CHAPTER XLII. THE EVERLASTING MORALIZER

I played the game fair throughout my term of office. I hate dishonesty

instinctively. I like the approval of my own conscience and the approval

of men. This is egotism, of course. I claim nothing else for it. I am no

prophet. I do not claim to be inspired. The weaknesses that all flesh

is heir to, I am not immune from. I write this story not to vindicate my

own wit nor to point out new paths for human thought to follow. I am a

follower of the old trails, an endorser of the old maxims. I merely

add my voice to the thousands who have testified before me that the old

truths are the only truths, and they are all the guidance that we need.

I am an educator of the young, not an astounder of the old; and it is

for the boys and girls who read my book that I thus point the morals

that life's tale has taught me.

Had I proved unfaithful in my first office I could not have gone to

higher offices. My opponents would have “had something on me.” As

secretary of labor, I am called on to settle strikes and to adjust

disputes between employers and employee. I could do nothing if either

side distrusted me. But since both sides believe me to be honest, they

get right down to brass tacks and discuss the cases on their merits

only. Sometimes the employees ask too much, sometimes the employers.

When either side goes too far I feel free to oppose it.

I approach each problem not only from the economic but from the human

angle. I took my guidance from the words of President Harding, when he

said:

“The human element comes first. I want the employers to understand

the hopes and yearnings of the workers, and I want the wage earners to

understand the burdens and anxieties of the wage payers, and all of them

must understand their obligations to the people and to the republic. Out

of this understanding will come social justice which is so essential to

the highest human happiness.”

The Labor Department has been able to settle, after candid argument,

thousands of disputes saving millions of dollars for workers and

employers and relieving the public from the great loss and inconvenience

that comes with strikes and industrial war. I have but one aim, and that

is justice. I know but one policy, and that is honesty. I am slow to

reach decisions. I must hear both sides. I want the facts, and all the

facts. When all the facts are in my mind the arguing ends; the judgment

begins. I judge by conscience and am guided by the Golden Rule. Decision

comes, and it is as nearly right as God has given me power to see the

right.

Out of four thousand disputes handled by the Department, three thousand

six hundred were settled. These directly involved approximately three

and one-half million workers and indirectly many others. At first

seventy per cent. of the cases were strikes before conciliation was

requested. Now, in a majority of the cases presented, strikes and

lockouts are prevented or speedily adjusted through our efforts.

This was due to perfect candor in talking. Honest opinions were honestly

set forth. Both sides took confidence in each other, and both sides

accepted my suggestions, believing them sincere and fair. And so I say

to the young men that honesty is the best policy because it is the only

policy that wins. The communists tell the young that honesty is not the

best policy. They say that the rich man teaches the poor to be honest so

that the rich can do all the stealing. They say that the moral code is

“dope” given by the strong to paralyze the weak and keep them down.

It is not so. Honesty is the power that lifts men and nations up to

greatness. It is a law of nature just as surely as gravity is a natural

law. But one is physical nature and the other moral nature. A fool can

see that physical laws are eternal and unbreakable. The wise can see

that the moral law is just as powerful and as everlasting.

Had I not won the people's confidence while I was city clerk of Elwood,

Indiana, my public career would have ended there. But after four years

in that office I aspired to be county recorder. The employers who once

had feared that I would be unfair, now said, “Davis is the man for the

job,” and so I got their vote as well as the vote of the workers, and I

was elected to that higher office by a great majority.