New Britain herald., 1915-09-23
SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE


 There must have been great deal | Of satisfa ctiOn among the laborlnss men of the West, and even of the East, when they learned of how John T.. Rockefeller. jr., wielded pick in one of his coal mines in Trinidad. Colorado, the other day and, after the fatigue garnered by his strenuous en- deavors ate a hearty meal with the men in their boarding house and later slept in the coal camp. If nothing else, it was a democratic act anl Rockefeller himself will derive as much benefit from the experience as any one else. r. will show him what the men have % contend with. It will teach him a lesson he would by his superintendents. To show that there was great satisfaction on all sides one of the men, when Rocke- feller was trying to dislodge great pile of brack coal, said, You're not so bad as you're painted.'
 In turn, the oil king gave little talk to the men with whom he work ed, and therein he dispensed some very wise philosophy, wisdom which should be taken to heart by many big employers Of labor. Rockefeller said:-''Men, we are partners in this business. I cannot get along without you, and you cannot get along with out me. If I had all the money in the world I could not run these Col and you, with all your brawn and muscle, could not earn a living dis ging coal out of the ground t< less there was capital to buy these mules and lay the tracks and provide a mar ket for the coai. We are partners, that's what we are, and I want to do business with you on that princi ple."
 Therein MT. Rockefeller was right. And the miners know he was right. If all employers and employees would
 
 they cannot get along without each other what different place this old world would be. There would be no strife or contention, there would be gether spirit. When Capital and Labor understand this fundamental principal of life, that We are brothers all rich and poor, good and bad, prince and pauper, the millinium might have arrived, true; but it is not an inprobability. The day is fast coming around when men will know and understand each other bet ter, when they will not be at each l others throats for the least grievance, | when they will be able to meet on 1 the same plane and thrash out their differences in logical manner. MT. Rockefeller should go out to his Colorado mines more often. He sb ould take up the pick and dig a little coal every now and then. He should even mount a coal car and drive the mule through those dark subterranian passa geways. He sh ould 1 eat, sleep, and drink in the same 1 quarters with the men. In this way he would open up a road that has been blocked ard barricaded for lc these many years, and the communi- ] cation between laborers and capitalist l would be on much more satisfactory basis. How convenient it would be for a miner to go up to his supreme l master, who with pick in hand, is 1 digging away at a coal pillar and say, John, I naed a raise in salary and then John could stop digging coal for while and say, Well, ] am sorry Mike, but you had a raise last week. or if he thought better l he could advance the raise, and the whole works would move along with l a better will. It is to be hoped that l other employers will see the wisdom of MT. Rockefellers innovation and l go then and do likewise. ,
 l Goodbye, General Humidity we'll !