The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-11-26
THOSE TURKEYS.
Side Lights on Wells Fargo
Gifts to Employees.
One of Them Says 1t Is Engen-
dering LII Feeling.
USED FOR ADVERTISING
At the Same Time Hires Cheap
Men.
Different View From That U.s.
l.
USED FOR ADVERTISING
Different View From That U.s.
ually Taken by Public.

Do the Wells Fargo employees appre-
ciate the generosity of the company in
giving each man a turkey with trim
mings" on Thanksgiving and Christ
mas?
1t is natural to suppose that they do,
but as a matter of fact, there are hum
dreds of them who denOunce the dona-
ton in bitter language. If the big men
In the Wells Fargo company should get
their ears down to the grass roots they
suppressed condemnation for the sup
posed kindness which annually costs
the company not less than $4,000
Strange as it may seem. the yearly
gift OF turkeys seems to be kindhng a
spirit of dissatisfaction among the men,
instead of knitting the good will of the
employees to the interests of the COM
pany. Not only in Topeka is this spirit
manifest, but all over the country, to
a greater extent in some places than in
others Topeka seems to be one of the
centers of the whirlwind of dissatisfac-
ton which is constantly growing in
strength.
Look here" said an old employee of
the company, who of course refused to
jeopardize his job by allowing his name
to be mentioned in the press, do you
know what the Wells Fargo men really
think about this turkey business? Well,
I'll tell you, and l hope that the ofii-
Gals of the company will read what l
say, and change their plans The ex-
press employees think that the free dis
tributiOn of turkeys is a gigantic adver-
Using scheme When the plan was orig
mated it may have been in good faith,
with a desire to give the men some
token of appreciation But now it is
simply a cold-blooded advertising
scheme The newspapers in the coun-
try, within the next week or two, Will
print thousands upon thousands of
complimentary items about the Wells
Fargo company, how generous they are
to their employees, and how the en-
ployes love the company, and all that
sort of stuff The company can well
afford to pay $4,000 for an advertising
scheme which Will produce such results
1t is something which appeals strongly
to the popular feeling.
But there is another side of it which
is even more important to the men on
this division L do not know how it is
on other parts of the line. but I speak
for this division in particular. The SUI
perintendent out here is a man who will
split hair at economy. He tries to
make a record with his superiors for
economical administration, and he does
it at the expense of the employees. Now
l am not saying this in my own be-
half, because / have a kind of job
that is not in much danger. l get a
good. fair salary, and am not kicking
for more. But 1 know what has hap
pened in the case of scores of good men
who have worked up in the company
The company has kept them till they
were drawing $50, $50 or $40 a month,
and then dropped them without cause,
except that their places might De taken
by cheap men who can be hired at any
time for $35 a month. That is the kind
of thing which makes the men sore,
and makes them abuse the company
when it spends $25, 900 in alleged bene-
factions, but which is really spent to
advertise the company If the company
hires cheap men, it will get cheap Serv-
ice, and turkeys won't help the situa
ton a Bit
1t is of course impossible to determine
how large a proportion of the men feel
on the subject like the employee who is
quoted above 1t would be unhealthy
for them to express their sentiments in
public The rebelliouS talk is all be-
tween employees who consider them
selves aggrieved-
People in general have come to con-
slider the Wells Fargo company as one
of the ideal corporations of the coun-
try. 1t has apparently always been
striving to retain the good will of its
employees. 1t supplies them with books
from free circulating library. deliver
ing and taking away the books with
out charge 1t distributes free Thanks
giving and Christmas dinners. It is
now planning a distribution of large
silver medals, costing over 81 each, in
commemoration of the fiftieth anniver-
sary of the company. Every employee of
the company is to receive one of these
medals free of charge, simply as SOU
Uanir of the anniversary coca sion