Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-07-20
Fletcher Proctor's system Of vsssaIsae

Proctor mas estaDuSneu q system OF So
called vassalage in the marble business
at Proctor and Rutland, and that the
employees Of the Vermont Marble COM
pany are compelled to trade at the com
pany's stores. and turn their wages back
to the Golfers of the proprietors, and that
the employees receive little or no cash in
payment for their labor. This has been
so repeatedly and openly shown to be
false that it ought not to require any
further answer, but as the same old lie
has again been put into service it must
be met with the facts once more.
The Vermont Marble company, of
which Fletcher d. Proctor is president,
employs in Vermont about $500 men, the
business having doubled or more since
Mr. Proctor came to the head of the
concern. Nearly all these men are en-
ployed at Proctor, West Rutland and
Centre Rutland, at each of which places
the Vermont Marble company has large
establishments The company runs gen.
eral stores at each of these points, and
the management of the stores is under
the general direction of the officers of
the Vermont Marble company The
financial affairs of the stores are man
aged in this way: No charge is made
against the stores for superintendent or
management on the part of the officers
of the Marble company; that Is all free.
The company charges per cent. In
terest on the capital employed in the
stores. An account is kept with each
employe of the Vermont Marble COM
pany who trades at the stores. At the
end of the year all the profits made in
the business, including all trade with
outsiders, is divided pro rata among the
employees of the Marble company in pro-
portion to the amount of their trade.
Last year the employees trading at the
Centre Rutland store received a dividend
of per cent, those trading at the West
Rutland store one of 10 per cent, and
those trading at the Proctor store one
| of II per cent.
Mr.. Proctor not only does not make
a single penny out of the trade of the
Vermont Marble company's employees but
he gives his time and that of the Of
ficers of the company to the general
management for nothing. He furnishes
the money for the stores at the rate of
4 per cent. interest, instead of the legal
rate of per cent, and every penny
that is made is paid back to the en-
ployes of the company. There are other
stores at Proctor, West Rutland and
Centre Rutland and no obligation, pres
sure or influence is put upon the en-
| ployes to trade at the companys stores.
| They are absolutely free to trade where
| they please. 1t is no advantage to Mr..
Proctor whether they trade at the COM
pany's stores or somewhere else. The
fact that they do trade at these stores
indicates the treatment they receive.
More than that, large number of en-
ployes in the mills of the company at
Proctor live in the city of Rutland, there
being a workingmen's train on the rail-
road which comes out from Rutland to
Proctor in the morning and returns after
working hours in the evening. These
employees in Rutland do a large part of
their trading at the company's store at
Proctor because they can buy goods
there cheaper than at Rutland, and be-
cause they get dividend for their pro-
portion Of the trade, and it is a daily oc-
currence that the workingmen go home
from Proctor to Rutland on the evening
train loaded with goods bought there, not
withstanding the 100 stores or more
that await their patronage in the city
of Rutland. The company's stores run
accounts with the employees and give
them such credit as they desire up to
the amount of their earnings, but for
the most part the trade is cash. The
pay roll for the month of June amounted
to a little over 100000 at the three plants,
Proctor, West Rutland and Centre Rut-
land and of this, s91, 900 was paid to the
employees in cash, the balance being in
. store accounts and advances that had
been made on wages, and the like.
To show that we are stating facts and
not generalizing or going by guess, here
are the exact figures for the month OF
June: OF the total amount of 0000t
. earned in wages by the men during th'
month 1876 per cent. was paid by trade
at the stores, 90 per cent was paid By
a rents of tenements owned by the com
pany, nine-tenths of one per cent, wa
paid by advances made during the montl
and 77.2 per cent. was paid to the mel
in actual cash on pay day. In othe
words, the stores being run on a purel!
cooperative basis, solely for the bene
: fit of the employees, with the element o
II profit for the company entirely elimi
: mated, the entire deduction from the pa
o roll for the benefit of the company wa
s. the rent item of 20 per cent. Does thi
't look like "vassalage?" Does it look lik
le grinding the faces of the poor? Does
i look like taking profit off both end
IL of a workingmans daily wage?
at There is one more count which Mr.. Proc
is tors political enemies ought to add
"a "a the charges which they prefer againi
ar him: The Marble company, besides il
hit trade in general merchandise at its store
deals in coal and furnishes coal to Il
s. employees at cost so that the men an
US their families get their coal from fft
al cents to a dollar a ton cheaper than
ly the general public in Rutland and vicil
lie ity.
az This is Fletcher d. Proctor's system
,tn a., "vassalage." This is his general spiI
ad and attitude toward men who earn the
nd living by day wages. 1t may be hal
of system-in the opinion of Mr.. Proctor
O. political enemies-but 1t is at least tn
'AH that Mr.. Proctor, unlike the prese
Ter Democratic candidate for governor, do
DIV not compel or ask his employees to sil
at any contracts releasing their employ
an an from responsibility for his own neg
- / gence.