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Princeton, N. J., March 18, 1921-Attacking the principle of the open shop here tonight, the Harvard debating team composed of P. R. Harmel '23, R. S. Fanning Unc., and C. W. Phelps '22, defeated the Princeton team composed of S. Makrauer, R. H. Scholl, and R. M. Warner.
The points on which the University rested its case were as follow:
P. R. Harmel '23-First Affirmative
Two great camps, the trade unions and the employers, are today discussing the Open Shop problem. Employers seek to retain the same old open shop policy for industry; trade unions are asking for the modern policy in which workers are granted their rights and treated like men. Collective bargaining in the open shop, although affirmed by employers is ineffective. This is true because the two bargaining forces are entirely unequal.
R. S. Fanning Unc.-Second Affirmative
The modern closed shop is an efficient shop. The restrictions on apprenticeship of former times were due to a necessity for maintaining a high quality of output. With modern introduction of machinery, these restrictions are rapidly disappearing. The charge that closed shop men "slack" on the job can be applied to all labor. The open shop drive system does more to injure industrial efficiency than to aid it.
C. W. Phelps '22-Third Affirmative
The modern problem of labor has been engendered under the open shop. This shop is not a solution of the problem but the cause of it. The number of strikes increasing each year shows that labor eventually must be satisfied in the only way possible. The growth of the A. F. of L. shows how the movement has spread. The workers are no longer content under the open shop system with its bad working conditions, payment of lower than a standard of living wage, and its ineffective collective bargaining.
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