The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-22
PROFIT SHARING
 TO END UNREST
 PERKINS THINKS
Henry w. Ford Tells Prob
 CTS That New System Has Widespread Effects

New York, Jan. 22.-Among the many suggestions made by witnesses as probable solutions of the indus trial problems Of the country. that made. by George w. Perkins. direc- tor of the United States Steel Cor poration and other large corpora tions, before. the federal commission on industrial relations, that govern. rnent supervision of large industrial units would do much toward e1ini- hating the abuses from which labor has suffered under the competitives system, was expected to be discussed in more detail when MT. Perkins re- surned his testimony today in the philanthropic organizations and causes of social unrest.
 Other witnesses called to testify to- day are Samuel Gompers president Of the American Federation of La bor; Henry Ford, automobile manu-. facturer of Detroit. and G. F. NeilI, former United States commissioners of The examination of George ". Perkins was continued when the hearing was resumed today MT. Per- kins explained in detail the wage sys- tenn of the United States Steel Cor poration. Only 22 per cent of the employees in the mills are forced to work 12 hours a day he said. He denied that system of allowing eIn-7 pIoyes to purchase stock in the cor poration had a tendency to curtaH the personal liberty of the eTnployes in that it prevented them from making complaints about wages and the length of working hours.
 The witness believed that profit sharing was etne missing link between capita land labor and that its gen. decrease industrial unrest and bring about a better feeling between ea1l- ployer and employe- The witness be- lieved the present condition of busi- ness and the failure of the steel cor E1oratfon to earn profits at the present time were due to the new tarim law. Henry Ford of Detroit, autonaobi1e manu facturer detailed the working of the wage system which he introduced at his plant last year under which no ernploye receives less than s a day. MT. Ford said that since the plan had been introduced the following benefits had accrued to the employees: Bank deposits had increased more than 13O per cent.
 The number Of life insurance polf- cies taken ont by employees and the number of homes bought by them had greatly increased
 Intoxication among the employees had decreased.
 MT. Ford said in his statement that under his plan as in operation linen were made men,.
 As to the accumulation and per petuation of large fortunes MT. Ford said he believed it better, wiser and more just to make many men com fortab1e than to make few rich. He 1 said the great gphiIanthropic founda- tions probably did some good but they were not adequate.
 .sNo man can bring up a family and hope to own a home on the orr dinary rates of wages MT. Ford
 added. "I do not think any man can do good work mentally and physi-
 cally for more than eight hours per
 day a'f,7-t,it 6s<,4 aes.4.zs..= l ..We cannot expect a man to give us his best efforts when he is in debt and has not enough to keep his fam 1 fly on. If corporations are over cap ita1ized they must necessarily op-
 press labor to make a showing. The
 sooner men can be taught that labor | is just as much of an asset and more,
 than machinery and buildings, the sooner labor will be properly recog-
 nized. In my judgment mere bigness
 is DO object if corporations are not | over capitalized.'