El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-11-22

- MPLOYES must have the same
interest in the business as their
- employers in order to bring about
efficiency and prosperity, and they
can get that only If they share in the
profits. On this general proposition
DR.. Charles ". Eliot, president emeri-
tus of Harvard university, addressed
the Club of Printing House Craftsmen
in Boston, Mass. The present wage
system was an Improvement over slav-
cry. but serves its purpose no longer.
mediation and collective bargaining
will not afford relief-merely truce
Conditions must be brought about
employers have the same motive, en-
Joying the work and the profits. DR..
Eliot said in part:
Scientific management, expert su-
pervision and inspection, piece-Work
and all other artificial means of OBJ
tanning efficiency are falling and will
fail utterly while there is lacking the
sympathy and good will Of labor This
the spirit OF the men, and believe
profit sharing is the only known means
Of bringing this about.
Efficiency means for me something
It must bring stimulation of interest
to the workman enlargement Of his
mental outlook and enlistment of his
good will and loyalty. Any program
u efficiency 10 treat
the workman merely as a mechanical
unit will be destructive Of all interest
IN his work and will fail for that Fea-
son If no other.
The factory system has introduced
many modes of work which tend to
destroy the employees interest in his
work, to make the quality Of his
product dependent not upon any dis
elimination or Judgment of his own,
but entirely upon the machine which
he is operating. In such q situation in
terest must necessarily be killed and
work become q, drudgery. That's the
deplorable situation Of so many men
and women in our factories.
Efficiency necessarily involves i'm
provement OF the mental and moral
condition OF human beings. It can
not be brought about by any system
of scientific management or expert
supervision, without increasing the in
terest, mental outlook, good viii and
loyalty of the Workmen. The sense
OF loyalty in the workman to the firm
or corporation that employs him is an
absolutely necessary element in any
successful program OF efficiency.
Piece-Work, bonuses and scientific
management fade to nothing, without
There must be stimulation Of men
tai faculty and capacity or there can
be no efficiency.
'T have been laughed at by labor
union men for saying that a man must
have joy in his work to be efficient.
But that is the plain truth. No man
who does not enjoy his work can do
It well In order that an employe may
get happiness and cOntentment out OF
his work it must provide him that in
terest which 7 have described, the
stimulation Of his mental faculties; he
must have that feeling OF good viii
toward the firm for which he works,
and he must have the sense of loyalty.
Democracy, plus the wage system,
has produced a state of affairs in this
country which is intolerable. The
two great forces Of capital and labor
are organizing into hostile camps, both
the wage system, plus democracy, and
something fundamental in its nature
must be done TO relieve the situation.
collective bargaining, well
Iare work and many schemes have
been tried but they are all SUPER
fetal and all leave the problem per
manently the same in its fundamental
They all leave unchanged the
lack Of common motive, which is
wholly destructive of efficiency from
the human standpoint.
We must have a system which will
give the workman precisely the same
motives as the employer. These meas
ures have mentioned only bring
truce they do not effect permanent
fie1ecy is to give the same motives to
both capital and labor.
Profit-sharing present the only way
out, so far as can see. No other pro-
posal meets the situation, and profit
shatng has worked with success in
a great many instances already IT
VIII make every man take an interest
IN his work. 1t viii develop a strong
loyalty in every man to the firm in /