, 1886-05-30

ployer allows n laborert to say what he must 10
or have his business ruined. and tho employer
submits to it. he does every business man in
the Unitei States a wrong and yields to a
principle which, carried out, would dissolve
society. Look over your affairs and put
yourselves in imagination in your laborer's
place, and then pay him what before God
and your own conscience you think you
ought to pay him
God bless yous" are well In their place,
but they do not buy coal nor pay house rent,
nor get shoes for the children. At the same
time you. the employer, ought to remember
through what straits and strains you got thu
fortune by which you built your store or
run the factory You are to remember that
you take all the risks and the employe takes
none, or scarcely any. You ara to remem-
Der that there may be reverses in fortune,
md that some new style of machinery may
make your machinery vnlueless, or some new
tariff set your business back hopelessly and
forever. You must take all that into CON
sideration, and then pay what is reasonable.
Do not be too ready to cut down wages.
As far NJ possible pay all. and nay promptly.
There Is n great deal OF Bible teaching on
this subject. Mnlnchi: 81 will be n swift
witness against all sorcerers and against all
adulterers and against thoss who Cypress the
hireling in his wages" Lsviticus: "Thou
snnlb not keep inc NhRes Oh inc nliehhy III
night unto the morning" Colossians; "Mas-
ters, give unto your servants that which is
just and equal, knowing that We also have a
Master in heaven" So you see 1t is not n
question b tween you and your employe SO
much as 1t is a question between you and
God
Do not say TO your employees: Now, II
you don't ike this place get another, +" when
you know they cannot get another. As far
rs possible once n year visit. ut their homes,
your clerks and your workmen- That is the
only way you can become acquainted with
their wants You will by such process find
out that there is n blind parent or a sick
sister being supported. You will find some of
your young men in rooms without any fire In
winter, and in summer swelte-ing in ill-ven-
tilated apartments. You will find how much
depends on the wages you pay or withhold.
On SATURDAY, morning. when you come into
your countin room to draw the check
which will bring the money for the wages or
the salarieI, you will have n thrill of salts
faction in knowing It is not only the money
You & We to the young man. but the relief to
the d re necessities which stand back OF him.
Moreover, it is your d1ty as employer. as
far as possible, TO mold the welfare OF the
employe. You ought to advise him about
Investments. about life insurance, about saw
ings banks. You ought to give him the
benefit of your experience. There are hum
dreds and thousands Of employers in this
country and England, / am glad to say, who
are settling in the very best possible way the
destiny of their emnloyes. Such men
ms Marshall. of Leeds; Lister, OF Bradford;
Akroyd, of Halifax. and men so near at
home 1t might Offend their modesty II |
mentioned their names. These men have
built reading rooms, libraries, concert halls,
afforded croquet lawns, cricket grounds,
eymnnsiums, choral societies for their en-
p'oyes, and they have not merely paid the
wages on Saturday night, but, through the
contentmcnt and the thrift and the good
morals Of their employees, they arc paying
wages from generation to generation for
ever.
Agar, l counsel all employers to look
well after the physical health OF their sub
or linates. You are expected to understand
better than they NIL these questions of venti-
lation and sunshine, and all the laws of
hygiene.
There are stores and banking houses, and
factories and newspaper establishment
where the atmosphere is death. Your en-
ployes may always appreciate your work, as
that style of kindness was not appreciated
in the instance mentioned by Charles Reade.
where in a great factory n fan was provided
for the blowing away of the dust Of metal
and stone. the dust arising from the ma
chinery. and some of the workmen refused
to put this great fan in motion. They seemed
to prefer to inhale the 1lings-the poisonous
flings-into their lungs. But in the vast
majority Of cases your employees will appre-
ciate every kindness in hat direction.
Do not put on them any unnecessary
fatigue. never could understand why the
drivers on our city cars must stand all day
when they might just us well sit down and
drive. 1t seems to mo most unrighteous
that 30 many Of the female clerks in our
stores should be compelled to stand all day.
and through those hours when there
are but few or no customers. These
people have aches and annoyance
and WEAKNESS enough without putting
upon them additional fatigue. Unless those
female clerk, must go up and down on the
business of the store let them sit down. At
the end of the year you will find that they
have sold as many goods and made as fine
bargains, yea, better, for one clerk with a
clear brain and rested body and radiance
will sci more goods than two clerks with
heal. h elragglei.
Then ! would have you carry out this san
itary idea, and put into as few hours as pos
sib,e the work OF the day. Some time ago
whether it has been changed | know not
there were one thousand grocer clerks in
Brooklyn who went to business at 5 o'clocS
in the morning aud continued until 10 o'clock
at night Now. that is inhumnn.
II seems to me all the merchants In all de
ariment ought. by simultaneous move
ment, to come out in behalf OF the early clos
ing theory. These young men ought to have
an opportunity of going to the mercantile H.
brary, to the reading rooms, to the concert
hall, to the gymnasium, to the church.
~ -. a. - -
they have Intellectual aspirations, they
have immortal spirits, II they can do a
good round days work in the ten or eleven
hours. YOU have no right TO keep them har-
messed for seventeen. l do not think that
any INTEL gent employer can afford to b.
rcckle 5 of the physical and mental health OF
his subordinates
But above ali, | charge you, o, employers
that you look after the moral and spiritual
welfare of your employees. First. know
where they spend their evenings. That de
cides everything. You do not want around
your money drawer "A young man who went
last night TO see Jack Sheppard" A man
that comes into the store in the morning
CHASTITY with midnight revelry, is not the
man for your store The young man who
spends HI. evenings in the society of refined
women, or in musical or artistic circles. or
in literary improvement. is the young man
for your store. Without any disgusting in
quisitiveness, without any impertinence, you
ought TO have your young men understand
that you are Interested so much In their wei
fare that you want to know where they
spend their leisure hours, and they will
frankly and gladly tell you.
Do not say o. these young men: III they
do their work in the business hours, that is
all l have to ask God has made you that
mans guardian l want you to understand
that many OF thesc young men are orphans,
or worse than trphins. flung out into $
c.ety To struggle tor themselves A young