The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-11-23

Been Found 10 work BenehciaIiy.
| The Betterment of Industrial Condi-
tions. has been made the subject of an
article of which Victor H Olmsted is the
author and which has just been published
| BY the Department of Labor. Mr. olmsted
says that the various measures for the
improvement of the condition OF working
men. found in successful operation in the
establishments visited. may be summarized
| as follows;
/ Club organizations in which employees
are banded together for social, educational,
/ reereative, and other purposes incident TO
such associations.
| 3 The encouragement OF physical culture
by means Of gymnasiums, calisthenies,
| baseball bicycle, and similar clubs.
3. The improvement Of intellectual con-
ditions by means OF free lectures. Libraries,
kinderSartens, and educa tional classes
& The increasing of industrial efficiency
through Industrial schools and manual
training classes
8 The advancement of spiritual life by
means of Sunday schools and general re-
ligious work.
g. The cultivation of musical taste and
ability by means OF concerts and musical
entertainments for employees, and the en-
Z
zations among them.
= The promotion of improved social con-
ditions by means OF social gatherings sum
mer outings, meeting places, and game
rooms FOR employees, banquets. dances. etc.
s. The sharing of profits with employees.
9 The promotion Of employees per-
| sonal interest in the successful conduct
of the business by encouraging and as
1 sisting them to purchase shares in it,
| thus, in effect, taking them into partner
4 ship.
/ To- The Improvement of domestic con-
| ditions by means OF improved dwellings,
/ instruction in sewing, cooking, and house
keeping and in landscape and kitchen
/ gardening and the exterior and interior
decoration of homes
IL The care for employees health and
/ comfort by means of bathing facilities,
dining and lunch rooms. the furnishing
! of hot lunches to female employees, and
by improved sanitary. construction and ap
| pltances.
- The care OF sick and disabled en-
/ plOyes and their families BY means of free
| insurance, free medical attendance or
| hospital facilities, and by the encourage
meat of beneficial organizations.
IS. The cultivation of thrift through
! savings bank facilities, building associa-
/ tons, or provident organizations. and by
the giving OF prizes for valuable sugges
! lions OF employees and rewards for faith
! ful service or the manifestation of zeal
! and interest in their employment.
Il The rendering of financial aid to
| employees in cases of hardship or distress.
| Is. The manifestation OF interest in
> the personal affairs of individual en-
/ ployes. the cultivation OF cordial and even
! confidential relations with them, and the
promotion OF their welfare in ali posi-
( bic ways.
/ Mr Olmsted says that ali the plans
/ b.- no
tested, and are now in successful opera
sion The experience Of the employees
who have adopted such of them as the
] exigencies or the character OF their BUSH
ness would permit, proves that they are
worthy of more general adoption, not only
because of their beneficial effect upon the
/ employed but also for the reason that
/ they result in decided business improve
/ ment from a purely financial standpoint
/ stephen D. Fessenden, in concluding
very interesting and instructive article on
/ the present status OF employers liability
! in the United States says:
| Owing to the multiplicity Of the stat
| utes passed by the Legislatures Of the diff
| ferent States, together with the fact that
they are all applied and Interpreted by
/ courts composed of many different indi-
/ viduais whose intellectual faculties do not
all work in the same groove. and whose
judgments, therefore do not always coin
/ eide, and also to the further fact that in
/ no two cases are the facts precisely the
! same there is always an uncertainty as
/ to the outcome in each particular action
/ brought for the recovery Of damages for
| injuries
For the above reason it is no dogbt true
that many cases are compromised or are
! dropped altogether by employees rather
! than 10 incur the expense of a suit al
| law and to risk the uncertain outcome
| thereof; and on the other hand many en-
/ pIcvers are put to much trouble and ex
/ pense in defending suits which never
should have been brought, the employees
having, as the results demonstrated, no
legal case.
That this condition of affairs-this IN
/ certainty as TO whether the law affords a
J remedrcan ever be improved while the
| human intellect continues to be fallible
/ and the present line of legislation con-
| tinues to be followed is greatly to be
doubted and It is this fault of the law in
| its application which led to the radical
| changes in the plan OF legislation which
| have been made by Great Britain in her
recent workman's insurance against acct
dents
| whether legislation upon these lines,
! viz the making the employer responsible
for all injuries of his employees, regardless
of the question Of the employers negli-
/ g6Hc6, as mas DSSLl OoES III EHSldaO anu
I other countries, and the system OF COM
pulsory insurance of the employees against
( accidents as adopted in Germany, viii
ever be adopted in this country or not, or
| whether some other and at present
unknown remedy for the faults of the
present system viii be discovered and
formulated in legislation is a question
which the future only can determine No
special agitation toward this end has been
made in any State of the Union, nor has
any such legislation yet been enacted II
| any radical changes in the plan Of iegis-
| lation upon this subject are made it seems
most probable that they viii come through
action of the State Legislatures and not of
| the Federal Congress-.
WoMEN'S CLUBS FEDERATION.