Daily Arizona silver belt., 1908-11-11
INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY

lNDOSIhlAL DbmoSnASf
 In his announcement of Mir Roose- velt's plans in connection with the Out look, tho editor of that periodical char acterizes the president as leader in the twentieth century movement for indus trial democracy. MT. Roosevelt's lead ership in this movement, we are told, will be continued in the columns of the Outlook, which means that he will carry on propaganda of his own through the medium of weekly publication, much as Mir. Bryan has done in his Commoner, and as Senator La Toilette intends do ing in his new paper. It will be news to most people that MT. Roosevelt has had definite social programme in mind while formulating his policies, though some inkling of 1t was given in his last letter to workingmen forecasting so- cial reorganization to which MT. Taft was committed. According to the cd itor of the Outlook, 1t would appear that the social organization of which Mir. Roosevelt has been writing tends to- ward the inauguration of an ultimate regime of industrial democracy.
 What is industrial democracy7 Dr. Lyman Abbott has given definition in recent number of the Outlook. It is an industrial system which under the workers will own collectively the indus tries wherein they gain their livelihood. The present wage system, under which capitalists own the means of production and laborers do the work, Dr. Abbott believes destined to disappear. In its place he hopes to see an industrial dc mocracy, an era of joint ownership of mine and mill and railroad; when work ingmen will become capitalists, and those "who are carrying on the indus tries of the country own the instruments and control the organizations by which they are carried on.'' The corporation will, of course, play an important role in such regime. Dr. Abbott uses this this illustration:
 "A corporation is modern, dem
 ocratic contrivance to enable
 number of small capitalists to com
 bins their money for the purpose of efficient administration and divide
 the profits. There are, believe. in
 round numbers, as many stockhold-
 CTS of the Pennsylvania railroad as
 there are employees. If the employ
 es were the stockholders they would own the road Such joint owner
 ship and joint control of all enter.
 prises is the dream of industrial de-
 mocracy."
 This is not socialism. Dr. Abbott de- clares, because 1t does not contemplate the ownership and control of all indus tries by the government. It does i'm ply, however, such regulation of corpor- ate undertakings as will insure the sta bility of their securities and the honesty of their management. It implies also a recognition of the permanence of the existing tendency toward the conduct of industrial and commercial enterprises on large scale, and of the possibility of utilizing the efficiency and economy of such enterprises for the social good, instead of the upbuilding of immense fortunes. Herein we see the importance of the corporation problem in Its bear ing on industrial evolution. Only by means of the corporation can the work CTS be given a share in the ownership and control of industry. AS the social ist sees in the corporation means of transit between private and government ownership, so the industrial democrat sees in the corporation a mechanism by which the wage system may be abol- ished and the working classes consol. dated with the capitalist class.
 That corporations may be made to play a more benefcent part in the so- cial structure is the belief of many thoughtful men, and if MT. Roosevelt with his imense influence and prestige, should contribute to a better popular understanding of the true role of the corporation and bring corporation man. agers to better understanding of their real responsibility to the public, he would perform an invaluable service to the country.