The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-28
AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE IS PAID HIGH TRIBUTE BY
 RICHARD EDMON DS
tcontfnuea from rase o.e,

tContfnued from Pare OueD to the discussion which followed, and to the splendid address by MT. Dickinson. who was then vice president of the Steel corporation. taking the most advanced ground in favor of protecting the inter ests of the working people, I would not have been at all surprised to have heard someone suggest that the morning serv- ice should bs closed with prayer. Such a suggestion would have been in entire harmony with every word that hnd been said during the morning, for in no gath- ering of teachers of ethics or religion could there have been heard a better presentation of the golden rule as 1t re- lates to all human affairs. whether deAl- ing with It's employees. with a competitor or with a customer.
 Gary Dinner Spirit
 This spirit has pervaded every meet ing have ever attended and was the dominant note at every one of the Gary dinners. This spirit was strikingly il- lustrated in the fact that at the last ban quet of the institute held at the Waldorf in May. last, the chief address of the evening was an illustrated lecture on the better housing of working people. show ing how this was being done by iron and steel concerns all over the country, how playgrounds had been provided, how ef- forts had been made to improve the sani- tary conditions of mill villages, and point ing out what had been accomplished and what could be done in tho further frustrated and splendidy delivered leo- ture commanded the closest attention of the too or 600 people at the banquet and received as 1t deserved. the most en- thusiastio applause.
 This spirit has pervaded the iron and steel industry of this country to an ex- tent little comprehended by those who have not studied tho matter. It Is a la- timetable fact that yellow Journalism and yellow n1asa xinism have filled the land with absolutely false statements in re- gard to the treatment of employees by manufacturers. I venture to say that even today there are thousands of peo- and in tho pulpit who ought to be fairly well informed as to the facts. who still believe that the iron and steel employees of the land are Q much mistreated people. They have no moro knowledge of what hos been done for the betterment of the employees oi iron and steel and of many other industries than they have of how to follow in the straight and narrow road on which the bearing of false witt hess 10 not permitted. Indeed. venture to say that there are a very large num- Der of people even in Birmingham who have very little Idea of the splendid work tEat has been done in similar lines in that district.
 Trip to Plants
 When I was last in Birmingham l made a trip to some of the plants of the Tennessee Coal Iron and Railroad com pany. The meat departments of these oommissaries were in better sanitary con- dition. more carefully screened against files and other insects than I have ever seen in any meat store in any city that I have ever visited. I doubt whether there is a meat store in any city where greater attention Is given to the handling of meats and to their protection from flies than in these well screened and well managed commissaries of the Tennessee company.
 'I presume that other companies in the district have followed the same wise pol icy. This. however. is only typical of the care and thought which are being given throughout our country by employers of labor to the welfare of their employees. This spirit has not been developed by legislation nor by the denunciations of asitators. It is the spirit which is abroad throughout the land where men are more and more coming to understand the brotherhood of man. The meetings of the American Iron and Steel institute and the Gary dinners have been potent factors in the creation of this spirit. The doctrines enunciated at these gatherings have been of the highest order of ethics.
 Possibly l cannot better illustrate this than to tell of an incident at one of the Gary dinners. On that occasion the tables were beautifully decorated with
 flowers in very tall vases. which to considerable extent obstructed the views from table to table. At the close of the dinner the flowers were all removed and the tables lett bare before the beginning of the speech making. Among those called on for m impromptu address was Presi- dent Clark of the Lackawahna Iron and Steel company. Tn opening his all too brief address he referred to his rogret when he saw the beautiful fowers be- ing removed, and then in substance (as cannot undertake to quote him word for WorO he said: When the flowers were first removed from the tables regretted the loss of their fraorance and beauty. But soon noticed that they had been ob- structine the view and that I had not been able to see those at other tables. And then my thoughts went hack to the time when before the panic of 1907 the
 flower of prosperity had bloomed 50 abundantly that 1t had shut out the views of the iron and steel people and made us unable to see our nelghbors but as the flowers were removed from theoe tables. eiving us . better view, 70 the dower Of prosperity has been removed from the ti on and steel business and we can now sse each other, eye to eye and face to face, better than ever before. We have como to know each other bottsr; wo have ana almost feel that thl6 more than makes up for the loss of the flower of prosperity which has been taken for the lime heinz from 11h.s %