The bitterness which has characterized the Passaic textile strike almost fiared up into a riot yesterday, when the police arrested three picketers. Arbitrary methods rarely bring peace, and such officiousness as this will do little to settle a deadlock which has already assumed significant proportions. For the Passaic strike is something more than one of the sporadic outbursts for which the textile industry is noted.

In truth the situation that produced the strike bears close resemblance to the industrial evils that succeeded the advent of the factory system in the nineteenth century. By failing to pay a living wage to the heads of families the Passaic mills had drawn women and minors to them. A law designed to remedy this had been suspended. And it was the refusal of the manufacturers to allow their employes to organize that precipitated the walkout.

It seems to bit strange at the present day to find such backward conditions prevailing in a large industrial center. Trade unionism has long established itself as the most satisfactory method of adjusting differences between capital and labor. In unusual periods of great production, to be sure, the unions may become too dominant. But under ordinary conditions, natural economic laws preserve the necessary balance. Yet disorganized labor is always at the mercy of capital. And the Passaic manufacturers, if historical precedent runs true, must eventually recognize the inherent right of their workers to a permanent union which can protect their interests.