Daily Kennebec journal., 1907-10-17
A MODEL FACTORY.
Health and Happiness Of Employees
Considered by Owners.

| There is a factory i'll Berlin, Ontario,
| in which there are no strikes and no
| lockou1s. the owners of which go to
bed at night in serene confidence that
| no trouble with their employees is going
to come. Yet i've years ago there was
| good deal Of friction in this very fac
| tory. Five years ago the employees
were working ten hours a day for six
! days in the week. and accomplishing,
the owners declare. less than they do
now. though now they work only nine
| hours day and have half-holiday
every Saturday in the year. Last year
| the $50 employees drew $4,000 in wages
| more than was paid the 500 people
| Who We're employed in the factory five
! years ago. And the owners say that
| in the course of these five years their
business has increased 80 per cent,
\ which shows that something or other
| llust have done wonders for the
| efficiency Of the working staff.
| The factory is Il shirt factory, and the
| thing that has made the magical
| Change there is the Introduction by the
! owners of what they call welfare work.
| though it has 50 many features and
! has spread out 50 in various directions
| that one little name hardly seems big
| enough for it all. \ member OF the
| company got the idea from n factory in
| Ohio. Hearing of the things that We're
| being done there for the mutual benefit
| OF rinployts and employers, he went to
| study the system, and returned to Bcr-
! lin Iull Of enthusiasm about it. First
| one innovation was brought about, then
! another. and now the whole factory is
| r+orSanizcd Oh a basis OF mutual help
| fuiness.
Perhaps the thing the women workers
| appreciate most is the rest room
| furnished for their use-a big, sunny
| room. with rugs on the floor, large
| rockers, pots of ferns and tlowerilg 6
! plants and 4 comfortable couch, where
| any woman worker who chances to feel
| indiSposed may come and lie down.
| Next to this room is one that ought to
| be depulicated in every factory in the
| land. If it were there would be less
| sickness among women than there is
| now. 1t is just 4 little room. where i'll
| stormy weather the girls and women
may change their wet clothes for dry
| ones. There arc slippers and stock
| ings and skirts, which they Wear while
| their own are being dried in a dryer.
| They pay Il triiic for the use of these
| things, q penny or two, which money is
used to keep up the supply of the
| clothing they rent.
There are ciubruoms in the building
| for the men and bathrooms for the men
| and for the women. Every worker in
| the factory has the right to twenty
minutes of the company's time for talk
| ing a bath.
There is library. too--the sort of
! library tfat is most attractive to Il
| tired worker; stocked with three h'.n-
| drcd volumes of the best fiction. good
magazines and leading newspapers 1t
| is open three evenings q week, and
| open every day for the exchange Of
books. 4 little while both at noon ard
| at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. E,m-
| rlOye@ who used to spend their eve
nings in the pool rooms, it is said, go to
the factory library now. Why not?
1T is a cheerful, We'll lghted place, VIII
the best IF HmuSrrlant-ertartai ming
books. Their" is Il lunch room or the
| ground f'o'r ot the h:iIdn.r, where for
the extremely reasonable sum Of ei3nt
cents on" may get bowl of hot soup.
sandwiches or .,rca and butter. Il cup
of tea or coffee. and some fruit. IN
this room lessons are given every eve
ng-grats-in plain sewing. dress
making. baskctry ana domestic science.
All the equipments for teaching do
mcstic science are there. They are
provided by the firm. but the bread
thus cast on the waters has richly re-
turned to the firm for the lessons, of
course. increase the efficiency Of the
girl workers
The different departments where the
work * done are a contrast to the
average factory interior, pleasant,
sunny. with ferns and flowers in the
windows The first department is the
one where the bands of the shirts and
the collars are stitched. ready to be
turned. The buttonhules are made by
machine. and it is interesting to see
these machines work; they seem posi-
lively Intelligent. All the machines
run by power. and one of them makes
six buttonholcs iE a minute. In the
next department the shirts are put to-
gether, one set Of operators hemminS
around the lower ends, another set
placing the two sides together, others
putting on the fronts. After leaving
TINS room the ShlrtS are sent to the eX
amingr9, ana from them to the laun-
dry. Even the laundry room is a
light. pleasant place, and the girl
workers, all dressed alike in blue drill
froclls and white kcrchicfs, supplied
by the company, look very neat and
wholesome Very skillful they are,
too. 1t is wonderful to see the quick
ness with which they feed the collars
to the ironing machine.
Every prccaution is taken to insure
the safety of the employees. Every eX-
posrd wheel or belt in the machinery is
case1 in, which. of course, meant
some expense to the company, but
which has really paid the company in
tie end. because it has brought down
to a minimum the loss of time from
accidents. and it saves the company the
bothcr OF legal Investigations.
1T Christmas the company present.
Cd racl! Of the employees with savings
lang deposit book with an account