Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1911-08-11
Idea Ttc.+ Men in High Position
Have Been Slow to
Reeo lie.
PRACTICAL END TO FRICTION
Scheme Devised by Officials Of Electric
Light Companies Bound to Have
Far-Reachine Effects-EquaiIy
Beneficial to ENpla8Dor
and Employbe.

The report adopted @ the conven'
ton of the National Electric Light as
sociation in Manhattan Is the most
thorough-going and far-reaching effort
yet mace by any large body of en-
ployers in this country to reduce fric-
ton with employees and to inspire the
devoted service which springs from
good feeling.
Profit sharing with employees ia an
old story here; pension funds to which
employees contribute are familiar,
both in public and private employ
menta This proposal of the electric
companies goes further than either. 1t
includes profit sharing, pension fund
provided by the employing company
tor the benefit Of its men, the pay
ment of the entire cost Of injuries by
accidents which are not due to the
gross carelessness of employees, with
full wages for disablement up to six
months and one-haH wages thereafter;
and q company savings bank system
which should pay somewhat higher in
terest than the public savings banks
do.
That plan, which sounds like Utopia,
was devised by IL Of the executive
officers Of the largest electric compan-
les in the country, and If accepted by
the companies represented at the con-
vention, it will affect some 500, 900 men
and women employed by those COM
panies. But perhaps more striking
than the extensive character of the
plan itself Is the argument Of the re-
port upon which 1t was based. That
report draws a distinction between
labor and service. Labor Is defined as
the performance Of an assigned task
for which wages are paid, and the OBJ
pigation ends with the payment But
service implies devotion to the in,
terests Of the employer through a Pc
Fiod Of years, Increased efficiency
Through that devotion, and continuity
of service, with lessening of soldier
lng,' or an elimination of it altogether" u,
For such service the report holds that
the employer ought to pay something
In addition to wages, and expresses the
belief that 1.-THE corporation which
does recognize and discharge the OBJ
legation laid upon it by long and faith
full service will richly realize on the
| Investment"
That theory is not new. Many a pri-
vate employer has recognized it by the
care of his employees and their fam
lilies through sickness, and has reap.
ed his reward in the conscientiousness
of the personal devotion of his men as
we'll as in the quality of the service
rendered. But much Of the antagon-
ism toward corporations has been due
to the feeling that they were squee1
ing the juice of human kindness out of
the relationship between employer and
employee; that the WORKOUT employee
was liable to be thrown out on the
scrap heap along with the WORKOUT
machine which he had tended. Here
Is series Of related corporations pro,
posing to incorporate human kindness
as a part of their system and to
make its rewards automatically. with
out regard to the attitude of any par
ticular board Of directors who NAV
be In power at any particular time.
1t is small wonder that Secretary of
Commerce Nagel, who was present. de-
clared that the men who evolved this
plan had taken long stride toward
stopping a revolution"