Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-25
BEST ASSET Of
ANY NATION IS
ITSC|T|ZENS
New Democratic Laws Force Big
Business to Consider Welfare
of Employees.
BY B. C. FORBES.

By B. C. FORBES.
American employers, what kind of
MEN, what kind of VOTERS, are you
turning out?
That question is not often dis
eussed by financial or business lead
srs, by chambers of commerce or
boards of trades by railroad or in
austria! or mercantile conventions.
Yet is it not as important even az
tariff legislation, currency reform or
any of the other serious problems
now engaging business mems minds &?
America is proud of her manufac-
lures proud OF her agricultural
achievements. proud Of her great
railroad systems. All these are vital
so the country's we'll being.
But a natian's greatest asset is
her citizens on her citizens de-
ponds everything else. They are at
once the foundation and superstruc-
ture, the Alpha and Omega Of her ex-
istence, her very raison detre.
Said one of our foremost bankers
TO me the other day:
Don't forget that there is to be
change in the method of elect
ing our Senators.
They are to be chosen by the
people.
They are already acting with this
in mind
1T means that the Senate will be-
come less conservative, that it will
be less of a bulwark than heretofore
against radicalism.
we must not overlook this fact
in Analysing the financial and bust
ness future
Had you thought of that?
Does it not mean that the people
the ordinary everyday voters-are
moving nearer the throttle Of the en-
CINE of government. that they are
brushing aside privileged classes. that
they are routing the "Old Guard" who
have rendered long and jealous serv-
ice on behalf of their masters?
Don't you begin to see, therefore.
why it is Of greater moment than at
any previous time in Americas his
tory to consider the question just
propounded: What kind of voters are
our corporations and other employers
turning out?
Let us here leave out of account
entirely the moral aspects of the
subject and discuss it strictly as a
business proposition.
The factory worker. the clerk, the
mechanic, the day laborer. the rail-
way man, the miner, the wagon
driver the salesman. the printer, the
navy the molder-all are voters
And we have just noted that the
voters are iedpli4B llllO INC S''bNiN'
that they are asserting their right to
govern the country without the OBJ
struction of old school politicians
placed and kept in power by capital
istic interests. Government by the
people, for the people is to become
a reality, not merely theory.
Well. then. what kind of a govern
ment are our capitalists, our Corpo-
So. NVYV i'm,
owners. our railroads mOlding?
Are some of them picking a rod
to be applied by-and-by to their own
stripped backs?
or are most employers grasping
the fundamentals Of the situation?
NV own view. based on many
heart-to-heart talks with financiers,
corporation managers and large en-
blowers. is that a majority of the
most influential Of them are alive to
the necessity of treating employees
sairly, OF paying decent wages, OF
granting reasonable hours. and. above
ali, of winning the loyalty and CO
operation of their workers by mani
Testing genuine interest in their vel
fare. by treating them as fellow
beings lnSttdu Ol DIS SUNLESS AilOilVy
producing machines to be worked to
the limit and scrapped when i'm
paired.
But only a start has been made in
this direction. There ls much lee
way TO make UP.
The new income tax. the new tariff
law. the new currency system. all in
principle mark progress in the right
direction. So do employers liability
laws and pure food laws So do cor
porate pension schea,cs, profit har-
ing plans and sales of stock on ad-
vanta geous terms to employees.
Beyond all this, However. and
transcending these measures in i'm
portance, lies the need Of restoring
the personal element the human
bond between employers and en-
ployees Sentiment was driven from
commerce by corporations, the blood