Semi-weekly herald., 1917-01-27

oy them IS vital pfoplehis D'N
the most important with which ths
management is confronted, they WI
be convinced not only of the wisdom
of devoting far more time 10 such
contact. but Of the desirability and
the advantage to themselves, and to
the employees as well as to the COM
pany, of such closer relation and in
innate conference in regard to mat-
ters of iommon interest and concern.
If you will pardon personal ref
,rence, may ! say that when ! visited
Colorado some IS months ago. had
he opportunity Of talking personal
" with hundreds, if not thousands
IF the employees of that company.
These men and many of the peo-
ple of Colorado had formed their
opinion of anyone bearing the name
IF Rockefeller from what they had
cad and heard. Because of certain
Industrial disturbances which had
developed in the state, bitterness and
latred had existed to a high de
legree.
As went from camp to camp, ]
talked with the representatives of the
men individually and privately,
vent into their homes, talked with
heir wives and children, visited then
ichools their places Of amusement
heir lighthouses, and had just sucl
friendly relations with them as any
nan going among them would have
aad.
Frequently I found points Of dif
'erence between the men and the Of
icers, but in no single instance wer
the men as | met them other thar
friendly, frank and perfectly willing
70 discuss with me, as was gla,
TO discuss with them, any natter
hey chose to bring up.
No matter presented was left with
out having been settled in accordance
with the request of the employe, or
n the event of that being impos-
sible, without his having been full
iy convinced that the position of the
company was just and right in tn,
COMMON interest.
This personal contact with the EN-
1loyes of the company led to The cs
-ablishment of mutual confidence an.
rust and to the acceptance on theii
part of the promise that they and w,
were partners. The men generally
ame to see that the man about whom
hey had heard was very differen.
rom the man whom they had met il
heir homes and at their work
While they distrusted the former
they believed in the latter.
Before left Colorado, plan OF
Industrial representation, providing
5or close personal contact between
the duly elected representatives OF
he men and the officers of the con
1any, was worked out and adopted
y a large majority vote of the EN-
lloyes. In brief, the plan efibodies
he effort to reproduce in so far a,
iossible, the earlier contact betweel
,wner and emplQye.
| do not venture to make any pre-
ietion as to the ultimate success o.
he plan. Two interesting side-light
however, may be mentioned. Tn,
irst is that whereas the plan itsel
md an agreement covering working
md living conditions, were adopte,
by the coal miners employed by thi'
ompany some Is months ago, sine,
hat time the same plan and agree
nent, adapted to the particular re
quirements of the steel workers by
he company, has been adopted b,
both.
The second, while the company hn.
roopened a number OF mines former
" idle and is now working quite t.
he limit of its capacity in the pro
duction of coal, it has all the labor
Mt its various mines which it requir
es, and that too without having
made any special effort to attract
labor to its recently reopeued min.
ing camps.
At the same time, the other coal
companies in the state of Colorado
as well as generally those thruout
the United States are understood
70 be having difficulty in securing
an adequate supply of labor
But there is a further reason why
the personal relation in industry is
of such vital Importance, and that
rs in order that the attitude and pur-
pose of the owners and directors of
a company may be rightly under
stood by and interpreted to their
partners, the employees, and vice YER