Forum Debaters Clash On Labor-Management Issues

"Can labor and management get together?" was the issue last night at a three-way forum presented in the Lowell House Junior Common Room be the Harvard Forum, the Radcliffe League for Democracy, and the International Club.

"Yes, they certainly can," was the contention of J. William Belanger, director of the Massachusetts Textile Union. He argued that, while labor does want to hold the line on the cost of living, industry at the present time indisputably can afford the wage rises.

Denying labor's argument, David Con-cannon, industry member of the War Labor Board, declared that "industry should not and will not gamble on depleting its resources by granting wage rises; it would not be fair to our investors, to the public, or to the workers themselves."

John T. Dunlop, associate professor of Economics here and former member of the W.L.B., described three possible answers to the problem: first, that the conflict can only be resolved at the expense of the public interest; second, that there can be no settlement, only a slugfest; and third, that the conflict can be resolved only if strong and stifling legislation is passed.

"I have a fourth answer, President Truman's solutions," added Dunlop. "The only way the problem can be settled satisfactorily is the hard way--by having labor and management sit down at a table and work it out at length."