Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1913-08-20
HOW TO TREAT LABOR


K Towne, president of the Yale &
Towne Manufacturing Co., has his
own ideas about the way labor
ought to be treated in this coun-
try. In private letter which ne
wrote to James A Emery, General
counsel for the National Associa
tion of Manufacturers and which
was produced both before the Sem
ate and the House lobby commit
tees, Mr. Towne described his labor
millennium in the following words:
Il have long held and expressed
the opinion that the only complete
and adequate protection of the
public against Intolerable oppres-
sion by organized labor in the case
of public service and public utility
corporations will consist in legisla-
tion whereby employment in the
service of such corporations will
be put on quasi military footing,
that is, will involve enlistment ell
ther in the form which now applies
to the Army and Navy or in the
form which now applies to the po-
lice and fire departments under
municipal government. Such ser
vice is voluntary, not compulsory,
and no fair argument can be ad-
Vanced ag ainst imposing conditions
reas -nably needed for the protec-
tion of the public welfare on indi-
viduals who voluntarily seek to en-
gage in such service.
A strike by enlisted men would
be mutiny, the punishment for
which, of course, should be fixed by
law. Coincidentally with legisla-
tion of this kind 1 would hope TO
see legislation providing ample
safeguards for the protection of all
just rights of The Enlisted Men in
cluding the right of petition for
the redress Of grievances with ade-
quate provision for the obtaining
of redress wherever justified.
For emphasis l have capitalized
certain words in this remarkable
epistle. 1t is not surprising that
such sentiment should come from
Mr. Towne. He was one of the
first American manufacturers to
adopt the Taylor System of scien-
tific shop management, which pro-
vides for the use of cruel speeding.
up processes on workingrnen in or
der that dividends may be increas-
ed. In fact, Towne was one of the
star witnesses brought to Washing
ton by Lawyer Brandeis, Of Boston,
to demons, rate the possibilities of
scientific management before the
Interstate Commerce Commission.
Senator Reed sharply cross.ex.
amined Towne en- this letter. In
answer to questions Towne declar-
ed he expects TO live to see his pro-
position enacted into law He esti-
mated that 100000 wage work
ers would be included in his scheme
Of enlistment subject to punishment
for mutiny in case of strikes
Then Senator Reed asked Mr.
Towne what would prevent the ex-
tension of his system from the
purely public service corporations
such as railroads, telegraph COM
panies and the like, to the Chicago
stock yards, the coal mines, the
steel industry, and in fact tu all in
dustry, since all manufacturing is
indirectly a public service. Towne,
however, was not willing to this
extreme.
But is there any question that
If such military enlistment were
applied to purely public service
corporations it would eventually
be applied to all industry? Ac-
cording to Mr. Townes own esti-
mate 100000 men are now en-
ployed by public service corpora
tions- more than a quarter of the
total number Of wage earners in
the country, A few years Of Mr.