The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-09-02
What Sympathy
Effected
A Labor Day Story
By BARBARA PHIPPs

what Is the trouble between you
aud the mem
"They want an advance OF 10 per
cent"
Now, Miss Quintard, daughter OF the
president OF the QuIntard MANUFACTURE
ing company, instead of spending her
time In social requirements gave IL to
the employees OF the concern OF which
her father owned a controlling inter-
est She visited the sick, helped tho
women put their children In proper APP
parel supplied needfuL provisions ana
otherwise ministered 10 their wants.
While the father was absorbed In pay
ing dividends the daughter was SYM
pathizing with the workers.
what dividends are you paying,
papaT asked Dora.
twelve per cent"
what is fair interest on money!
.sThat depends. The government can
borrow on as low as 2 per cent inter
est A good railroad 8 per cent stock
IN usually worth par. Manufacturing
stocks should pay from per cent as
minimum indefinitely upward"
sWhat Is the market price of ouin.
tard stock?'
zone hundred and seventy"
.supposing you should add 10 per
cent 10 the mems wages, what divi-
dends could you payr'
.From Z TO per cent, think
and what would be the market
value of the stock while you were pay
ing. say per cent?"
"That would vary in different manu-
featuring concerns. In our case, where
we have steady demand for our
goods, a fair surplus and much money
invested in the plant. the stock should
sell at about $3.50"
"You say that a railroad stock selling
Mt par and paying 8 per cent Is fair
investment Isn't manufacturing
stock selling at $40 and paying s per
cent better oneF
That's question for the investor.
I should consider them about equally
good. I, knowing all about the AFFAIRS
of the Quintard company, would prefer
TO hold It's stock at S130 on an 8 per
cent basis to a good railroad stock at
par paying per cent"
"Don't you think, papa, that you
could grant this increase of wages and
still give the capital invested In the
company fair dfvidendF
what a smart little puss" said the
father. embracing his daughter. why
don't you set up for walking dele
gate? You would easily prove to the
operatives that they are being treated
unfairly, that capital is getting the
lions share of the profit accruing from
their labor. Having proved to them
that they are entitled to 10 per cent
advance, you could then prove that
they should try for another 10. and so
ON, till the bubble burst"
what do you mean by the bubble
bursdngT
..Suppose wages were to be increased
TN only fair dividend is earned;
nothing is laid up for supplies; the ma
chinery wears out or new mechanical
devices must be introduced to meet q
reduced cost Of manufacture. Or sup
pose a war breaks out and we are shut
off from our foreign markets. Where
are we7 Stranded. Where are the
operatives? Thrown out of employ
ment. And you know what that
means. 1t ia starvation"
Eyes, papa, but you are paying Il
per cent dividends. How can you pay
that and add to your surplus!
"AIl investments are liable to turn
out loss of the capital involved.
Manufacturing stocks are considered
especially uncertain. 1t is difficult to
get capital for them or to hold 1t when
you have got It To hold our capital
in the Quintard company we have been
paying out all our net earnings in d1vi-
dends. My plan has been to do this
till confidence Is acquired and some
thing more than our present dividends
earned. Then I viii reduce the divi-
dends and place the reduction and the
additional amount earned to surplus
account. When have provided sur
plus sufficient to keep the stockholders
from boiling and my men employed In
case of a year Of loss instead Of prof1t
/ intend to pay higher wages-that is,
IL I see no more snags ahead"
"Why don't you explain that posi-
ton to the employees as you have ex-
planned It to mer'
such a course would be impractical
Bile for many reasons
That was the end of the dialogue,
but 1t was not the end of Miss ouin-
tard's thoughts on the subject. She
formed a plan to give to the employees
what the president could not do OFF,
cially-an mixing of the situation. She
went TO the women whom she had
helped-those she could best trust-and
gave them to understand that she
knew 1t to be the best interest of the
operatives that they should let well
enough alone for the present, trusting
10 the president to get the business of
the ouintard company into such con-
dition that he could meet their de-
mands without injury TO them or the
stockholders. These women talked TO
their husbands. and their husbands
talked to the most influential opera
tives who I'm the Quintard works were
the steadiest
And so it was that trouble was avert
ed by a girl who knew nothing about
business. simply because she had gain