The Hawaiian gazette., 1899-09-01
AynplSa sim,kts

/ The fenhffifahla failfuad has ~
Las, adopted an enociual plan TO pre-.
vent strikes Tho plan has been
gradually approached through the rule
of the company. enforced for some
years. that n competent employee
should not be discharged. unless there
was reason for q which the en-.
ployees generally would approve. An
Employees Relief Fund was created
some years ago, which was supplied
I by the employees alone. There has
now been established a Pension Fund
] from which every employee. who has
reached the age Of seventy years will
be allowed sum measured by The
average wages he received, and his
length Of service. The annual cos,
to the company will be about 5000 600
year or the interest on s7000.eoo.
The New York Central Railroad Com
pany adopted a scheme similar to this,
some years ago. and the employees en-
gagged in the running Of cars do not
strike.
But this Pension Fund was not prac-
ticable until the railroads were in the
hands Of competent men. and, what
is OF more importance. the idle. dis
sipated and incompetent employees had
been gradually weeded out
The Pennsylvania company long ago
gave up the prevalent idea that the
cheapest labor was the best. II requir-
ed competent men. and paid them good
and steady wages. II could have OBJ
tanned numbers. without limit, OF
European immigrants, at one-half the
cost OF what Is paid to competent men.
The men who managed its affairs, as
sisted by the advice of scholars, and
students, determined that the only way
20 prevent strikes was TO make it for
the interests of the workmen not to
strike. This wisdom in dealing with
the labor question could not be fol-
lowed by the mere speculative holders
Of railway securities. The men who
are rushing madly after fortune are
rarely long headed. They hear no
sound but the rafting of the dice OF
speculation. and lose their heads and
their humanity while they rise in the
balloon of prosperity. When men have
had experience, and are lucky enough
to understand economic laws, that is,
are careful students of the social life,
they detect the wastefulness of selfish
ness. and the abiding profit in Great
ing q common interest among all who
are engaged In any industrial enter
prise.
There Is a large number of intelli-
gent workmen on the Mainland who
are always ready to strike. and there
are as many more VINO are never ready
to strike. This difference in attitude
towards employers is entirely due to
the personal factor in each case, the
intelligence and temperament of the
employees.
The experience and example of the
Pennsylvania company should have
great value here. in regulating the re-
lations of laborers and their en-
ployers.
As these relations at present are, to
a considerable extent, those arising out
of the barbarism of the penal contract
system, the new and most judcious
arrangements, coming with new laws
and new conditions, should be arrang-
ed after careful study so as to fore
stall strikes. Whether the contract
purchase plan will establish and keep
harmony between the laborer and the
mill owners remains to be seen. II Is
the natural, fair, and most satisfac-
tory one that can be made, and will
unquestionably work well on a rising
market for sugar. The test Of its value
will be seen in q falling market. In
derneath any scheme for the settle
ment OF labor conflicts are the land and
the home questions. If the instinct for
the ownership OF Rand and a home
could be pulled out of these lmmi-
grant laborers, just as teeth are pulled
out, 1t would avoid some of the causes
for dissatisfaction and disturbance. o
The problem is to establish perma-
nont harmony between laborer and
employer. The Pennsylvania company
has adopted one way Of doing IT,
4 WISE MINISTER.