Ar'bitra'tion, a mode of determining and settling, by reference to outside, independent parties, matters in dispute or disagreement, either in commercial or industrial affairs or in the larger questions of political and international controversy. This may be done by representatives willingly chosen by the respective parties to settle the points of disagreement, or by order of a court of law, when decisions have the conclusive effect of legal proceedings. Arbitration is now being largely adopted in private commercial dealings, especially between masters and workmen; while the resort to the expedient has for many years been employed in cases of international dispute, not involving national honor. (See Hague Peace Conference.) Arbitration has been successfully employed in settling railroad and labor strikes, wage controversies, lockouts and other industrial troubles. Arbitration in labor disputes took a long step forward in the appointment of the Commission on Industrial Relations by President Wilson under an Act of Congress.
The Commission is to inquire into the general conditions of labor, relations between employers and employees, the effect of industrial conditions on public welfare and the like.
As one social worker, who helped to secure the Commission, put it: "What we need is more light and less heat."