St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-06-23
THE DOLCE PRINCIPLE.

THE DOLCE PRINCIPLE.
Among the American exhibits at the
Paris exposition there is said to be none
which eXcites more universal interest,
or provokes more general comment and
discussion, than the ALFRED Dodge
exhibit, showing the system of the dis
tribution of the savings at the Dodge
vile factories. DOlgeville, the seat
of the largest felt factories in this coun-
try, is 22O miles north of New York
City, in the Mohawk valley. and just at
the base of the Adirondack mountains.
This little community has history OF
unusual interest, because its rise and
growth eXemplify the practical appll-
cation of the DOLCE principle for har-
monizing labor and capital, which is as
unique as it has been successful.
ALFRED DOLCE, the founder of Dodge
VILE. the originator of the DOLCE labor
principle, and to-day the largest felt
manufacturer in the world, is Ger
man, who came to the United States in
1871 a penniless young man. Mr..
DOLCE was a believer in the basic
idea that manufacturers will eventually
make all their employees partners In
their business, and when he secured the
cooperation of some friends who had
capital in establishing small felt
factory near Little Falls he established
it on this principle.
lnthe beginning, however, Mi. DOLCE
discarded the idea of profit sharing. and
in this his principle is unique. He holds
that profit sharing is misnomer, as
there can be no such thing as profit i'll
legitimate industry. Everything is
earnings, and his method was to pay to
each man his earned share of the in
creased value of the goods manufact-
ured or sold. The question Of how to
secure just distribution of earnings
was the problem that Mr.. Dodge found
most difficult to solve; but as his bust
ness increased and his factories were
enlarged he continued to give diligent
study to this subject, and has at last
succeeded in reducing it to
system which promises to revolu-
tionize the relations existing be-
tween capital and labor. At first it
necessitated somewhat complicated
system of bookkeeping, as well as close
personal attention to each department..
to trace exactly how much more each
man earned than he received, so that he
could justly and fairly divide the share
of the savings which properly belonged
to each employe. He also early recog-
nized that it is the result of the exertion
of brains, much more than muscular
force, which builds up successful
business enterprises; therefore it sug-
gested itself to him as being a
matter of great impol lance that the
workingmen whom he had taken into
his partnership with him should be ed
ucated to use their brains as we'll as
their hands in their work; and to this
end one of his first endeavors was to es-
tablish a system Of education in the
community that would be equal to the
requirements Of his colony. He did not
think it essential. as the heads OF most
business establishments do, that all the
brains should be concentrated in the
head of the firm. The Dodge idea is
one of brain distribution. More than
that, he embraced the doctrine that if
the employer has the brains and the
employees the muscle only, still there
should be a fair and just distribution OF
the earnings which could only be
gained by union of their respective
mental and physical forces. Mr..
DOLCE does not claim to enforce this
idea from purely pnilanthropic motives,
but frankly asserts that is founded OH
profound belief in human selfshness.
In the DOLCE system each laborer re-
ceives fixed wages, which are sufficient
to assure him comfortable living. In
addition to that, he receives such pro-
portion of the annual earnings of the
business as is considered by the head
of the firm to be his just share. Then
there is a certain fund set apart to main
tain schools for the benefit of the whole
community. Then there is a public
park containing 14O acres, and club
house, built at cost Of $4,000, contain
ing a stage, bowling alley, library and
billiard room for the purpose of giving
the workingmen meeting place where
they can meet socially. Each employe
is helped to buy his home by paying in
monthly installments of $40 each. Then
there is life insurance plan, by which
each employee who has for five consecu-
tive years been in the employ of the
firm is entitled to paid-up life insur-
ance policy of $1,000, and at the expira-
ton of the tenth year of steady employ
ment to another $1,000 policy. There is
also pension law which makes provis-
ion for the sick. disabled and aged. A
continuous service of ten years in the
employ of the firm entities an employee
to retire on pension equivalent to half
pay if he desires to do so.
Thus by cultivating the spirit of mu-
tuality and by proper exercise of the
sense of justice and fair dealing, there
has grown up at the foot of the Adj
rondacks community that is model
in human government, and more nearly
approaches the ideal conditions of an
Utopian dream than anything that has
yet existed in reality. It is one great,
big family with a thousand heads, that
live and work in perfect harmony. The
inhabitants know neither sorrow nor
want. and to them socialism and an
archy are indeed strangers. 1t is no
wonder that the DOLCE exhibit at Paris
attracts so much attention.
BURsTED BOOMS.
BOoms in the growth of communities