The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-08
heir usual occupation
What In the Solutfonf


AN that have said so far merely
amounts to a recital OF what every
thinking man knows and reads in his
! paper every day In life. The real
| question comes now. What is the solu-
I tom
Hardly a day passes that there is
! not put forth in pamphlet form. or in
! the shape of magazine article. some
! plan worked out in detail that the au-
| thor claims will cure all OF our ills
/ II appears to me that many of these
plans either overlook or do not give
/ proper weight to the fact that self
! interest Is a tremendously important
factor in regulating mans activities;
/ II this 'self-interest Ia enlightened
! self-interest,' that is. self-interest that
does not undertake. to advance itself
with an utter disregard to the rights
i of others, it is the most powerful influ-
ence for progress. -
/ The solutions suggested usually fall
! into two CLASSES: First. some form of
/ proft sharing or partnership between
employer and employe; second the use
I Of arbitration tribunals to settle all
/ disputes, fix wages and working con-
/ ditions On their faces. all these solu-
/ tons are plausible.
i The plan or profit sharing. Of
! course. is logical and equitable, but
/ the difficulty is in it's practical appli-
put forward by a number of employ
. ers and have reached the conclusion
that any such plan that deals with
+ employees as a group and rewards each
/ employe merely as unit in group
! viii never bring about the desired re-
/ suit.
j Answer ON PROFIT Sharing
The sharing of prehts with employees
+ TO be effective must be worked out Sc,
! that the reward to the individual en-
ploye has a dscernable relation to
his personal contribution OF effort to
/ the production OF earnings The ideal
distribution would make the reward
/ TO the individual employe directly pro-
| rortionate to his contribution. Such
payment works in two ways First 1t
! 81 imp late& yout pat, which ~!mrrl1n6iaseIy
| reduces the production cost and even
tually the sale price OF the article:
| second, we do not have a portion of a
working force earning more than they
are paid in order to pay the other por-
tion more than they earn. a condition
breeding not only low production but
discomfort
The failure Of government opera
ton can be traced in part to the fact
that under such operation the rela-
tionship between output and return
necessarily is much further removed
than is the case with private opera
ton
The second remedy offered Of ar
bitration tribunals. except in special
cases involving the public has the
vital defect that it is bringing an
agency between employer and en-
pIoye, whereas the tendency always
should be to bring employer and en-
ploye closer together. 1t is weaken
ing, instead of strengthening, the rela-
tionship which has existed since the
| beginning of time. often have illus
trated my convictions on this point by
stating that / would gamble anything
in the world that Noah was the boss
when he built the Ark
The temptation created by the
mere existence of such arbitration
tribunals, permanent In being and
easy of access, LIS to the employe to
agttate constantly for som ething. feel
ing that he has nothing to lose and
that by forcing an issue to arbitration
he may gain. To the employer, the
| temptation is to be selfish in the ex-
IRENE, to. pay the minimum and yield
nothing. always knowing that the
worst that can happen to him is arbi-
tration
Better without Agencies,
Without the existence OF such per-
n1anent agencies the employee more
carfully considers the Justice OF his
demands, realizing that If he carries
his demands too far he either will
have to yield completely or else suffer
the loss and risk of astrike The en-
ployer in turn by his self-interest even
If actuated by no higher motive. is
forced to broader and more liberal
treatment OF his employees, knowing
that If he does not voluntarily grant
just wages and treatment, or does not
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