The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-03-09
Reconciling Capital and
ID. i Labor .1l.l,lir.
THE IS RYAN-cALEAHAN PLANl-.
DisTRIRuTWE JUSTICE ON A
PRACTICAL BAsIS-HoW ONE
FIRM SATISFIES CAPITAL AND
LABOR. -

FIRM SATISFIES CAPITAL AND
LABOR. =. -
While the mind and heart Of every
loyal citizen are in these times chief
ly devoted to seeing that 1.-The Great
and Holy Cause of Liberty Shall Tri-
umph," those of us who cannot be
wholly occupied in waging war should
be thoughtfully considering ways to
soften, as much. as will be possible,
the hardships that must follow in the
aftermath Of war. -
It rs some fifteen years since DR..
John A. Ryan, now of the Catholic
University of. America, published his
book, "a Living Wage" and thereby
blazed the trail for the scientific
study of conditions fundamentals az
fecting the wage Garner that has
made possible the minimum wage
legislation now in many States in
force. Two years. ago, Dr.. Ryan fol
lowed his pioneer work with more
exhaustive treatise on Industrial
problems and more elaborate outlines
looking to a. better apportionment of
earned and itnearned income, giving
his later work the very appropriate
title, HDistrihutiVe Justice fsss
In the meantime, at Louisville, KY,
a successful business man and large
employer Of labor, moved, as no doubt
was DR.. Ryan himself, by the sym
pathetic and mastery appeal made
for Justice to the working man by
Pope Leo XIII of undying memory,
and with the principles of the Rerum
Novarum and "A Living Wage to
guide him, was working out a plan
for fair and equitable distribution
between capital and labor of the prod
>ucts of his extensive plant This
was Col. P. H. Callahan, prominently
known as Chairman of the late Com.
mission on Religious Prejudices
which did so much in the way of. uni
flying all rightly disposed citizens on
a basis .discrediting to any public dis
play of bigotry. Now, as. a. fitting
sequel to that work most helpful in
these times, he is directing the war
activities of. the Knights of Columbus,
the instrument of the Catholic people
in furnishing to the enlisted in our
training camps and abroad the crea-
ture comforts that put a heart into
the fighting man.
The daily press of Louisville re-
Gently. carried extended notices of the
annual meeting of. Col. Galatians
Company and it's. employees, at which
the division of the profits of the bust.
ness for 1917, in accordance with the
Ryan-Callahan plan, was announced,
and bonus equal to 500 of their
regular wages, for the year was given
to the employees. In reporting this
unusual meeting, The Louisville Cour.
ier-Journal ii. stated that "The deep
interest which this company shows
in the welfare of it's employees, ex-
tending even to their home condi-
lions, antedates the Inauguration
by Henry Ford of industrial pa
ternalism. Since. the rapid rise
in the cost aof living the company
has advancedR4 the regular weekly
wages of its employees 6G96., Of7this
total advance 4QBy was during the
year 1917. which accounts for the fact
that while the annual, distribution is
larger. this year than last, the per.
centage given each man, based on the
present" wage scale, is slightly lower
than last year Git was $3.50 last year.
If the So %. bonus given this year had
been figured on the basis of the
wages paid the men during the year
1915, it wouldGrepresent a bonus OF
9495." za0 u
The Distributive Plan. 80
The plan of "distributive Justice
carried out in the Callahan plan is
very simple. First, the entire prof.
its of the business fer the year are
reckoned, lump sum. Then, they are
cut into two equal parts. One part
goes to Capital, the other to Labor
The share to Capital is distributed
in proportion to the capital actually
411FOoCCdS, IIOLa -uCluSo COL
sidered. Capital gets no other share
in the profits of the business. Thus
Capital and Labor share equally in
all tbs, profits, on the principle that
they, are equally Indispensable fac
tors of production Labor's share is
distributed. in this way: As the Cal
lahan plant is manufacturing con
Germ, there are three distinct classes
of workers employed, aeach. alike. in
dispensable, namely, factory EN-
ployees,4 statesmen and Office force
Each Of these classes gets one-thirC
of Labof's share and each member
of d. class receives the proportion
that his wage OF salary bears to tina
third This completes the plan. It. il
way of cutting down the melon
that would hardly be recognized ii
Wall Street; hut it would be Difficult
to devise u more practical way of do
ing industrial workers the justice
that has been SO long. denied them
Of course, the plan presupposes
fair wage, and every other consid
GRAFTON to which workers, as human
beings, as feliowmen, as members o
society whose well being enhances
the, security Of society, are in justic.