St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-03-09
A Model Corporation.

country, and is approaching, in point
of care for the operatives, the we'll
known Cheneys of Manchester, Conn.
By invitation of President BarrOws of
the company, special train was
placed at the disposal of the senior
class of Yale college and the students
in the scientific and law schools. The
visit was made on Wednesday, Feb. 81,
and the following extracts are from the
New York Tribune's account:
They searched among $4,000 hum
ming spindles walked over acres of
floors thrilling with the life of busy in
dustry peeped into the library,
schOOl-rOoms and stores of the "tariff-
built fraud :" down across the tumbling
cataracts of the Willimantic river up
to "The Oaks" where two scores of
pretty cottages with gabled roofs told
of the habitations of a small fraction
of the families employed by the COM
pany, and further on, up the hills that
skirt the old borough on the west, saw
the snow glittering in the grove set
apart for the summer merrymaking of
the Willimantic cOmpany's wOrk-peO-
pie. But they found no forgotten man,
woman or child. They found instead
a wonderfully cheerful, contented,
healthy-lOOking industrial community.
Out of the senior class, numbering
l49, 130 were present out of the sci
entific school, of 40, b, and the law
students numbered about IS. They
were taken at once to the packing-rOom
of one of the mills, where they took Il
luncheon of oysters, salads, sandwiches,
fruits, cakes, ice-cream and coffee.
While they were eating, half IA dozen
young women in the employ of the
company, in white aprons lOOped up
with Yale blue distributed souvenirs
among them. The favors were neat
boxes, each containing spool of
| Willimantic thread, and bearing a la
bel: "With the compliments of the
tariff built fraud.'" They were tied
by deft fingers to the coat buttons of
the young men with blue ribbons.
Thus decorated the whole party was
divided into squads of about twenty,
and under the guidance of officers and
employees of the company the tour of
the mills was begun. The 'Dynamics"
plunged at once into the machinery,
took Indicator cards of the action of
the COrliss engines, and, under the di-
rection of Colonel BarrOws, himself a
master mechanic, examined the details
of the picking, carding, spinning and
rowing machines with evident interest
and profit.
The Academies seemed to pursue
different course that free trade was a
mere theory, and protection tangible,
substantial and generous fact they
knew the moment they found the
| lunch-rOom. The remainder of their
inquiries seemed mostly into the lus-
trousness of the eyes of some of the
young women operatives and the pret-
tiness of their teeth. One would have
thought that the only interesting ma
chimes in the mills were those whose
fair tenders had clustering "bangs,"
| bright eyes, clear compilations and
pretty smiles; and they were not a
few. 1t was very entertaining way of
studying political ecOnomy-so all ad-
mitted.
Aside from the comparative advan-
tages of protection or fee trade, this
visit of the students showed them the
workings of an interesting experiment
in the treatment of mill operatives by
their employers. Through policy for
which Colonel BarrOws claims nothing
more than that it is the wisest, most
economical and most profitable to the
company, the physical, mental and
moral health of | 800 operatives is be-
ing watched over day and night. 1t is
an effort on IA large scale to solve the
problem of the relation between en-
ployer and labOrer. Colonel BarrOws
has gone at it in Il practical, business
| like manner, bringing to the task the
knowledge of the mechanic and the
sympathy which the requirement of
that knowledge at the mechanics lathe
brought him. A college professors son,
and a man of refinement and culture,
he served his apprenticeship in the
Lowell Machine shop, worked at his
trade and learned the thoughts and
feelings of labOring men by association
with them in corporation boarding
house. The result of this cOmprehen-
sive training is seen in the theories of
mill government which he has formed,
and the manner in which he works
them out. He believes that the saneI
the bodies, minds and morals of his
work people, the better will be theiI
work. His policy is the policy of the
Willimantic Company, but it has been
enlarged so that it can said that it eX-
tends beneficial influence in the bOr-
ough through every channel usually
occupied by philanthropy and charity
The best illustration of the methods
used to this end was found to-day in
: the more recent improvements made
by the company to its property. A
new mill built in 1879 with room on a
| al
now working $1,000, was found in full
activity. Most of the operatives were
women, all of whom were tidily dress
ed, and cOntented and healthy in ap-
pearance. A fringe of growing plants
surrounded the room, over 800 feet
long and III feet wide. Into the cloak.
rooms the light fell through stained
glass and sent bands of color across
beds of tropical and rare plants all la,
belled with their names. Here in the
, forenoon for half an hour sixty child
ren, under fourteen years of age, EN-
ployed in the mill, rOmped and ate :
lunch of milk and crackers. The floor
, covered with the vast multitude of ma
: chimes, thrilled under their pulsatiOns
but did not shake, for a wise fOresigh
had put the large pulleys and shaft
which conveyed the power from the en-
gines into cement floor in the base
/ ment. 1t is better thus for the WON
E en-" said Colonel BarrOws; at keep
them well, and they make bette
thread
Across the hill stand forty cottage
built by the company. They are O
D four styles, front a winding road, ant
b for the sake of beauty, and to cultivat
- love and appreciation for it, fence
are abolished, grass plots surrOun'
them, they are painted in neutral col
= Ors /; no two that are alike, either il
| architectnre or color. are put side b.