remarkable expansion of its rubber 

 business it now ranks next to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 

 the list of great American cities. 



