Newark post., 1918-09-11
LABOR AND WEALTH
DISTRIBUTION
Adjustment due to War Con
ditions

wab, in recent interview for the
American Magazine, tells that the
men who have risked their lives
and suffered for their country will
demand a greater share in govern
ment and greater rewards for their
work hereafter. This trend is in
evitable. And it should not be
blindly opposed. 1t is fit and prop
er that labor should receive a fair
share of what it t.helps to create.
"In our Bethlem Steel plants we
have had very elaborate system
for rewarding men according to
their deserts. We have a minimum
wage under which no mans wage
must fall. But at least eighty per-
cent of all our workers participate
i'm bonuses and rewards according
their individual results. At very
great cost we instituted years ago
a system which standardized al
most every job and every kind of
work throughout the whole estab-
lishment. We carefully arrived at
how much work of each kind
should be accomplished by normal
effort, and then we fixed gener-
Gus basis of special compensation
for everything done over and above
that amount.
The whole thing has worked out
excellently for both the men and
the company. AS a matter of fact,
the average wages paid any other
set of steel workers in America.
| am naturally proud of this fact
because | want everyone of my men
to have a chance to get ahead, a
chance to earn every dollar he is
capable of earning.
Il have felt for years that the
relations between capital and labor
would never be satisfactory and
harmonious until workers all over
the country were placed on some
such basis as this. Workers must
feel that they are being given fair
play. BY deviSing a system where
by the man who does most gets
the largest pay envelope and the
LATEST man the smallest envelope
you not only overcome one of the
drawbacks to the general profit
sharing system but you convince
the worker that it is up to him how
much or how little he earns, and
that special effort will bring spe-
cial rewards.
II do not for a moment believe
that the world is threatened with
any redistribution of wealth as ad-
vocated by out and out Socialists.
We are not only going to have, but
we already have in progress GER
tain type of redistribution of
wealth. For example, those who
have the largest incomes are now
called upon to return to the Fed
eral Treasury two-thirds of every
dollar in the form of income tax,
Then there are other forms of state
and municipal taxes which in
crease this percentage. Also we
have very substantial inheritance
taxes. One of my wealthy friends
complained to me recently that
after paying every kind of tax i'm
posed upon him he had left for his
own use less than twenty cents OF
each dollar he made. Unquestion-
ably those who have inherited
wealth are rapidly becoming poor
er. Here is one definite form OF
redistribution of wealth. The man
who is not an active producer finds
himself less wcll-to-do each year
whereas the producers, the work,
ers, whether employees or employ.
ers, are broadly speaking. becom.
ing better off. Consider the wages
being received by thousands Of
men employed in producing wal
materials. Notwithstanding t h {
higher cost of living many of then
are now able to save money a:
never before. Or they can indulge
in luXuries formerly quite beyont
their reach. 1t is automatic tha
wages once up never or hardly evel
come down. And while we canno-
always expect to see boom time.
last forever, and cannot conse
cuentlv expect that wages will al
ways stay where they are now, We
! am convinced that we are enter
ing an era IN which the industriou
working classes will demand ans
receive a larger proportion of tn,