The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-27
F0ulard Silks SOC

it shall be understood clearly by both
parties that this fair treatment is Il
matter Of right and justice. not a mat.
ter of charity. In this factory the
dealings between employer and m
ploNed are based upon the under
standing that. as a matter OF justice
n expediency. wages are to be put
and kept at the highest level that
obtains in the business. and, il pos
elsewhere; and that this does not
represent a gift or an act of charitable
mavnanimity on the part Of the EN-
ployer. but is simply n wise ecog-
milton of justice and of common in
tercst. The complement to this is
that Of course there must be high Of
ficiency on the part of the employe.
He must take a pride in doing the
best possible work; then. al his right.
corresponds to the work. For in
stance. much of the opposition among
unions to piece-work has sprung from
the fact that employers have endeav-
ored to get a disproportionate share
of the benefit that comes from the
labor Of the skilled man in piece
work by refusing to allow him to
earn more than a. certain specified
amount for it. In this factory the
piece-work rates are never u be-
cause the mel earn largely. They
are paid in exactly the same proper
ton for the last additional piece as
for the first. Seventy-fve per cent
of the men are union men. all Of
them in certain divisions being union
lists. but as a matter of fact there
has never been n difference in be-
havior or in treatment Of other the
union OF the non-union men.
The theory of the agement has
been that it should be not only in
telligent but sympathetic. that the
wage-workers should understand and
sympathize with the managers and
the managers with the wagc-workers.
The attitude is neither p%atroniZing
nor arrogant on m side. neither
cringing o defiant on the other; it
is based on the belief that self-respect
and mutual respect taken together
make the surest basis for omnlon
success in a undertaking.
tons has come almost always not as
II result of being imposed from above
downwards. but as the result Of a
movement from the men themselves.
Il movement which has come from
below upwards. The management has
felt that it wished to work with a re-
sponsive force and not against it. and
that. while it acted thus partly as a
matter of principle, it did so mainly
because it believed that it paid to be
decent. The factory went from a ten
hour to Il nine-hour day without any
cutting of wages. 1t would now be
willing to adopt an eisht-hour day.
and the men at the top think that
such a day will ultimately come. but
do not see it can be adopted before
it is general in the other firms en-
gagged in the same business.
! could. Of course make no ex-
ha ustive study Of the institution. but
even in a short visit ] could see a
number of things worth seeing and
pick up a lot OF valuable information.
1t was the first factory Of the kind in
America. to introduce baths and the
best type of washing arrangements.
The welfare and sanitary conditions
are excellent. Every species of safe
ty appliance has been installed, and
there is a small hospital for the treat
a business are frequent. Major in
juries are rare. and the management
e%ndeavors to see to the future of the
man or Of his family in such cases,
while the men themselves have a mu-
tual benefit association to which the
subscribes literally. A gen.
uine effort is made on the part of the
company to get none but good -men
among its employees, and, once in.
from the service by the
men themselves is also rare, al
though of course occasionally a mar
finds that he can better himself else
where. The skilled workmen rarely
leave save of their own volition. and
they often return. The unskilled
men are. as everywhere else. less
stable and more apt to leave. I spoke
with a. number Of the foremen and
the large majority Of cases they were
men who had been through different
grades. within the mill. having served
from ten to twenty or thirty years.
One foreman, for instance. a small,
man with an Irish name.
had begun nearly thirty years before
as a bow at IS a week. and was now
earning $50 a week. Another, a man
with a Yankee name. was earning
investment in small bits OF real es-
tate had accumulated a handsome
competence. These were but samples
of the dozens with whom I spoke.
OF the ~journeymen. some were work
ing by the piece. others at day wages.
largely as preferred.
1t Is not possible in such a. visit as
I made to be SURE that one has gotten
at the essential facts. There certain
ly was. no intention to impress me
n way or the other about the con-
ditions. The n request made to
me was that I should not give the
name of the factory. the desire being
to avoid advertisement or seeming to
pose as a model 'up-lift" institution.
But there a obvious, on the part
Of everybody, genuine good feeling,
genuine good fellow-feeling. and pride
in what had been done. It was also
obvious that the institution had pros
pered steadily from the business
as a going concern. 1t
had grown decade by decade. while
the prosperity Of the men had like
wise increased. Such a thing as a
strike had been practically unknown,
and a general DESC on the part Of
every one buth to do and to receive
Justice was evident. The men at the
top %obvlously desired to get tbs
workinEmen to feel that their inter-
ests and those Of. the factory-owners
were. mutue; b: making them mu-
tual. They felt that to secure the
and good will of the wage
workers was the most practical kind
Of "srjentihc management" The men