New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-25
A CCORDING to Wilma Meikle, who
"A contributed an article on welfare
.,;o,,,aJ ~ roIot,o,, 70 prifiSh

q CCOhDING 10 WILMA helA'e' WIN
n contributed an article on welfare
work viewed in relation to British
industrial plants in war time to "The New
Statesman" London), considerable havoc
has been wrought by women who place the
task of lettering conditions upon the list
of benevolences. She writes:
THE value Of a moral idea to the average
mind is not the impetus which il gives to in
dividual or social progress, but the comfort
it provides for a dsgruntled conscience.
Most Of us in difficult circumstances wrap
some cosey dogma round US like a muller,
and our innate conviction that only cheerful
theories have any practical importance has
accustomed US TO regard a philosopher as a
man whose opinions enable him 70 face all
misfortunes vita equanimity.
"In war time our demand for little moral
comforts reaches its maximum. Every light
essayist mechanically produces them for US
in prose or verse of size convenient for the
pocket handbag or dispatch case, and tacks
to every evil of our time a silver lining OF
encouragement SO only can We maintain the
conviction that all's well with the world and
SUlTh the uuly VI attempting W pN'NSi iS'
Thus, when the prosperous classes, who are
naturally the most anxious to distil the
sweetness of theory out of the brackishness
Of facts, are disturbed by the thought of the
possible disastrous effects Of munition work
on the women of the country, all their fears
are dispersed by the benevolent sound of the
words welfare work. and they are able to
live at ease in the belief that the womanly
touch of a welfare supervisor can so trans
form factory that a twelve-hours' shift at q
capstan lathe makes the most delicate woman
who works it healthy, happy and wise, be-
cause she buys her meals in canteen and
gets good advice about her health and her
morals.
"Now. the public's conscientious scruples
about the industrial exploitation of women
may have been useful in so far as they have
been the means Of introducing some form OF
welfare work into almost all the larger NUM-
ton factories. But the public's craving for
lullng, sentimental theories has lessened the
benefit of this reform by requiring welfare
work to be philanthropc. Though Cadbury's
and Levers and Rowntree's have protested
that they regard the social side of the or
ganization of their factories simply as an es-
sential part of a profitable scheme of man
agement. the war-heated sentimentalism Of
the prosperous classes has corrupted prom
Using business system into one Of the med
dlesome activities of the Lady Bountiful.
obviously, a clearsghted employer must
realize that it is at least as necessary and
profitable to take care Of the health Of his
employees as it is to take care Of the health
of his horses. He must perceive that the
physical wellbeing and the cheerfulness and
contentment Of his work people and their
good will toward the firm all have financial
value for him, because they increase the total
cu.put of his factory. Therefore, if he is
organizing his business on modern scientific
lines, the department whose business it is to
attend to the workers welfare becomes one
of the most important in the works. and The
charge of it a managerial function. Func
tional foremanship has led to functional
management, and if war sentimentality had
not interviewed it is probable that welfare
supervision would have been intrusted-in
all better class factories-to an official rank
ing and sasried as one of the managers.
Here and there a welfare supervisor has,