The broad ax., 1917-02-10
Actively Aid Welfare Plans of
Every Description For
Employees.
PHILANTHROPY NOT INTENT.
Comfort and Contentment of the
Workers Considered Paramount.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have
been expended during the past decade
bv American manufacturers for those
forms of industrial betterment. in be-
half of employees, that are generally
classed as philanthropic or beyond the
mere requirements of laws and con-
tracts.
Decent manufacturers-and they are
in the vast majority-as are the decent
DeOple of other classes-are opposed to
grinding child labor, and they strive to
pay a living wage to all of their en-
plOyees. They go much farther than
thar, as a study of American industry
will show They devote time, money
and effort to provide every possible
supplementary means for promoting
the convenience, the comfort, the
health, contentment and happiness of
their workers and of the families of
employees. Very few manufacturers
consider such work or expenditure to
be philanthropy, but, rather, a neces-
sary feature of their business. While
their motives may be as altruistic as
those of the average of mankind, they
find that it is good, from the business
point Of view, to promote as far as
possible the welfare of their employees.
Industrial betterment pays.
Industrial betterment means an at
tempt to provide the best kind of work
ing and living conditions, and it i'm
plies the cooperative responsibility of
the wage Garner and the employer in
bringing those conditions about and in
improving them from time to time. 1t
is not a dole to be handed to the wage
Garner, but is a token of that spirit of
mutually which, under right condi-
tons, should permeate industry.
4 thorough description of industrial
betterment activities in the United
States would require more space than
is contained in the most voluminOus
encyclopedias to be found in the Ii
braries. Indeed, volumes might be
written about the welfare work Of a
single corporation alone-the National
Cash Register Company, for instance,
or the International Harvester Com
pany, the United States Steel Corpora
ton, Cheney Brothers, the Curtis Pub
fishing Company, the Bethlehem Steel
Company, the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company, the Eastman Ko-
dak Company, any one of the leading
railroad companies, the principal banks,
Wanamaker's, or any of host of other
concerns which has developed activities
Of the sort. There is hardly concern
in the country doing business on fair
ly extensive scale that has not initiated
some form Of industrial betterment for
its employees. The honors do not go to
the larger companies exclusively either,
for many of the smaller business units
have developed this side of their &C
tivities to q remarkable extent. Natu-
rally it is easier for the larger corpora
tons to put highly trained specialists
in charge, of the various branches of
Industrial betterment work.
The fundamentals Of industrial bet
terment are observed in furnishing
pleasant, sanitary, safe working cOndi-
tions Educational and entertainment
features, facilities for study and recre-
alton, special opportunities for the ex-
erciSe of thrift and provisions tending
to remove the dread of and to mitigate
the Sufferings occasioned by sickness.
disability or invalidity are matters
which next receive attention. Well
lighted, well ventilated and otherwise
Pleasant and safe working places, res
taurants, reading rooms and libraries.
rest rooms, emergency kits and hoSpi-
tails. club rooms, assembly rooms, gym.
naSiums, lockers and bathing facilities.
recreation grounds, bonus and profit
sharing plans, special housing accom-
modatiOns. facilities for the purchase
of homes on easy payments, discounts
In the purchase of goods, industrial
and other educational classes, lectures
for entertainment or instruction, NOV
ing pictures, excursions, field days.
medical attendance, safety committees
for accident and fire prevention. sick
hess, disability and invalidity funds.
Insurance or benefit associations and
pensions are. some of the customary
features of industrial betterment work.
the variety of which has no limit.
Tens of thousands of lives are saved |
each year and hundreds of thousands Of |
lesser accidents are prevented annually |
through the accident prevention cam
paign and feature of industrial better |
ment
The Eastman Kodak Company in five |
Years reduced the accidents in its |
Plants by over IS per cent per annum |
through a progressive safety campaign. |
The Pennsylvania Railroad in ten |
Months decreased the serious injuries |
Its S3.242 shop employees over SO per
cent by the installation Of safety de- |
Vices and by the constant instruction of
the wOrkmen In exercising due caution
As result Of its safety campaign the
United States Steel Corporation reduced
serious and fatal accidents In its various |
Plants by 40 per cent since 1905. Each
year 1900 Of the men employed by the
~tpOration escape who would have been |
1nHol l.