The evening world. Newspaper, November 1, 1919, Page 13

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1919 Yonkers Co. Bonus Plan To 5,000 Gives $500,000 Annually | Carpet Employees Employees of Alexander Smith & Sons Company Receive From 5 to 15 Per Cent. Bonuses, Based on Length of Service-—Employees of One Year's’ Service Are Paid Semi-Annually 5 Per Cent. of Their Yearly Earnings—Bonus Increased One, Per Cent. a Year Up to Ten Years’ Service,| When 15 Per Cent. of Annual Wage Is Paid.| Ninety Per Cent. of the 5,000 Employees, Two- Thirds of Whom Are Women, Draw Bonuses | Feb. 1 and Aug. 1- jo Labor Trouble in 33 Years—Pension Fund Provides for Old Em- ployees With 25 Per Cent. Amount of Last! Annual Earnings. The Evening World to-day prints the sivth article of a series deal- ing with Profit Sharing and Co-operative Plans of big companies of the country which are working on the problem of industrial unrest. The articles are written by Martin Green, a stag correspondent of The Bvening World, after a thorough investigatgon. The experiments are wholly dijferent in scope and application and should prove of intercst to Gl employers and cinpivyecs. The Evening World believes that there are many employers of labor whose methods of sharing profits with their employees are not generally known hear from those employers. This paper would like to By Martin Green (Special Staff Correspondent of The Evening World.) | Copyright, 19) cerns and sharing of profits between employers and ¢ by ‘The Press Publishing Co, (The New York Evening World.) ployees are Cerna management of mercantile and manufacturing con- not confined to the Middle West, although that section of the country has enjoyed such phenomenal industrial growth in the past twenty wears and production there is so largely guided by young, virile, progressive—in many instances almost radical executives that advanced methods of deal- | ‘ting and mercantile centres, Labor ing with the labor problem, thriving in new soil, as it were, have attained | id abo d conspicuous prominence in the Great Lakes region and in the Mississippi | vay ddohittetit! bak hd eS tid Et and Ohio River valleys. Down here in the conservative in- dustrial surroundings of New York and New England there are numerous old concerns which, unaided by “ser- viee managers” or “employment ex- perts” or “efficiency engineers,” have worked out, within their own organi- zations and through c@ntact with thetr own shop or mill conditions, plans of mutually satisfactory profit sharing in one form or another. An example is the Alexander Smith & Gons Carpet Company of Yonkers, the largest carpet and rug manufac- turing concern in the world, which d@ivides about $500,000 a year among its employees under a bonus system. In a mid-Western city or town the Smith carpet industry would be a dominant factor in civic life, with its 5,000 employees and its four great plants and its world-wide distribu- tion of finished goods. It is, indeed, quite an institution in the busy city ot Yonkers, but in the great circle of metropolitan industry, spreading out from Manhattam Island, it is simply one of many gigantic hives contrib- uting to the prosperity and impor- tance of the most populous and most productive community on the globe. DEMAND FOR LABOR GREATER THAN SUPPLY. In this connection there arises op- portunity for comment on a situation which confronts the management of large factories in Greater New York and adjoining manufacturing cities ‘The diversity of industry in the metropolitan district makes for a demand for labor far in excess of the supply. The Morning World, which fs the labor demand and supply ba- rometer for this part of the country, carried on Thursday, Oct. 29—a nor- mal day—28% columns of “ Help Wanted" classified advertise~ ments. About three columns called for wtenographers, bookkeepers Nd | creased production, other girls and women quwalified by education or training for positions requiring acquired skil! or experi- ence. Only two columns were quired for presentation of demands for women houseworkers, The same edition of The Mo World carried 32 1-2 columns of “Male Help Wanted” classified. ad- vertising, about one-third of which called for men possessing special qualifications in trades or occupa- ions. “Situations Wanted, Female” | took up but two and a half column! and similar space sufficed for “Situa- tions Wanted, Male.” Men and women seeking jobs utilized five col- umns of classified advertising space | and employers seeking men and| women and boys and girls paid for 61% columns, The discrepancy be- tween supply and demand is more marked than the bare figures of col- umns used indicates, because numer- ous employers called for more than one worker, while each of the “Situa tion Wanted” advertisements called for but one job. So, in this section—and to a lesser degree in Chicago, Cleveland, Cin- cinnati, Pittsburgh and other cities | have recently visited—there are open, approximately speaking, by deduc- tion from the class'fied employment advertising barometers, twelve jobs for each person out of employment, exclusive strik who are idle from choice, Such a condition breeds uneasiness in the ranks of all classes of labor and inereases the bane of the lives of employers, “labor tyrn- over,” which means the ghifts arising | from employees leaving a plant to earn better wages or experience changed working conditions and the necessity of replacing these em- ployees. It follows that in addition to in- made necessary Two Minute Speec hes For Busy Men Covrrunt, By Matthew J. Epstein At a Banquet. Ladies and Gentlemen We are gathered to-night at the festive table to cat and make merry, You ought not to be dis- turbed by any one speaking to you. It may make you uncom fortable to listen, it will not hep you to dige better, bul, un- pleasant as it may be to you, how mush more so must it be to me You ut least may listen or not as you wish, If you do not care for the speaker you may think of th good things you had to Whereas 1 cannot enjoy my meal because I knew that 1 would be called upon to speak That is enough to spell any one's pleas- ure, Still here 1 am and I must make the best of the’ situation, What “shall I say? You know the pure pose that brings us here It isa time ef rejoicing, a time of glad- ness, We eat and we talk and we age at peace with the world, It 1919, by ‘The Press Publishing Co, (The New York Kvenlag World.) is a time to forget ills and troubles is a time to get us away n ourselves, our trials and our tribulat and break bread in good fellow But even an occasion like this lends itself to a ent of (hought, While we dining and felicitating other let us pause and think of others Let us think of some who are not gracing our table, Lot us think f some who in the nature of ngs cannot be and We are to-n iis ‘Vine povt low, ths poet comms pouple, spok Wisely when he wrote those simple lines: Whene'er a noble deed is wrought, Whene'er is spoke a noble thought, Our hearts, in glad surprise To higher levels ri Let us, at this time, think of those who are not as fortunate as we are, Let us think who through accident or « cannot be carefree and happy a8 We are night. And let us all, by act or by deed or by thought try to make the burden of life of some unfortunate a little easier to bear, so that this world, hard though it may some- times seom, will, because of us, become a better place to live in T thank you. P. | A $500,000 OLO AGE PENSION OF 25% OF LAST YEARS. SALARY On ETIREMENT | by the disruption of industry during the war and the present shortage of labor, employers are faced by the ne- cessity of stabilizing their working staffs—keeping their workpeople con- tented with thelr jobs, and this is par- ticularly true in populous manufac- shortage has hampered employers in twelve yedrs and has inspired the adoption of many ideas lookins to stabilization of employment which | ate not matters of public knowledge The reader has been told that the Smith Carpet Company em- ploys 5,000 persons in Yon: kers plants. The business re- quires for the production called for by its trade a staff of 7,500 workers and the management is reaching out for 2,500 additional employees to be taken on as the business recovers from the effects of the war. Outside the trade it is net known that the Smith con- cern practially dropped the man- ufacture of carpets and rugs when the United States declared war on Germany. All the resources of the business were turned over to the Government. | Under the supervision of the exccu tive staff of the company the mills Bonus Melon Served Annually to Employees CUTTING A YEARLY MELON O $500,000 FoR EMPLOYEES, BYEARS SERVICE 47% vor were devoted to the manufacture of | blankets and duck for the army, the navy and the military and naval hos- | pitals, The four plants worked night and day. Every employee who could be utilized in the blanket and cloth Production activities was retained, | and the bonus system, which was In- | augurated in 1911, was continued dur- ing the war period. Changing back | to pre-war conditions, the Alexander Smith & Co, industry is gradually ap- proaching its old pre-eminent posi- tion ip the trade, NO LABOR TROUBLE IN THIRTY- THREE YEARS. | The Smith factory has had no labor trouble aince 1986. The relations be- tween the management and the working staf have always been cor- dial and, to @ great extent, as de- tween the management and the older eriployees, almost intimate, But as the concern grew and the working staff increased, the percéntage of in- dividual contact between employer and employee decreased and about ten years ago the managemont found that steps should be taken to bring the great working machine into some sort of partnership with the capital invested in the busin Various plans were considered and it was decided in 1910 to adopt the bonus system, This was inaugurated by the payment, semi-annually by check, to each employee who had been with the company ten years or more, 10 per cent, of his or her yearly | salary, exclusive of shop bonuses for work or pay jFnployees who had been with the m more than five years and less than ten years were paid a bonu: cent the amount of their | special 5 per on ual wages. | The plan has been revised from time to tima It is now worked out Jon a graduated percentage basis, as | follows: Employees of one year’s stand- | ing are paid, semi-annually, 5 per | cent. of their yearly rnings. The bonus is increased 1 per cent. a year up to ten years, Second year employ: receive 6 per cent., third year employees 7 per cent. and on until the | class of ten years’ service or more is reached, and employees in that | class receive @ ch year @ bonus | for overtime. | | | The Driving Power. “RIBS ago, @ wood-boring C beetle attacked a Landolphia The bectle bored into the tree, | the tree emitted a poisonous julee, the juice Killed the beetle, Then mor | Sap filled the hole nade by the beetle and tho sap coagulated. Some jalf- Indian, half-Negro savage carelvasly’| took hold of some of it, rolled it in the palm of his hands into the shape fa ball and discovered that it was | lighter and bounced better than hi est balls. Such was the first rubber article and such was the begining of the rubber industry, i Somewhat less than a hundred years ago, Charles Goodyear was ex-| perimenting with the rubber of his| day which had but barely advanced (vom the stage of the gum ball, He vas imbued with the conviction that | rubber could be made a staple ms rial of industry. Disappointment whipped the stuff- ing out of his body but it could not Jaunt his hopes, it could not down his spirits, Confidence in his mission, | in his methods, created an unquench- | able faith, His faith created courage which braved conflict an‘ instilled | determination which could uot but} spell victory He was standing near a hot stove, holding in his hand a compound of | sulphur and rubber gum, atr ving with his heart and soul to convince a group of hard-headed businessme of the possibilities of the raw product In the heat of his argument, he waved his arms about, bringing his crude rubber into contact with the| red-hot stove, To his overwhelming amazement, his compound did not in the least melt; it only charred, as |\eather does—and there was not a spot upon it that was sticky But in Goodyear's hours of despair, and there were many, it was self- confidence that sustained him and | restrained him from giving up. It was self-confidence that was his fountain of everlasting force and hope. It Was self-confidence and the de- termination to see his product |through that metamorphosed _ bi crude gum into modern, monster, man-made air vehicles of 15 per cent. of the amount of their annual pay. It i# self-confidence that te the ‘driving power, the fuel of success, | years. dipud| come of th earnings with are a the p While up to date and a littl be- ‘Your Sweethearts’ ‘ oJ Copyright, 1019, by The Pres Publishing Co. (The New York Rvening World.) E. L. K—Modest, kindly, lovable|for present success, Too careless wife, but needs initiative. and “unsystematic. Optimistic, to i Beeas Site t too) Mart with, but eusily discouraged eae . hf i + on a Lacks force. Not quite frank. communicati evel heade ve fined. Neat. Sympathetic, but not|.,%, 2: 8: M-—Careless, good heart. carried away by emotions wife. defict €. fined. a. love, of F. that intel A. u there him. don't ED his present fatigue shows some luck pe honest, espec K, D will disappear, h, | hearted. @ Wage Pro b ce pa lem American Girl First To Greet Pope Benedict Without Traditional Mantilla THREE GENERATIONS WORKING IN CONTENTMENT TRE PLANT is Conyriatt M iss G an recently, Sheridan, wearing a K 0. by The Prem Publishine GRAND RATHER of C. out ® mantilla covering the face, a Sheridan teil the story herself. “Of course I was very anxious to obtain an audience with Pope Bene- dict" said) Miss Sheridan at her home, “i had heard that a letter of Introduction was all that was neces- sary-—In fact, that he is easier to see than the President or some of our busy New York men, I knew a K C. man and an Austratian soldier who were to have an audience, ao | went along with them Hut when I | stood In Iino with a number of others and glanced at all the women | felt | y much out of place, ot very woman and even the young girls wore @ long mantilia, These mantilias are made of lace, and they are draped over the head tn much the |for an outaider to get into the gen- leral offices as it is to get into the White House Solid, substantial old lomce furniture: solid, substantial ex ecutives and clerks, who have grown “Phen a door opened and I forgot all about myself, Two guards came for- the He Pope was clad in a white which carries on throughout tho @s- tabliahment. MANY EMPLOYEES LONG SERVICE OF COMPANY. The payroll carries many veterans. audience, Ih An audience with the Pope IN | were present folt solemnity of it all, emony 1 will tell you about myself I have been told by good authority that all at these public audiences must attend in ‘formal dress.’ It was explained later that an unusual he or had deen conferred because for the Employees leaving because of | to be filled out with such answers as ility or old age are paid an In-| relate to the Smith scheme, for the amounting to about 26 per cent,| company believer that the spread of © amount of their last annuai| knowledge about plans for bringing the company. Thore|emplovyera and workmen — cloner bout fifty retired employees on together in their shop relations will ward and justin back of them followed) hands with any one during a public) Me a very serious affair and all who! the dignity and] :__, | Gladys Sheridan, a Knights of Columbus Interpreter, | Shatters Vatican Precedents and Greets the Venerable Pontiff in “Casey” Uniform. By Fay Stevenson. Company (The Now York Hrening World.) DYS SHERIDAN of Elmuurst, L. 1, an interpreter for the Knights of Columbus In France, had a novel experience at the Vath where she was presented to Pope Benedict. uniform, went to Rome and came upon @ party of tourists about to gain an audience with Pope Benedict covered, however, that no women are allowed to attend an audience with- She dis- nd having no mantilla—but let Mise | first t | ton of dress’ wa: * in many years the tradie what conforms to ‘formal wvertuled, When Pope Ben- vdict reached my side a guard While pered, "This is an American girl,’ and | the Pope smiled and said somethin, | a very soft vel o me in Latin. am able to speak French and Span+ ish, but f do not understand Latin, | 1 was bleased and I kissed his ring, 0 j that 1 glad ft had not been | (rightene decause I did not have a mantill: “And even if you had worn the mantilla you would not have been In formal dress,’ for you spoke of all | young gitls wearing white,” I suge | weated. | “That is porfectly true, No doubt I |#hould have been more out of place |than In just my uniform, for then IE whould have been neither one thi vr the other, As it was [ think tl fasion of a bridal veil, One of the| probably no one but the little lady | women whispered to me that I was|Hext to me worrled over my Ppp | very much out of place in my un}- bcm fA ag ong othey | yond in its product and manufac ur- | form, She told me to look at the| event 1 do not think a uniform | ing methods, the Alexander am th A other women in the party and judg | should Pop one from his or her . | Sons Carpet Company is an old-fash~ t older |ligton, but, of course, I appreciate the lioned establishment in its outward |fOF myself, It was true; alt the older | ito? that waa bestowed UpOn me Janpects,. It was founded in 1814 und! women were dreaved in black and the|anq if I ever had another audiences |incorporated jn 1872. There are 00) young girls in white. My uuiforni| with the Pope [ should prefer to be sina on the outer walls of the mls. Woe t very sharp contrast, and stiti|dressed for the occasion instead Of | Veteran watehmen guard the Kates rs : J w x the ‘Casey’ untform.” Joi the plants and {t js almovt as hard) something told me to stay if you were in Roma asain under just the same conditions and could not obtain a white dress and « Jace mantilla, rather than miss an audience with the Pope you would go " n your uniform, wouldn't you? — UP in the service of the sem and prt | broadcloth cassock. When he entered | asked. form heir juties quietly a ie ve a! r Indeed 1 ould,” responded itth Ma e knelt, I wish to state decidedly would,” resp clently, ive to the entrance to the w hertd oe - pe of | f bstantial atmonphere| that Pope Benedict goes not shake| Mise Sheridan. her ble blue eyes | mills a solid, au be. codes very accion and thoughtful, “for I thoroughly believe . Who shawn to bead and not the hesrt Ta on ascetic but (a part, “And, after all, my uniform had very I'ttle to do with tt. It ts the spirit we go in that cow In the Beginning only about 1,000 tributed to its employees the work: | One of the mont active employees han] “Ay we knelt Ina line Pope Bene- —_————— employees benefited by the plan -|ing staff being at that time smalicr| been with the gmiths for more than} 9.1 ay 90 per cent, of the employces | than it is to-day—the sum of $215,000 | nrty years. ol Mave beon in the| dict came around to each one of us. The Red Flag. draw down their bonuses on February |n checks of varying sizes, and thw| mille for more than forty years.| He is very gentle and kind to all and | E have been ve h }1 and Augus: 1 of each year, Allem-|Mmoncy went Into the savings banks. | Numorous employees have seen from! stops long enough for every one to 3} ry much cone |ployees share, from the highest paid) Ue building and loan associations! qwenty to forty ye service. Fathers y something to him, Some tell of cerned of iate with the Red |to the humbleet beginner, About |and the stores cf Yonkers and viein-| hav@ taken their sons and daughters g fing. Emerging from four two-thirds of the employees are ity. With the increase of the working | {nto the Smith mills and the sons and | thelr troubles and others ask for his) years of chaotic borror we thought women or girls » than two- |Stait indcated by the present recov- | daughters have, in turn, sent thelr} ptessing. A few words are exchanged | to tak |thirds of all employees cre more or|ery of tho business from war con-| children to work side by side With) 114 the whole ecene is very quietin: ‘0 tke up again the level, normal less Ned people. The wage ditions the payment on D. 1, 1920, | grandfather, Book records of the em- | 4° y quieting | trend of Ife where we had left off. cale ig generous andthe Smith car-, Will bring the distribution for the] ployment at one time of three genera-| and Impressive to one coming from! But another upset confronts us; & pet factory empioyees are among the ora ty up to or beyond a total | tions of a family are not hard to find.| the cares of the outside world, The] jabyrinthian tangle of conditions most prosperous of the home owning | Of $600.0 | The company maintains no rec- Vatican itself is filled with a quiet- working people of Yonkers, which A feature of the bonus plan is rational “her routine welfare ling calining lntiuences with:lt, peal: Seetunarsty cites easine s borders, or close by that employees leaving the con- | aotiviti work forty: és 0 cau Fortunately this invidious embleay large manufactories em- oeen with clean records duri four houre with a & tiful tapestries and famous paintings. | is not yet aban loned to the breese. ; nds of highly paid| either of the six months’ partic: day half holiday and do Then the cool, soothing voice of the| If it waves at ail it js at night, in the specialists pation periods do not forfeit their with their own time. a dd (4 si On August 1 of this year the Alex-| fight to their dividend, For in- Sad inlury bononte Popo adds just the necessary touch | sickly light of conspiracy. Insidiously ander Smith Carpet Company dia-| stance a man earning $100 a handled by the State Compensa- | of, solemnity it carries on {ts benighted mission. = ae = ===] month quits on July 1, He has tien Fund. “Pope Benedict wore a very beau-| And may it never outgrow its incipi- earned since the Feb. 1 payment Hundred: t loyers have} tful ring, 4 large emerald surrounded | ency, for where it reigns reign Ape — —_——— five months’ pay or $500. On Aug. Hun 8 nee ‘Al herp ‘Smith & | PY diamonds, which almoat every one | urchy and terror. TWO INUT. ||| the rpecived a’ check for from 6 written to the Alexander Smith in ine party il They did not ides| “The signiticance of the Red flag ae WO M E'S}||| percent. to 18 por cont. of that | Shs Co. for details of the bonus plan.) tne “ring because it belonged to the|the Anarchist emblem has been sone 1 ees Recently the volume of inquiries has 00. th mount of bonus de- grown. When | callod yesterday an Pope wut as 4 show-| fused with red as a danger signal and OF OPTIMISM Pending on his clase based on |ereM itive vot the company had juat {OS thelr rempect,. It was an em-| various other meanings for which the . HH) ponte of, service. finished reading an involved printed | Diem of goodness and purity. After) color bas at ono time or anolber Deel By Herman Ih Stich |], SION SYSTEM IN OPERAS | form from a great English manufac- | the Pope had been to all of us and| used | TION TEN YEARS. turer who ts evidently determined to | blessed us aa jngividuale he stood in porminally the Red tas was i “i tne centre of root ve man symbol of war. Every call to In addition to the bonus plan, the| find out all he can about every bonus |i. papal benediction. arms was attended by demonstrations : company maintains a pension system | and profit sharing plan in existence, So a ee ee eee tion fonten | ie form waa turned over to a clerk | “NOW thwt | have described thecer-| with tho Red flag. And when thre great patriot who never ceased to emand that Carthage ve desuryyed rose daily for this purpose in the Homi ovnate, he oore aloft in his right hand a Red flag, Truly the Red flag ha. degenerated? ension roll. entually lead to universal public potterment. Revealed by Their Handuriting. haracteristics ' Below is given the analysis of the handwriting sent in by men and women who desire to learn more about their sweethearts, | ed, diffused ideas, kant. Appears normally healthy. Mildly ambitious. No glaring habits, but should take life more seriously, 2 honest. Extrava- jensioie Not brilliant, Dut not mentally ent: Not strikingly forceful MoB.—Excelient character. Lacks force, ‘ | P, O.—dndications are steadfast Generous. With development power, bashfulness should Re-) Ww. Aw Brooklyn—Moagre specimen shows refinement and modesty J. Ky Brooklyn—Meagre specimen merely shows head control Minnie 8, Brooklyn — Insufficient | ture. Type] Specimen indicates idealism, religion. tf women generally, but! M, Mildred H. Brooklyn—Compar- iwent wife need not ba jealous. jing your own handwriting with his, D. 8.—Friendship worth while,| would say that you might have a bai- use there is much inentality|ancing effect upon him sould you and really very litle harm in|take the chance of marrying such an Type that. is generous, but impractical dreamer w.thout optim- count upon fidelity. ism or will power, YTHE Z.—Indications are that| Ww, W., Brooklyn—As reading hand- 4 ack | writing is not fortune telling, would rseverance. Appears sincere and! merely suggest that you state your but silent. Loving, but not/Cuge to some good lawyer lally foreeful husband. LAURA B. Re-You may P. G—Rough diamond, needs! ypon him at leust tor courage bu R000, Nereus, nd! cations bi, finanelal ruc Should make good husband. | that overrides every —Affectionate is fond depend Indl- 4 Type that overrides everything and every | English Princes at Cambridge B, M.—Should judge from your own one to accomplish hin ambition. Gen. | capahle writing that you require a erous, diplomatic but absolutely cold husband with more force, Type that blooded, | depends upon others to make a liv-| a, g, Brooklyn—Insufficient speci- ing for him mon merely indicates carefree nature | w “ 8. M, R.—Too visionary and er- and love of a good time | Prince Albert and Prince Henry, two of King George's sons, have ratic to succeed at present. Not |, F., Brooklyn—Don't trust this entered Cambridge. They are her above subterfuge. man. Type not above showing girl's grounds wearing the famed Cambridge garb. D. W—Indications not favorable letters, ' ‘shown bicycling on the university