Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-03-05

night.
GA good many things came out OF
that meeting. I can't tell you ALL
tried to talk with the men as I i'm
agined Jesus might. It was hard work,
for have not been in the habit of it,
and 1 must have made mistakes. But
can hardly make you believe, Mr.. Max
we'll, the effect of that meeting on some
of the men. Before it closed I saw more
than a dozen of them with tears on
their faces. [ kept asking, What would
Jesus do?' and the more I asked it the
further along it pushed me into the
most intimate and loving relations with
the men who have worked for me all
these years. Every day something new
is coming up, and I am right now in
the midst of a reconstructing Of the
entire business, so far as its motive for
being conducted is concerned. [ am so
practically ignorant Of all plans for CO.
operation and its application to business
that I am trying to get information
from every possible source. | have late
~ made a special study of the life of
Titus Salt, the great mill owner of
Bradford, England, who afterward built
that model town on the banks of the
Aire. There is a good deal in his plans
that will help. But I have not yet
reached definite conclusions in regard
to all the details. [ am not enough used
to Jesus methods. But see here.
Milton eagerly reached up into one of
the pigeonholes of his desk and took
out a paper.
81 have sketched out what seems to
me a programme such as Jesus might
go by in a business like r~ine. | want
you to tell me what you think about
it. >
''wHAT JESUS WOULD PROBABLY DO IN
MILTON wRIGHT's PLACE AS A BUSINESS
MAN.
"1 He wsu1d engage in business for
the purpose Of clarifying God and not
for the primary purpose Of making
money.
''2 All money that might be made
he would never regard as his own, but
as trust funds to be used for the good
of humanity.
s'3 His relations with all the per-
sons in his employ would be the most
loving and helpful. He could not help
thinking Of them all in the light Of
souls to be saved. This thought would
always be greater than his thought of
making money in business.
81. He would never do single dis
honest or questionable thing Or try in
the remotest way to get the advantage
of any one else in the same business.
F'5. The principle Of unselfishness
and helpfu1ness in all the details of the
business would direct its details
'6. Upon this principle he would
shape the entire plan of his relations to
his employees, to the people who were
his customers and to the general bust
ness world with which he was con-
nected.
Henry Maxwell read this over slowly.
1t reminded him of his own attempts
the day before to put into a concrete
form his thought Of Jesus probable &C
ton. He was very thoughtful as he
looked up and met Milton Wright's
eager gaze.
DO you believe you can continue to
make your business pay on those lines p
II do. Intelligent unselfshnoss ought
to be wiser than intelligent seifshness,
don t you think? IF the men who work
as employees begin TO feel d personal
share in the profits Of the business and.
more than that, a personal love for
themselves on the part Of the firm.
won't the result be more care, less
waste, more diligence, more faithful
ness?
Eyes; I think SO. A good many other
business men don't, do they? mean
as a general thing. How about your re-
lations to the selfish world that is not
principles Q
THAT complicates my action, of
course -
docs your plan contemplate what is
coming to be known as cooperation
Yes; as far as I have gone, it does.
AS | told you, | am studying out my
details carefully. | am absolutely con-
WINGED that Jesus in my place would be
absolutely unselfish. He would love all
these men in his employ. He would
consider the main purpose of all the
business to be a mutual helpfulness and
would conduct it all so that God s king
dom would be evidently the first object
sought. On those general principles, as
Say, L ALI WORKING. L uluSG nave G1U1o
to complete the details. -
When Henry Maxwell finally left
Milton Wright, he was profoundly i'm
pressed with the revolution that was
being wrought already in the business.
AS he passed out of the store he caught
something of the new spirit Of the place.
There was no mistaking the fact that
Milton Wright's new relations to his
employees were beginning, even so soon,
after less than two weeks, to transform
the entire business. This was apparent
in the conduct and faces of the clerks.
eff Milton Wright keeps on, he will
he one of the most influential rreacherS