Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-25

I @'AA@@NT "AAeAN hAAAL VI ' ~ Ems dAN y W
| turning out?
That question is not often dis
| cussed by financial or business lead
ers, by chambers Of commerce or
/ boards of trades. by railroad or in
dustrlai or mercantile conventions,
Yet Is 1t 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 well-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
a change in the method Of elect
ing our Senator'S
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 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?
L My own view, based on many
| heart to- heart talks with financiers,
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 or is SOlleSS, UlDHtE
| 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 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, protit-shar-
| ing plans and sales Of stock on adj
vantageous 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-
DlOyees Sentiment was driven from
| commerce by corporations, the blood
| less. non human machines devised by
| High Finance to carry on Big Bust
ness
How to forge anew this bond, how
| to bring into harmony the interests
| Of employees and employers. how to
displace hostility by a spirit Of mu-
! tualitv and cooperation, how 70
| reconcile the ambitions Of labor with
7rfgf rewards q grifa1 he