Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-05-07
Andrew Carnegie Outlines the
Steel Company's Method
of Promoting Harmony
PRESIDENT THE IRON INSTITUTE
First American to be Elected to That
Position Since the institute Was Or
sanized-Plan of Giving Working
Man His Just Proportion of the Pro.
fits Only Fair Method.

London, May THE annual meet
Ing Of the Iron and Steel Institute here
today was largely attended. After be-
Ing formally installed in the chair the
new president, Andrew Carnegie, who
remarked he was the first president
OF the institute who was not British
subject. presented Sir James Kitson,
former president of the institute, with
q besseu1er gold medal for 1903. Car
negie subsequently delivered his inaug-
uraI address, which was listened to
with much interest Carnegie said in
part:
In the percentage allotted by the
plan to reward exceptional officials we
have for the huge corporation perhaps
the best substitute attainable for the
magic of Partnership. which nothing.
however can approach. The reward
/, Of departmental officials may readily
be secured under this provision. In
the bonus granted yearly upon shares
held by employees we have proof of
regard for them which can not but
tell, and the distribution of shares in
the concern among them has an ad-
vantage which so far even no partner
ship has enjoyed. The latter will no
doubt adopt the plan or find some
equivalent for the workman, owning
shares in absolute security, will prove
much more valuable than he without
such interest, and many Incidental adj
vantages will accrue to the company
possessed of numerous shareholding
employees who may some day see their
representative welcomed to the boari
of directors. This would prove most
conducive to harmony, knowledge of
each other on the part of owners and
workmen being the best preventative
of dissatisfaction. If the investment
of the worknan's savings be made Sc
clre. the rapid extension of the plan
seems certain and can be hailed with
unalloyed satisfaction, but in its present
form 1t is obviously incapable of gem
eral application, since the officials of
few corporations could or would in.
cur the responsibility of inducing their
wOrkmen to invest in their shares as a
security. and few corporations could
or should inspire the needed confidence
of labor that these are to enjoy an
unbroken career of prosperity, for
such has not been the history of man
ufacturing concerns generally"
'sThe great secret OF success in busi-
ness OF all kinds, and especially in
manufacturing, where small saving
in each process means fortune, is a
liberal division of profits among the
men who help to make them, and the
wider distribution the better. There
lie latent unsuspected powers in Will
ing men around us which only need
appreciation and development to pro-
duce surprising results. Money re-
wards alone will not, however. insure
these, for to the most sensitive and
ambitious natures there must be the
note of sympathy, appreciation, friend
ship. Genius is sensitive in all it's
forms, and it is unusual, not ordinary
ability that tells even in practical af-
fairs. You must capture and keep the
heart Of the original and supremely able
man before his brain can do its best.
Indeed this law has no limits. Even the
mere laborer becomes more efficient
as regard for his employer grows. Hand
vice that counts
zone of the chief sources of what
ever success may have attended the
Carnegie Steel Company was undoubt-
edly its policy of making numerous
partners from among the ablest of its
men, and interesting so many others
of ability in results. strongly rec
ommend this plan to the members of
Of st,,f. ~,
Iieving that in these days of threat
ened exhausting competition it will be
the concerns which adopt this plan.
other things being equal. which will
survive and flourish.
In no field is the wise saying more
amply verified than in manufacturing,
There be those who gather, yet scat
ter abroad, and there be those who
scatter abroad. yet put into barns.
I'm the progress toward more har-
nonious conditions between employer
and employed we see that the system of
payment by fixed wages has been large
ly supplanted by payment according to
value of service rendered by workmen
in positions of authority over others,
and by recognition not only in money,
but in position. which often counts
quite as much as coin, and not seldom
much more with the ablest. There
remains still receiving the fixed wages
this great mass OF ordinary workmen,
but we see in the history of relations
of employer and employed that these
have not failed to rise greatly also.
The movement tending to improve the
position of the worker has not passed
over even the humblest, but has reach
ed and benefited all.
But the irresistible pressure which
has forced change after change in the
relations of capital and labor still op-
crates unchecked sure Indication
that the final stage has not yet been
reached. We have evidence of this in
another important advance, the sliding
scale which provides not a fixed wage,
but in some degree settles by results.
Increased demands brings higher prices
and profits to the employer which in
turn bring higher returns, so that as the
employers profits rise and fall, so do
the workman's rewards. Ic / were asked
what was the best service the Carnegie
company was ever able to render the
~ are arper next to giving steady EN-