Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-26

Yet is it not as important even as
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
to 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 d'etre.
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.
I'VE must not overlook this fact
in Analysing the financial and BUSH
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 leaping into the saddle,
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 a theory.
Well, then. what kind of a govern
ment are our capitalists, our corpo-
rations, our manufacturers, our mine
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?
My own view, based on many
/ faV.-
corporation managers and large EN-
| ployers, is that a majority of the
| most influential of them are alive TO
the necessity OF treating employees
| fairly, Of paying decent wages, OF
| granting reasonable hours, and, above
| all, 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 instead of as soulless money
| producing machines to be worked TO
the limit and scrapped when i'm
! paired.
But only start has been made in
this direction. There is 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 schemes, profit shar-
| ing plans and sales Of stock on ad-
| vantageou terms to employees.
| Beyond all this, however, and
! transcending these mea sures 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
less, non human machines devised by
| High Finance to carry on Big Busi-
ness
| How to forge anew this bond, how
| to bring into harmony the interests
| Of employees and employers, how 10
| dispiace hostility by a spirit of mu-
tuality and cooperation, how ~
| reconcile the ambitions Of labor with
| the just rewards of capital-this is
| the one problem that overshadows
| all others and the speedy solution of
| which becomes more and more urgent
as the ordinary voter climbs toward
! the seat of government.
! Mr.. Employer what kind of voters
/ are YOU turning Vut?