The copper era and Morenci leader., 1916-01-21
LABOR AND CAPITAL
 PARTNERS
(By John D. Rockefeller, Jr.)

Labor and Capital are rather .ab- ! stract words with which to describe | those vital forces, which working to- gether become productively useful to | mankind reduced to their simplest | terms Labor and Capital are men with ! muscle and men with money-human beings, imbued with the same weak ings and aspirations.
 It follows, therefore, that the rela- tions of men engaged in industry are human relations. Men do not live to mingle with their fellows, to love, to worship. The test of the success of our social organization is the eX- tent to which every man is free to realize his highest and best self; and in considering any economic or poli- tical problem, that fundamental fact should be recognized If in the conduct of industry therefore, the manager ever keeps in mind that in dealing with employees he is dealing with human beings with flesh and blood, with hearts and souls; and if, likewise, the workmen realize that managers and investors are them selves also human beings, how much bitterness will be avoided,
 Are the interests of these human
 beings with labor to sell and with capital to employ necessarily antagon- 1 istic or necessarily mutual? Must
 the advance of one retard the prog
 ress of the other? Should their at
 titude toward each other be that of
 enemies or of partners? The answer
 one makes to these fundamental
 questions must constitute the basis
 for any consideration of the relatio.
 ship of Labor and Capital.
 Our difficulty in dealing with tha
 industrial problem is due too often
 to a failure to understand the true interests of Labor and Capital. And F suspect this lack of understanding lis just as prevalent among represen- Itatives or Capital as among represent tatives of Labor. sn any event the conception one has of the fundamen-
 tai nature of these interests will
 naturally determine ones attitude to-
 ward every phase of their relation ship.
 Much of the reasoning on this sub- Iject proceeds upon the theory that lxl, Plimited, and if one man gets more,
 another necessarily gets less. Hence
 there are those who hold that if La
 bor's wages are increased or its
 working conditions improved, Capital
 suffers because it must deprive itself
 of the money needed to pay the bill
 Some employers go so far as to jus
 tify themselves in appropriating from
 the product of industry all that re
 mains after Labor has received the
 smallest amount which it can be in
 duced or forced to accept; while on
 the other hand there are men who hold that Labor is the producer oi all wealth, hence is entitled to the
 entire product, and that whatever is taken by Capital is stolen from La ] bor.
 If this theory is sound, it might be maintained that the relation between Labor and Capital is fundamentally one of antagonism, and that eacl should consolidate and arm it's force: dividing the products of industry be tween them in proportion as theil , selfishness is enforced by their pow
 CT.
 But all such counsel loses sight O the fact that the riches available tt man are practically without limit , that the worlds wealth is constant! , being developed and undergoing mu tation, and that to promote this pro , cess both Labor and Capital are in dispensable. If these great force cooperate, the products of industr, are steadily increased whereas, i : they fight, the production of wealtl :, is certain to be either retarded O $ stopped altogether, and the well { springs of material progress choked 3 The problem of promoting the co :, operation of Labor and Capital ma. { well be regarded, therefore, as tn most vital problem of modern civili < zation. Peace may be establishe, . among the nations of the world; bu s if the underlying factors of materia growth within each nation are them - selves at war, the foundations of al :: progress are undermined
 |: Capital cannot move a wheel witt :: out Labor, nor Labor advance be |! yond mere primitive existence witf :; out Capital. But with Labor an |: Capital as partners, wealth is ere :: ated and ever greater productivit :: made possible. In the developmen