The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-12-28
$1.9O TOmorTow buys any pair of
Shoes in our house excepting Walk
overs and High Tops.

Wh1ch embraces the principal officials
and has adopted the system of paw
ment by bonus or reward. throughout
its work. The latter may be relied
upon. as rule, to earn handsome div
idends in times of depression. during
which the former. conducted upon the
old plan, will incur actual loss and
perhaps land in financial embarrass-
ment.
The TiIene Stores
BY way of illustration. he cites the
ease of the Filene Stores. of Boston.
which he says has gone farthest of all
in the direction of making its EMPLOYEES
shareholders The establishment. he
says, employs seven to nine hundred
men; the capital stock is held only by
employees, and is returned. to the cor
poration at its value should the en-
plOye leave the service. Every share of
stock belongs to some one working in
the stores The most important adj
vance," says Mr.. Carnegie, lis that all
questions are submitted to arbitration,
rot only complaints or disputes. but
wages, scope of work. and tenure of
employment. More than four hundred
cases of arbitration have arisen. and
the result is that both managers and
employees have been satisfied that this
is the true plan. When an employe is
discharged he has the right to appeal
to an arbitration board composed of
! fellow employees of different grades All
wage disputes have been satisfactorily
settled. There is a profit sharing de-
T..
wages, which has been able to dis
tribute varying amounts each year.
He, goes on to describe the workings
of the plan, remarking incidentally
that-the Filene stores are not excelled,
if equalled in making profits. He cites
other examples of profit-Sharing and
joint ownership, and then comes to his
congratulations, in the course of which
he says among other things:
Whether the communists ideal is to
be finally reached upon earth. after
man is so changed that self-interest,
which is now the handspring of human
neighbor-interest, cannot be known.
The future has not been revealed. He
who says yes, and he who says no, are
equally fool-hardy. Neither knows,
consider. much less to Iegislate in their
day, for a future they can know moth
ing of.
1.-THE writer. however, believes one
point to be clear viz, that the next
step toward improved labor conditions
| is through the stage of shareholding
in the industrial world, the workman
becoming joint owner in the profits of
serfs by providing shelter and food
and clothing for them. then by orders
upon the stores for articles, up to pay
ment by cash 10 Independent work.
! men today, each great step forward.
have all been tried, and now the COM
| ing day dawns when payment is to be
made wholly or in part by profit
sharing the workman having the
| status of the share owning official and
| a voice in management as joint owner.
He will be guaranteed a minimum
wage, when finally paid by profits en-
| lirely, to keep his mind easy and free
for his work, the proper support of
! himself and his family being thus in
sured.
Investment Is Profitable.
'It may be mentioned that the in
10
! United States Steel corporation nave
been very profita bic to both the men
| and the company.
zone of the greatest advantages. the
| writer thinks, will be found in draw
| ing men and managers into closer in
| tercourse, so that they become friends
| and learn other virtues, for that both
have virtues none knows better than
| the writer, who has seen both sides
| of the shield as employee and employer.
In vast establishments it is very diff
| cult, almost impossible, for workmen
| and employer to know each other, but
| when the managers and workmen are
| joint owners, and both are paid wages,
as even the president of the company
is, we shall see greater intercourse be-
| tween them. In the case of disputes,
| it is certain that the workmen- partners
! have status nothing else can give.
! They can attend all share holders
| meetings and have voice there if de-
| sired. Entrance into the partnership
! class means increased power to work
men. On the other hand, knowledge
| of the company's affairs, its troubles
| and disappointments, which come at
! intervals to the most successful con-
| Germs, will teach the workman much
that he did not know before.
Col partnership tends to bring a
| realizing sense of the truth to both
| labor and capital that their interests,
broadly considered are mutual; and as
far as the latter is considered it may
finally in some cases, be all fur
nished by those engaged in the works.
| which is the ideal that should be held
| in view-the workman both capitalist
| and worker, employee and employer.
This, however is not for our time.
| We are only pioneers, whose duty is
to start the movement. leaving to our
! successors its full and free develop
ment as human society advances. The