COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY JADE COUM THE NEW WORLD OF LABOR. III PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOREWORD On the present trip around the world during 1922 and 1923 the writer endeavored to make a study of the industrial situation and of conditions of labor in the principal countries visited. These included China, Japan and India in the Far East, Germany and the Ruhr, France, Italy and Great Britain in Europe, and finally Russia as the storm center of the labor world. However we may interpret the fact, the war seems to have marked the close of an epoch. Whether for better or for worse, we are in the midst of a period that will witness the birth of a "New World of Labor." In order to make a study of the labor situation that has arisen since the war, the writer sought to secure an industrial expert to make the investigation but failed in the case of three successive men who had hoped to make this tour of inspection. He was finally compelled to undertake it alone. He was painfully conscious, however, of not being technically qualified for such a task. Six months before the trip was undertaken a somewhat exhaustive questionnaire on the industrial situation was sent in advance to representatives in each country, and information was gathered before our arrival. During the visit we endeavored to supplement the documentary evidence by inspection of factories, interviews with government officials, labor leaders, employers and others conversant with the labor situation. The writer's thanks are due to many friends for furnishing industrial information, for reading portions of the manuscript and for criticisms and suggestions, especially to Messrs. A. Friedman on Russia, Thomas Tchou on China, T. Kagawa on Japan, H. A. Popley on India, J. J. Mallon, J. S. Middleton and E. W. Wimble on the British Labor Movement, and to certain others whose names cannot be mentioned because of their official positions. Also to Mr. J. E. Herbert of the International Labor Office in London, and to the Director of the Labor Office at the League of Nations at Geneva, M. Albert Thomas, for the use of the library for several weeks. The writer is also grateful to Waldo Stephens for his generous coöperation and to Kirby Page, E. C. Lindeman and Robert Bruère for invaluable criticism and suggestion. Unless otherwise specified, all prices and wages for the various countries are given in gold dollars and cents. As far as possible we have endeavored to let the facts speak for themselves. Where views are expressed they are personal and unofficial and do not represent those of any organization. The writer has no axe to grind and no propaganda to further, for or against any cause. The truth is that the world has been victimized by propaganda ever since 1914. It is quite probable that in the light of this, the facts stated in certain chapters, as on Russia, for instance, may not be in accord with what we have been told in the daily press. For those who have eagerly swallowed whole all that they have read, or all that has been stated by those who have been dispossessed of their privileges under the Czarist régime, the statements concerning the reconstruction of Russia may seem untrue or unpalatable. Our one desire has been to tell the truth. We might run the war, but we cannot longer run the world, on propaganda. No problem is solved by simply "seeing red." In the end the truth will out, and it will prevail against all fiction and falsehood. |