The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-12-06
(By A. M. Hickman, in Mining. and
Scientific Press.)

twenty years ago mining commuh-
tiles clustered around one to dozen
small mines, each one employing 20
to 200 men; they had 10 and often
a i2-hour day; they had no business;
they had no recreation; the Y. M. G..
A. was unknown; the men had to go
to their homes dirty and wet, for there
were no modern change-houses. One
could mention hundred advantages
that the miners of today have over
those of yesterday. Yet, today, in
spite of these advantages, there seems
to be more discord and dissatisfac-
tion.
"What is the reason for this condi-
ton? Is it because the education of
the miner is so much better and that
he demands more civilized conditions ?
Is it due to the natural unrest, or
what is it? It is noticeable that dis
orderly labor conditions are more fre-
quent where large organizations DOM
mate. Troubles are not as likely to
occur where there are ten mines each
employing 200 men as where there
is one man running ten mines and en-
ploying 1000 n en-. This gives us a
hint as to where the trouble lies. 1t
is true that big organizations and
large capital have made ore where no
ore existed before; they have made
possible the working of extremely
low-grade deposits, but with all this
have come labor problems, many of
which are not solved by largeness of
organization;
at might be interesting to see why
the small organization could exist un-
der conditions that would soon call for
a strike in large one. 1t was be-
cause "Bill' was the boss, and he was
"Bill" to every one. The men could
go to him and talk as man to man,
whether the subject was the weather
or how to run the mine. Bill knew
their troubles, their complaints, their
grievances; he knew their families
and how they were getting along. He
was undoubtedly man of superior
Judgment, or he would not have been
made the boss. His superior judg-
ment allowed him to forsee what his
men were going to want before the
men themselves had given it a thought
and the result was that 'Bill' was more
than their friend.
when the organization grew to 500
men, however, Bill did not have so
much time to loaf around with the
men; he was confined to his Office
more and more; he had to delegate
work to others, and right at this
point Bills mine began to suffer in
its relation to labor. The personal
touch was lost and the feeling that
they, the workmen, were actually hav-
ing part in the working of the mine
was gone. Previous to that time the
men all felt that they were an impor-
tant part of the organization. The
change was not sudden, but it came
about through the fact that the grad
ual change in the personnel made the
boss unfamiliar with the new men; in
comparatively short time he gave an
order Send man to do this or that,
whereas short time before it would
have been ASK Tom Jones to do this
or that
"The personal touch has given way
to the military system. Everyone in
the organization, while he does not
know his place by military name,
knows his rank well enough, and too
often he is made, to feel his inferiori-
ty. The military system has grown
up as the one substitute that fits all
conditions, and that does not fit itself
around the personality of one man, to
be lost or destroyed by the removal or
death of that man. 1t has grown up
because of the fact that men of the
necessary calibre to fit the managers
chair and operate under the personal
system of management are rare, and
the further development of the mill
tary method is going to make such
qualities obsolete, unless steps are
taken to use them.
"From the point of view of salts
faction, contentment, freedom from
labor troubles, real efficiency, there
is no question about the superiority
ment. Its drawbacks, however, are
evident. First, the difficulty of finding
man with the rare gifts for this type
Of management, and second, undermin-
ing of the organization whenever that
man is removed, unless he has been
sufficiently far-sighted to select and
train successor. The advantage of
the military method is that the organ
ization is not disturbed greatly by
changes in the personnel.
"The personal method, which makes
the workman feel more like human
being and less Of a commodity, re-
qGires in it's manager long residence
along with the growth of the organi-
zation. 1t requires man of remark
able breadth and versatility, and of
unusual memory. 1t requires man
who is not irritatcd by trifes, who
can put the man talking to him per-
fectly at ease. He must know how to
be father without being paternal;
he must have human sympathy. 1t is
true that man with such qualities is
rare, but he is still rarer when it is
considered that he must be technical
man and technical engineer as well.
"Outside small organizations, there
ara biit fam onpnrtupitiac fo yuitpnss