Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-10-02
The Espionage and the Honor Systems

Modem business, with its clOcklike
system, its minutcly subdividcd work,
its elaborated scheme Of supervision,
its almost Hertillon-l like methods Of
keeping tab upon its workers, is be-
comm. more and more 2 complicated
Iiccc Of machinery wherein the heart
OF man and the finer scnsibilities Of the
worker have less and less place. Man
is the instrument used to polish. feed,
engineer ana keep in motion this ire
mendouS commercial engine that IL
may lun, steam and grind out wealth,
more wealth. The Industrial machine
thai grinds is 50 tremendous, the
wealth that is ground 50 huge, that
man. the little implement in the vast
mechanism, seems but an atom
Thr old personal relation between
employer ana worker is lost. In tn"
new scheme of things the employer
sees the worker only rs a mass, only
rarely or never rs 4 unit; and then
only at infrequcnt intervals. when ne,
by chance. strolls through the establish
nIcnt that bears his name. The work
or knows the employer only through
the cunniEgly devised apparatus that
runs tie industrial machines surely an
imper5GnaI relationship. This appara-
tus that to him Represents his employ
er is a series Of cunning devices that
act like many eyes TO spy upon him in
tiS wolk. to make sure that 10 effort is
hacking on his rart To help along the
grinding Of lie mill Of gold
These devices are timc-clnCks time
he "rc:s, tim" cards, floor walkers.
ovcrsrcrs Of every description and
sometimes i side Lille II Inspection on
Tho part Of mis- fellow worker. Per-
sonal homer. personal integrity, noble
ness. diSintertStedneSS Of action as
business making elements are not
looked for Or taken much account Of.
1hc great factory, the vast corpora
ton, the huge commercial house me-
Chanicdlly controls in the gross as II
We're the moral principle Of their work
ing force. No man can take a bundle
;way from the house or factory with
out its being O. KID by n superior off
Ger, even If the parcel contains only 4
pair Of ovcrshocs that he does not want
10 wear home.
Put man or boy who has been |
brought up on an honor system, such |
as ruled At Or. -Arnold's Rugby school |
i'll Americd-put such 4 man or boy
under such management ana picture
his feelings for tie first day or 50. He
will imagine that all this espionage,
this pOliCrman-like method OF inSur-
ing orderly work, is directed toward
him alone. AT first he will inwardly
roScnt il AS an imputatiOn against his
honesty. Later he will recognize its
character ard wonder il
the moral sense of man has declined 50
that any such system is necessary.
He then sees that knots If workers
hoe and there form informal Unions to
beat the machine The time-cIock
can BE- manipulated. one man can
punch another in. He can also punch
another out. When times are duh
craps cgan be played behind the
scenes ana q little private pool on the
races can bc made. and all this against
The rul,s
the striCteSt Kind Of espionage known in
modern business one Of the houses Of
the most rigid discipline has yearly 4
number of thcftS made bY its employees |
These eases rarely reach the newspapers,
Tor the policy of the house is against pub
licity. The thief Is found out, gives IN
his Spoils, and If he makes clean breast |
of il is simply dropped from the rolls
While under inquStion IL. has Il chance
to implicate coworker and he some
times does this to pay OFF old grudgeS
against an innocent man. Strange as il