The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-23
JOHN WANAMAKER
FOR BENEFIT UNIONS
Merchant Tells Federal Commits.
sion He Is Against Collcc-
tive Wage Bargaining.
WOULD EDUCATE WORKERS
Prof. Nearing Thinks Industrial
Solution Lies in Government
Ownership Of Utilities.

PHILADELPHIA, juno 22-Prof SCOT,
Nearing OF the University OF p,nr,yi,,.
mia. william Draper Lewis, tho provrc,.
slve GubernatUriai nominee, sri t.b,
Wanamaker appeared as wituos,cs t. IA,
at the opening hearing here Of tho Fedora,
Commission on Industrial Relations
which recently sat in New yorh
Prof. Nearing said the lack Of nronor.
ton between the work man dId and
the pay he got for IT was the cause o, The
present Industrial unrest and assorted thar
Government ownership OF tho big public
utilities was probably tho only solution
OF the present problem"
Mr.. Lewis advocated Soma "manhln,-y
which would enable ~or,ingm.n IN an.
force the secondary boycott" now for.
hidden by tho courts.
Mr.. Wans MAKERS Tsstimor,
While not encouraging dealing With Nil,
employees " a body when II came ~ "a,
ing their ratio OF wages thus not favor.
ing labor unions or collective bargaining
rs TO wage scales. Mr.. Wanamaker m
sisted that he favored other orga niSs,ions
OF an athletic. social or beneficial char.
scter.
There are at least ten in the rore ,xh,
now" he said. Then We Try Ia oduca.
our people. We do not feel our duty Il
done with tho nero payment Of wager
We try to make them more worth pbls
to themselves and to us About 76o O,
the younger ones attend school each day
Asked about the sick benent asspca.
ton. Mr.. Wanamakpr SAID
when the store started fifty six var,
ago the system was that VI n man or
woman was sick their friends took up a
subscription for them.
That was not fair. so one day 7 die
charged every employee OF the store and
took them back on certain conditions one
being the payment of a small monthly sum
for the benefit association. They control
that association themselves except that
the store acts as treasurer and | pay lOJ
secretary to do the clerical work They
have handled 100000 since its inception"
When asked whether or not an ciu.
ployee must Join the beneficial assocla.
ton. Mr.. Wanamaker replied:
There s no compusion on them to
work for me. II they desire TO do 20 they
must comply with the conditions
He admitted that IL an employee vas
discharged after some years of service
the amount paid into the association was
a tOtdl loss 10 tnat employee, but eAd
that such employees were rarely d..
charged and that the amount was In IN.
nature OF insurance.
No Laying on I'm Hard Times.
Il never laid anybody of because o'
general business depression" Mr.. MaIa-
maker said. though we have gone
through several such periods"
Referring to remark of Prof. Near.
ing's about the difficulty for a man Nth
three children to make ends meet and
gain an adequate livelihood. MIR. waua-
maker said:
What a man can do, what he can pro.
duce, is the question at issue. rot how
many children he has. Suppose there
are more men than Jobs in Fan River
Mass. las Mr.. Nearing stated). VIVA
are those extra workers doing there whcr
men are so badly needed in the West
Why doesn't the Secretary OF Labor send
them out West?'
Mr.. Wanamaker was not prepared to
| go into details about the wages paid 500
his store. but said: There Is minimum
| wage scale for women. IS, think and
81 for the scrubwomen who clean uu
after the days work is done. We have
no cash girls. but we do have messengers
! majority Of whom attend school a good
| part or the time. The hours are from
$3.50 A. NJ to +. NJ. in the summer.
time. There Is no recreation, but an hour
/ Is allowed for lunch.
! Faithful employees who have been
! with us long time and are sick OF ton
/ old to do their work are retired on hal
pay. Overtime is either recompena,d n
money or other ways. An employee dis
| charged by sub Official can apply 10
me either directly or indirectly by letter