The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-11-28

Of the laboferH. He mafeit 1 poink to become acduainted with many men he had never known before and whom he thought weui6 he able to give him expert iukorsnation ou the practice Of ]" bowling out" Four or sfixs festS ofethis sort convinced the $uperinten- ldertt that the majority of his employees | were dissattsfied with their jobs, principally ' because of the conditions under which they | were compelled. to work. They had lost theirg respect for their chiefs and had even gettsn into the habit themseives of bawl- ing each other ost in public.
 egst1 was bawled out by Mliler,s said d q. gang foreman ". to Harker. "He had no business that I know of to do so. either. My boss found us in the dispute and he. and Miller took up the quarrel"
 All Tell Same Story.
 Harker,s private detective work resulted in the accumulation of innumerabie stories similar to the one of the gang foreman, many of them even more gross and unjust than the. one related. His conclusion was.that the eutfre mdIl organization was suffering from the effects Of internal dissension, which lA,eant improper management and decrsase iR. R.-sniciepcys The department heads were . ats fault By calling down their naen in an , nnpsnaIiy harsh manner. or before their feilQp men he found that the men them selves not only lost their respect for their chiefs but were prone to shirk thefr duties
 
 condition was not one to breed good team work between chief and his men. Tn fact, fl appeared as if the sole object of their work was to be able to get an opportunity to find fauh with man and upbraid him in public, not only making the man the ob- feet of scorn and humiliating him, but causing him to be suriy and reseptful.
 A few days later Harker reported to his president that he had found the cause of the trouble and was ready to take action.
 t'I propose to call . meeting of all depart ment heads. with yourself present,~ said he at the end of his account of his investf- gations. shall ten every man just what his duties are to be- that aside from being head of his department he is presumed to be a: gentleman. shall make new rule that, every man against whom there Is cause for compiaiut of any sort shall be sent to and viii see that my heads o. departments are gentlemen and that they treat their men with respect and. with some regard for decency."
 President of che Old Type.
 The president of the company was famil- far with the conduct of a big organization, but he had the belief, as many of his bug mess associates had with him. that in order to accomplish anything steel workers must be driven like cattle It was with somewhat of surprise that he listened to Harxer'g talk and with reluctance that he consented to appear at the meeting of the heads of de- partmeptz c[ff
 Tn that meeting the superintendent pre- sided. not the president. Whether his men had any more respect for him than Cor the cinder shovelers of the plant he d4d not know. but be was determined that their cus- tom of fighting among themselves should cease. He was firm and strong and laid the proposition. before them In such terms that there could be no mistake To conclude the meeting he called upon the president for as talk and the chief official supported his superihten denrs remarks and told the men what he expected of them s stE'
 From that time forward the Big Northern works began, to pick up. Not only was the reorganization of the forces accoEnpltshed, but the output of the plant was ,sean to ia- crease. Haxker caught one Of his chfeks at his old tactics one time and the aepart- meat head was dismlsBed suunnafflT sThe neworder of things had the effect of stfnniax- ing every man to do the best that was in him. The men got back their old dispositions once, more and a bond of friendship soon sprang up between the department heads and their employees. The superintendent at- tended tosthe complaints until they became so insignificant that they could be turned over to his secretary and the big throbbfne steel industry was saved from disinte<ration through the abolition of the praetice oe - calling down and bawling out. ..