Mexico weekly ledger., 1915-02-25

I
"Take a full breath of the invigOrat
ing ozone, pull off your mental over
coat and start in 10 make this yea
one that will credit up on the RICH
side Of the ledger of accomplishment
when 1915 ends. You want your bus
mess to grow and you want Mexico
to grow. One depends to a great ex
tent on the other. Take the contract
Of building your town and business a:
a personal one and not to be sublet
to an employee. Make up your mind
that this year will be a big one fol-
you and your neighbor and then con-
centrate your energy to make it so
What is nobody's business is every.
body's business; what is everybody's
business is nobody's business-there-
fore business is business Get down
to business" and help us build the
Electric Line.
MIR. Johnson Speaks.
When POSTMASTER, C. A. Barnes.
introduced jackson johnson, presi-
dent of the international Shoe Co.
the throng of men present rose to
their feet as one man and cheered
and applauded until it seemed thespak
er would be unable to deliver his ad-
dress because Mexico's citizens want
ed him to know they were friendly
to his company and wanted to as
sure him nothing but friendliness and
a desire for cooperation had always
existed in their hearts. Mr.. johnson
in part said:
The spirit of cooperation is more
prevalent in business today than ever
before, and the trend of the times in
this direction has brought about the
organization of joint stock compan-
les, which is a legalized form of
this mutually of interests. In
olden times few employees
occupying minor positions had an OPP
%portunity Of participating in the div
ision of the profits earned by the firm
by whom they were employed, Today
the employee occupying the most in
significant position can become a
stakeholder and thereby participate in
the profits to the extent of his hold
ings.
The International Shoe Co., has
about 900 stockholders, the greater
portion of whom are employees of the
Company in some capacity Or other.
Many of the factory workers are
stockholders; we also have stockhold-
ers in our Office and among our trav-
cling statesmen and also men who work
in stock and get out the goods. In
fact, in every branch of the business
there are stockholders, and every
stakeholder is watching out for the in
terest of the Company, and doing
this because he feels that the Com
pany's interest is his interest. This
fact was strongly impressed on my
mind recently by one of the boys in
the mailing department calling the at
tention Of the department manager
to the fact that he was a stakeholder
and he wanted to talk to him about a
more economical way Of handling
some matter in his department. Do
one of you think that this boy or any
other boy would have been sufficiently
interested in the matter but for the
fact he was directly interested in the
profits of the Comapny, and in saw.
ing money for the Company he was
thereby adding to the value of his
holding as represented by his stock.
This in only one instance, and is
cited to prove the fact that self inter-
est is always a great incentive to any
one. In fact, | am so Thoroughly con-
WINGED of the advisability of distribut-
ing stock to the employees of the Com
pany that | do not believe it would be
possible to operate a large corpora
ton such as is the International with
out practically mutualizing the hold
ings of the Company by distributing
it among those of the employees who
feel disposed to identify themselves
permanently with the organization.
No one can question the fact that self
interest is a powerful stimulant. The
average employe endeavors to render
value received in the way of service.
The employee, however, who is a stock
holder goes further, he not only tries
to do his duty but also wants to see
other employees do their duty as well,
and if they do not, somebody higher
up will find it out.
The officers and large stockholders
of the International Shoe Co., have
from time to time offered to those
employees who they felt were entitled
to consideration, stock in the Com
pany, always at less than the market
price and much less than the stock
was bringing on the open market or
the Stock Exchange. This stock has
always been sold on easy terms, per-
hitting the employees to acquire it by
small monthly or semi-annual pay
ments, and in no instance up to the
present time has an employee ever lost
on his investment, and I can point ia
hundreds of cases where employees
who started to work for the Company
without any means whatever are now
in an independent position financially
In no instance has the Company
ever offered a share of its stock to the
public and not only not offered it,
stock to the public, but has lever per.
mitted any other than a stockholdel
to subscribe for the stock. 1t is true
that quite a little of the stock is now
owned by outsiders, but they have &C.
quired it from the stockholders or by