54 Proceedings of IndUnia Acadiini/ of Scicitcc. 



Some sort of a working league of all leading nations seems to he the next 

 step forward. 



The importance of more complete coordination in the industrial affairs 

 of nations has hecome more and more apparent during recent years. A 

 modern state is composed of many industrial groups, each one seelcing 

 special advantages for its memhei's, and ofhMi without regard for the in- 

 terests of otlier groups or for the good of society. Labor decides to strike 

 in order to obtain a larger share of the profits of industry, employers en- 

 deavor to enforce their demands b.v means of the lockout. The result, in 

 both cases, is an interruption of industry, while the damage too often falls 

 chiefly on the innocent public. A few generations ago strikes and lockouts 

 were used only as weapons of last resort, to obtain redress for grievances, 

 either real or imagined. Today they are often used as a matter of policy, 

 whenever the time is favorable for advancing the interests of the party 

 concerned. The necessity of society thus becomes the golden opportunity 

 of both capital and labor, and so dependent is society on the continuous 

 operation of certain industries, that swift calamity would follow even a brief 

 interruption of work. The ix)ssibility of a general strike of coal miners or 

 railway employees has been brought uncomfortably near during recent 

 years. 



In this country, at the present time, there is no reason for alarm in re- 

 gard to the final outcome of such a strike. Certain compromises would be 

 made, work would finally be resumed and the authority of society would be 

 vindicated. Such a settlement, however, would not prevent a repetition of 

 the disturbances. In those industries which are essential to the public wel- 

 fare, both strikes and lockouts must be prevented, and this can be done 

 only by removing the cause. In the great industrial expansion of the past 

 century, certain organizations of capital and labor have been formed In the 

 social body, but the hormones which should regulate their activities are 

 lacking. Differentiation has outrun coordination. It is necessary to adjust 

 the relations between society and the classes so that the welfare of all 

 shall be safeguarded. When the classes recognize the fact that they are 

 merely organs of the social body, and when they realize that this depend- 

 ence carries with it duties as well as rights, then it will be possible to en- 

 act laws which will insure a reasonable measure of industrial peace. Only 

 by such cooperation can the classes reach their own highest good. 



Some progress has been made toward this goal. Employers and employees 

 are beginning to appreciate their obligations. Labor did its share to win 

 the war and it has generally resisted the seductive advances of Bolshevism. 

 It is to be hoped that the lesson of cooperation learned during the war 

 will help to solve the problems of peace. Failure to accomplish this must 

 mean failure in everything. Only when a species is headed for destruction 

 are violations of the laws of coordination tolerated, even for a time. 



Other social problems which are calling for attention, are due to violation 

 of certain laws of reproduction. The growth of human population is sub- 

 ject to the same general laws that hold good among lower forms. The in- 

 crease of every species must eventually reach a limit, and this limit has 

 actually been reached by the great majority of living species,— a stage in 

 which the average increase equals the average death-rate, and population 



