New Britain Herald Newspaper, April 10, 1919, Page 12

By Irving R. Bacon HY force? Why chaos? Why the brambly, circuitous route when there is a straight, smooth, com- fortable one to take you to the goal you aim at? John N. Willys has given a practi- cal reply to the threats of anarchi who base their reason for revenge upon the toilers’ inadequate share in the distribution of wealth. He 1 taken his employes into partnership on a “fifty-fifty” basis. And, as his business includes the manufacture of automobiles, farm tractors and other things which fetch big prices in the market, not one of his ten thousand employes but feels a new stimulus in his work and a new gladness in life. Other captains of industry are also taking the sting out of discontent in ene way or another and leading their armies of workers into regions of com fort, ease and elegance scarcely even dreamed of before. Comparatively few years ago Colo- rado was the scene of strikes in which the government troops had to be called out. Riots, bullpen and stockade im- prisonments, bloodshed and venomous hatreds complicated with murder: were ‘the order of the day. Capital &nd labor were deadlocked in a stub- born struggle for supremacy and narchy reared its head and showed fangs. The Rockefeller Experiment Take a look at Colorado today. The Puel and Iron Company no longer need fear an uprising of its employe: Tdke the Willys plants, this company, too, has inaugurated a system f bringing sunshine and contentment tnto the hearts of its employes. Cap #ta] and labor there are also workir hand in hand. Labor sings joyously in the performance of its tasks, for it realizes that the more cheerfully it produces what is asked of it the richer will be its own returns. An advisory board on social and in dustrial betterment has been estab lshed to study and develop methods for putting into effect any featurs that may be of value to the employes end the compan It is empowered and even expected to call to its aid the best experts in the count task it has set itself just now i ascertain the most modern “develop ments in industrial:housing, and met ods of employing and fitting men for better ' jobs. This, includes co-opera- tion with the State and Federal au- thorities in vocational education, be- sides inquiries into plans for promot fng thrift and protecting employ egainst loan injustice If any more were needed to be to show the vast difference in 1 brought about which it is. poss labor to view each othe tility or that of friendly co-ope it would be supplied by ti of the “winning ihe war” nequa plant of the company ployes subseribed toward the first loan And to the contributed Work Fund that this very same company and its employes stood opposed to each other with a hatred which made that of the and Ghibellines like a well-wishing benevolence, adopted the plan of treating labor & of capital is th: Ohio steel com- which is said to have a 135 per cent production per man as compared cent of the United States the partner with 100 per Corporation. have it understood that neither he nor Lincoln’s Letter Accepting Nomination One of World’s Lit twenty-one. printed in If the good people in their wisdom ground, I have been too familiar with disappointment to he very much cha le wrote what now seems to . consequently In—one of JOHN N. WILLYS other captain of industry who is trying to make labor the equal and co-ordinate factor with capital in the production of wealth is moved thereto by anything like a feeling of philan- thropy. 1t is a sheer husiness propo- sition, he says; and it is the only safe, sound and sane way of dealing with so delicate and intricate a problem. Before he inaugurated the era of co-operative cordiality many of his mpioyes were a ragged, shiftless, irre- sponsible lot. he said, upon whom he could never count in an cmergency. They would leave him by hundreds in vesponse to the lure of a few pennies nore offered by another employer. They lived in squalor and their fam- lies were neglected and ill-fed and the children of many of themn were compelled to go barefoot even in in- clement weather. Upbuilding Citizenship Then Mr. Calloway bezan the ex- periment of paying as high wages as the nature of the work allowed; and he put up nice, cozy houses for his cmployes to dwell in, with gardens both for beauty and to serve as minia- ture truck farms; schools and other educational advantages and elub- houses followed. Gradually the men, whose mental horizon had been bounded by their immediate physics needs, and who, consequently, never known the joy of inteilectual diversion, began to take an interest in (he wider, morc objective affairs of life; they bezan to discuss cconomic and political problems; saloons ceased tc attvact: gambling became one of the “lost arts”; a spiritual atmosphere invaded and pervaded their homes within an incredibly short time their emancipation from the sordid condi- tions which had held them fettered and enslaved was complete. The thousands of employes in his sreat steel plants are as fine citizens todey as can be found anywhere on earth. And it is probably no exaggeration to say that every one of them is as con- tented as it is given the human heart to be under any conditions at all “And all this means so much more His Opponents Had Long Letter think myself fit for the presidency. 1 certainly am flattered and gratified that some partial fricnds think of me in that connection.” About January 1, 1860, there was a conference at Sprinsfield of the Re- bublican leaders of the State. One of men present said “We asked him if his name might be used in connection with the nom ination. With characteristic modesty he doubted whether he could.get the nomination even if he wished it, and ashed until 1 next morning to answer. Xt ¢ e authorizea us, if we thought proper to do so, to plice him in the field The Illinois State Convention gave Lincoin & hearty indorscment and sent an enthusiastic delegation to Chicago composed of personal friends of zreat ability. political experience and personal influenc news of his nonination,” Villiamn . Hernd his law “found Lincalr came in, although apparentiy and undisturbed. a close observer co bave deteeted in the comprossed JUHN D. ROCKEFELLER, JR. money to me” says Mr. Calloway. “The cost of the extras, in addition to higher wages, is but so much ‘bread cast upon the waters’ It has enabled me to turn out 35 per cent more pro- duction, in proportion to my force, than the United States Steel Corporation, which is considered one of the most efliciently conducted organizations in the world.” Strange that it required so many thousands of years of bitter experl- ence to teach people that neither labor nor capital, nor both combined, con- stitutes the wealth upon which the well-being of the world is established, but that it is properly distributed pro- duction, the offspring of the union of capital and labor, to which the term wealth is applicable and to which the exalted mission to bring @ more gen- eral happiness into the world belongs. Writing in the January 18 number of The Public, which calls itself “a jour- nal of democracy,” Richard Spillane says: here is one true gauge to appiy to labor, and one only. That is the element of production. Wages come from production. Capital simply is a link between production and wage. In their blindness and antagonism, capital and labor ignore this ba: fact. One encroaches upon the rights or the other and thinks it is a wvie- tory achieved when, in reality, injury is done to both. “When Henry Ford established the $5 a day minimum wage scale, em- ployers the country over had a chill. Highly paid labor is cheap labor if it produces proportionately more than Jow-paid labor. The problem of the employer in America is not so much to lower the wage scale as to increase the scale of production. Helping the Sailor “Some men in their folly, do all they can not only to continue, but intensify the agelonz combat between capital and labor, employer and employed. Ed- ward N. Hurley. of our shipping hoard, went abroad in the hope of arranging with shipmasters of the principal for eign countrics to accept the wage and serious countenance evidence of deep and unusual emotion. * * * Latet hLe hastened o ‘tell a little woman down the street the news.” Norman Hapgood has writter “Under the adroit management of the Republican State Committee, who was preparing the ground all through 1859, the Illinois papers came out, one at w time, at considerable inter- vals, for Lincoln, as if by a natural srowth of public opinion, culminating February 16, 1860, in the Chicago Tribune, whose editor was one of the leading workers of this scheme. The following’ was told me, while in Kansas, by George J. Talmage, who was, in 1860, the boy who delivered the telegram to Lincoln announcing his nomination as President by the Republicans at Chicago: T. J. 8. Wilson, superintendent Ilinois and Mississippi tele- graph line sent the message from ‘the Wigwam’ at Chicago. AMr. Frank \cintive received the messs Springfield. 1} delivered it n=iructions : the me 10 Mr. Lincoln only; also to note how he K it. I went to the Lincoln bome and met Mrs. uLincoln at the scale and the general regulations America has established in relation to seamen’s wages and the manning o vessels. Some of the leading ship- ping ‘men of Great Britain have scoffed at his mission and gone so far as to call his suggestion an im- pertinence. And yet every man who has been in sea service knows the pay of a sailor is unjustly low, that the food he gets is poor, that little effort is expended to provide decent accommodations for him and that he is treated more as an animal than a human being. The men who. sail the ships of commerce may not be of the best estate, but what o mockery we would make of our war slogan of ‘making the world a better place to live in,’ if we should accept the purblind view of British shipown ers who rise up in wrath at sugges- tion of improving the lot of the sailor man! * * * Rockefeller’s Program “If such a selfish view as that o? the British shipowners paid in the long run it might have some merit, hut it does mnot pay. It breeds dissatisfac- tion, trouhle and agitation, as any- thing that is unjust in principle and effect is certain to do. It does not make for hetter men or better service and only through better men and be ter service by men do we progres Perhups if the anarchists be introspective long enough to their eyes from their own miseries, to which no doubt those of them who are sincere owe their mental attitude, they might discover to their amuzement that one of the stanchest allies labor ever had is John D. Rockefeller, Jr. If there is any definite program ac all in the creed of anarchy, it surely must be to attain happiness for indi- viduals. And what else than this is the program which Mr. Rockefeller set forth in a paper which he read several weeks ago at a meeting of the Recon- struction Congress of American Indus tries, at Atlantic City? Here are its most salient features: “First. Labor and capital are part- ners, not enemies: their interests are common intere; not opposed. and But “Honest Abe” Said, “The Time Comes When It Is Best to Keep the Lips Closed.” door. Rhe said that Mr. Lincoln had gone out and to leave the message, [ told her that my instructions were to deliver it to Mr. Lincoln only. Then she asked me for the contents of the message. I stated that to give its contents was against orders. She did not take my answer graclously. ‘here was silence for a minute or two. ¥i 1y, she said Mr. Lincoln would prob- ably be found at Hopper's news depot I went there and found him rcading the New York Tribune. I said to him, as I had said many times before, ‘Mr. Lincoln, a message.” He laid the paper he was reading on the counter, took my receipt book, signed it and handed it to me. Then he took the message deliberately, tore the envelope to the end, took out the message, seemed to read it twice, made a slight movement with hig head, crumpled the paper he. tween the right thumb and two fin- gers. shoved the message into his right-hand vest pocket and resumed reading the newspaper. Not a word was said by Mr. Lincoln to me.” The evening of the second day afte the nomination hwought to Springfiel a committee of nottrcation, composed of some of the most distinguishea men of that da others who, were des: siblity rests as heavily upon indust: (7 !({i; 7 % i NS iy s, 14 g % ;’311 et N ¢ M 4y T ST J ///ifl%’z ol G D RS « /4’/‘ neither can attain the fullest measure of prosperity at the expense of the other, but only in association with the other. “Second. The purpose of indusiry is quite as much te advance social well- being as material well-being, and in the pursuit of that purpose the inter- ests of the community should be care fully considered, the well-being of the employes as respects living and work- ing conditions should be fully guarded, management should’ be adequately recognized and capital should be justly compensated, and failure in any of these particulars means loss to all. “Third. Every man is entitled to an opportunity to earn a living, to fair wages, to reasonable hours of work and proper working conditions, tc a decent home, to the opportunity to play, to learn, to worship and to love as well as to toil, and the respon- 15 upon government or society to see that these conditions and opportuni- ties prevail ourth. Industry, eficiency and in erary Gems tined to play a conspicuous pari in national affairs.. Among them were Carl Schurz, William M. Evarts and ‘Pig Iron” Kelley, of Pennsylvania. The opposiug candidates prepared ong letters of acceptance. Lincoln hiad already recognized the wisdom of reticence. The night of his nomina- tion, standing in his own doorway, he told those who demanded a speech: “The {ime comes upon every man when it is best to keep his lips closed. That time has come to me.” Hence his letter of acceptance was the briefest ever written by a prest dential candidate: “The declaration of principles which accompanies your letter meets my ap- proval, and it shall he my care not to violate it or disregard it in any way or part. Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and with due re- gard for the views and feelings of all who were represented in the conven- tion, to the rights of all the states and territories and people of the na- tion, to the inviolahility of the Con stitution and the perpetual union of prosperity and harmony of all, T am most happy to co-onerate for the prac- tical succes of the principles - de- clared hy fhe convention. Your ohliged friend and fellow citizen A. LINCOL What Chesterton has written is true of Abraham Lincoln: “A sane man is one who can have tragedy in his heart aud comedy in his head itiative, wherever found, should be ems couraged and adequatcly rewarded and indolence, indifference, restriction of production should be discounten- anced means for uncovering grievance promptly adjusting them is of mental importance to the successful nduct of industry Sixth. The most potent measure in bringing about industrial he and prosperity is adequate represent tion of the parties in interest; ing forms of representation should be carefully studied and availed of far as they may be found to merit and are adaptable to the peculiar conditions in the various indusiries. “Seventh. The application of rrinciples never fails to effect 1z lations; the letter killeth and spirit maketh alive; forms are v secondary, whilo attitude and are all-important, 2nd only as parties in industry are amn the spirit offair play and brotherhood, will any plan may mutualiy worl out succeed “Eighth. That m greatest social serviee erates in the organizatior as to afford to the largest num men the greatest opportur development and the « cvery man of those benefits cwn work adc ta the vation.” Lest it be thought thi feller is merely a soft-sp let it not be forgotten that he is head of the big Colorado ¥uel and Iron Company which is doing so mu its crployes. and that J., and everywhere else wher Standard Ol Company donditions similar to and lren C pan Stamping Out Anarchy The step in advance of all captains of industry which Mr. Willys has just taken by making his employes his actual partners will no doubt far toward neutralizing the venom in the fang of the more rabid Reds in this country. A great deal has already been accomplished in this respect the Fords. the Calloways, the Hersh eys, the Lesters, the Harrima John H. Pattersons, the,K George Veritys:and sgveral other‘enlightened and far-seeing capitalists.’ If other em ployers ‘show an even approximately conciliatory spirit such as theirs, the chances are'that tHe fang of anarchy will quickly be extracted altogethe and capital and labor be allo g0 arm in.arm, unmolested. in triumphal march toward a country de reign’ of prosperity and happt. ress. And, with the prestige and cendancy which America has ac in world politics Anifile soon become whole and the condition be improved = ifth. The provision of adcquate