The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-02-13

of the great industries In the recog
milton Of the influence of sociologict
conditions upon their work, probabl
due to the fact that the development
of large scale organizations has bee
so gradual. Mines are not found 1
the centers of population where recre
ational and educational facilities ar
at hand. Most of the big industrie
enterprises of the eastern portion G
the United States were establishe
after the cities had taken root, an
their problem Of providing a prope
environment for their employees w..
but to assist in the continuation G
those already available. On the con
trary metal mines are found in tn
wilderness, and the towns groN
around them. the welfare work neces
sary in such a community must star
from the ground.
The reason for a comparativel
small amount of welfare work in tn
metal mining communities has beef
auS PANTY W lliC letl tfGl liilit
was subordinated to the winning .
the metals. The conditions unde
which the workmen spend hours pc
day, their living conditions their san
itary conditions, their houses, wer,
often thought to be of secondary i'm,
portance, but recent years have seer
a remarkable change, both In the at.
titude of the mining companies anG
of the employees.
Not long ago, when mining opera
tons We're almost entirely on a small
scale, the boss knew every man by his
first name, he knew whether Johnny
or Mary was i'll and how they. We're
getting along at school, With the
growth Of individual operations, how
ever, the time has come when the
man at the top deals with the man at
the bottom through series of de-
partments. In such large organiza =
tons II Is impossible to retain the per
sonal touch that is given to the work.
man of an earlier period, and this
personal touch, enabling the workman
to feel that he is really something
more than cog in the machine is the
important factor today.
There have been other notable fac
tors such as the changes in the char
acter of labor and the multiplicity of
nationalities coincident with large OPP
erations The larger the number of
nationalities. the greater the number
of groups or clans.
While undoubtedly there has been
an immense financial loss in the num-
erous strikes that have occurred all
over Arizona during the past year, 1t
Is believed by many that the ultimate
result will be an improvement of the
conditions, The mine operator had
thought that he had done everything
that he could, but when the strikes
broke out he began to think whether
he really understood the other fell
lows side of the controversy.
From the activities that have fol-
lowed the strikes 1t is evident that
there has been an awakening to the
real need for welfare work. 1t is not
a direct result of the strikes, but rath-
err an indirect one: 1T does not involve
giving to the men all the Things for
which they struck, for when men
strike for better conditions they
are unable to define what
they really want, and 1t remains for
the operator to determine what fair
ness demands. ! do not believe that
there is one large operator in Arizona
who is so narrow or so prejudiced
that he would not Immediately grasp
any possible suggestions for the i'm
provement of social conditions
Personnel work is a term recently
Introduced to cover the great variety
If activities in industrial work that
leal with the human factor Much
attention has been focused upon in
iividual phases of personnel work,
'uch as accident prevention, santa
ion, and reduction in the turnover of
abor In most cases these activities
AVE been carried on as though they
we're distinct and separate; as a mat
err OF fact, they are only phases of |
he one fundamental problem of hui
nan engineering. and each has inn
'ortant relations with the others. .
Mus, for example, a high turnover is
ne OF the most important causes of !
high accident rate, and unsatisfact- |
ry housing conditions are an import
mt cause of labor turnover. In the
arly stages of the Investigation, it
ias necessary to take each phase h
epantely, the time has now arrived, |,
owever, at which it Is desirable to 4
onsider them as whole in order to
ring them all into the right relation
, each other.
A discussion of the Importance OF (
ersonnel work as a means of in Z,
reasing dividends in industry may
Q objected to by some as a material
tic way of looking upon work that Is
but humanitarianism, l.
J such, has no place in industry, and !
pthing is gained and much is lost by [
retending that 1t has. The only
,ason why a corporation engages in '
isiness is to make profit and any {
,tivity of the corporation that does I
fAynd aithar Jtt.ant1x, ,.Dl 7