The herald., 1898-04-14

labor problem Is on the road to solu-
tion is the fact that never before has
1t been the subject of such intense
anxious and universal discussion. over
this problem, in some form or otner'
economists, statesmen and phiiahthro-
pists worry, and the press wrangies
Some people imagine and doiefuily pro-
claim that all this ferment merely
proves that the labor problem is get
ting farther and farther away from
solution. On the contrary Ierment 10
the sign of progress. In emma ana IN
dia they have not even reacheo the
stage of having a labor problem at all.
But what is this labor problem, any
way, may be asked? Commonly we
hear it described as the problem OF
how to suppress strikes. ana lock up
strike leaders: how to put down riots,
how to make laborers contented for
evermore with what they now get, ana
so on.
Such a definition is idiotic, and to ad-
here to it is only to hasten the day OF
possible social revolution. Strikes
and riots are the manifestations of a
genuine problem, which must be
reached at the base. Sitting on the
safety valve never yet kept the steam
inside a boiler. The labor problem Is
the problem of how to improve the ma
terial and social condition of the wage
earners, who are a large majority Of
us all. How to enable the workingman
to raise his standard of life, broaden
his social relations, educate his chill
dren, enjoy more leisure, provide for
emergencies and old age without long
years of stinting and sacrifice; how to
guard him from enforced idleness; in
short, how to increase his share of ma
terial we'll ll-being,-this is the labor
problem.
1t is acutest in England and the
United States, and these countries
have done the most for it's solution.
Efforts to deal with it have been both
public and private. On the one hand
we have had a long line of factory
regulations and short hour laws; on
the other, numerous individual expert
ments by large minded employers, in
terested in labor's welfare and anxious
to apply progressive ideas in q practical
way.
1t will be interesting to look, for
moment, at one of these private expert
ments. I refer to the system of labor
insurance and pensions adopted by Mr..
Alfred Dodge in his large felt-making
establishment, employing some 900
hands, at Dolgeville, New York.
This is not a profit-sharing scheme.
Mr. Dodge recognizes the fact that
profits are distinctly the employers
income, determined by economic law;
and hence that any plan of sharing
nrlv
good will or philanthropy of individ-
uals. and cannot be made a perma-
nent. self-working part of the wage
system. Between 1880 and 1880 Mr..
Dodge experimental with various forms
of profit sharing. but, in the latter
year, abandoned them all and estab-
lished his present famous system OF
pensions and life insur aace. which he
calls earnings sharing" The extra
allowances to his employees under this
system are to be regarded merely as
another form of wages. They are not
taken out of wages. however, but are a
definite addition to what the employees
regularly receive for their services.
The system has three distinct fea-
lures: life insurance, endowment and
pension.
The life insurance plan is this: Every
employee entering the service at any
time under 80 years of age. who has
served five years continuously after
the age of q, is entitled to life in
surance policy of $1,000. and after ten
years of service a second policy for
81 900. on both Of which the firm pays
the premium. Employees entering the
service between 22 and rs years of age
are entitled to a third policy, of $1,000.
after fifteen years of continuous SER
vice. Those entering when between 81
and So years of age receive only one
policy, after five years; and those who
are 36 or over when employed receive