The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-12-01
SHAll'E|R !|||i / | L: OF PROFIT pro FIJI
A GOOD MAN AND THE INDUSTRIAL
SETTLEMENT HE FOUNDED.

Where Men Who Work Are Held In
the Highest Esteem, Receive the
I Value Of Their Labor and Live
Like Human Beings-The Father
of Profit Sharing In America
4. \ True Believer in Man.
j. Probably the first and best known at
tempt in this country to establish a
! closer relation between labor and CAPT.
tai through generous concessions on
the part OF the latter is that which is
symbolized in the village of Leclaire,
Ills. 1t was named 50 from the French
socialist, whose bust in bronze adorns
the village school house. The founder
of this settlement is a Norseman, Nell
son O. Nelson, and here he has set up
some acres Of shops for the making of
| plumbers supplies and mantels. The
company which bears his name has
it's offices in st. Louis, in large, COM
1nonplace building, and Leclaire is 1S
or 20 miles away.
I" Mr.. Nelson, who is still in the prime
of life,' yet bears the distinction of be-
ing ''the father of profit sharing in
America" He is an out and out So
lcialist. Probably more than any other
man he is responsible for the many
1devices that progressive and liberal
employers have adopted to gain. the
better will Of their working forces.
Leclaire is not a commune, though it
is an industrial settlement. 1t is in a
green, pleasant, rolling country, where
| they say the nights are always cool,
where they have no mosquitoes, no
malaria, motor the rest read the card
of any real estate dealer, whether in
Cape Nome or Havana. You leave the
/ cars at a station called Edwardsville.
The town Of that name lies on the left
Of the track and has 5000 people and
| 20 saloons, while Leclaire, on the right
of the track hasn't a saloon. Ed
lWardsville is accounted right smart
little place, with so much culture that
neighbors drive in to see it, yet Le-
claire easily outdoes it. There is more
wealth in one block of Edwardsville
than in nearly all Leclaire, yet in the
latter village you see not single
| rickety' shed, not an unpainted house,
not weed filled yard, not a rutted
road, not board fence plastered with
aged circus posters and medicine signs.
It is all unpretentious, but charmingly
neat. Excepting. a couple of miners,
who dig coal in a hole across the way,
1.-THE people Of Leclaire are all in the
onpnnx a.
not to ainig aned from this that CO.
ercion is used to make the brass mold
ers, carpenters. machinists, marble
savers and the others live there. Quite
the contrary. -, F..
There is not room for nalf of them,
and the others have to live in more or
binary quarters, that they find in Ed
| wardsville. Rents are low. From Sc
to SO month is asked for neat cot
tage that is kept in excellent repair
and supplied with running water and
electric light free of charge. The lawn,
| before it is trimmed every week by the
company, and the streets are sprinkled
every day. Furthermore, through the
good offices of Mr.. Nelson, the dwellers
| in Leclaire enjoy especially easy terms
| in the matter of railroads fares. The
| round trip to st. Louis costs stranger
$3.50, but any worker in the Nelson
shops may go to the city and back for
SO. cents. Were it not that the founder
of the colony is everywhere, esteemed,
a concession like this would never have
been secured. But one hears nothing
except praise for him, no matter how
heartily the man who admirs him may
| disagree with his economic theories.
The brakemen on the trains exclaim,
''There's a man for you!" and washer
women say, "Sure he's the poor peo-
pies friend.''
| There is no self seeking on the found
er's part in this experiment in altru-
ism. He believes thoroughly in his
people; believes thoroughly in men. He
satisfaction in it that so many folks
take in being bad. When objection
was made to a family that. had just
come into the, village, he said, "1f
these people are good, we want them,
and if they are bad We'll make them
BETTER
| Though his own house is the largest
in the place, it is hardly distinguished
from the others. 1t is plain, but COM
Portable. It has flowers and shade,
and of every other dwelling in Leclaire
one may say the same In rose time
| the air is heavy with the scent Of
thousands of blossoms. In laying out
Leclaire a: departure was made from
the conventional in that the roads
curve like those in parks instead of
bolting into the distance by the
straight way. The effect of a walk, as
fresh vistas open before the stranger,
is charming. Partly surrounding the
village is farm which has been oper-
ated as a department of the Nelson
companys industries, like the, brass
foundry and the planning MILL the
farmers receiving wages and sharing
profits also and the produce being sold
in part at especially low prices to the
villagers. These acres are in splendid
yield, but this season the experiment
has been made of renting them to out
siders, the company proffting by the
certainty of rental. It is said that the
company will resume. the management
Of the farm next season, but its dis
continuance, even for a single year,
suggests inquiry whether the socialis-
tic phase of Leclaire's Industries is so
Thoroughly indorsed by those who
profit by it as the founder hopes it Is.
| There has never been a strike in the
Nelson shops. But here is a remarkable
4 81