The labor standard., 1919-10-01
MANUFACTURER PUTS FORTH
 NEW GOSPEL FOR INDUSTRY
Progress of America Due to the Practice of Political Democracy - It's Further Develop ment Requires the Democratizing of Industry Through Industrial Councils s-EmplOye CTS and Labor Leaders Interested

About 300 representatives of cap- ital, labor, and the general public at tended recent conference of Commu- nifty Councils at the country estate of Henry P. Davison at Peacock Point L. I. R. J. Caldwell, president of the R. J. Caldwell Company, manufactur- CTS of cotton fabrics, addressed the gathering and put forth his ideas re- garding the problems of labor recon struction from the viewpoint of suc- cessful experiments in his own large establishment, operated at full capac- ity for years without labor trouble. MT. Caldwell's views are also based on an official investigation ,of labor conditions in Europe whichihe recently made for the United StatesgsDepart- ment of Labor. The following state ments, says the New York World, started much discussion among the big employers and labor representatives who attended the conference.
 Mir. CaldwelPs statements are as follows: 1 In our various cotton mills we have long held to the theory that our prin- cipal product should be "happy, pros porous men and women" first, and good cotton cloth second.
 Experience has proved that content ed operatives automatically insure good cloth. It seemed to me necessary, if we were to have contented employees that we should know what was necessary to make employees contented. By a simple process of reasoning, the log ical thing seemed to be-to ask them what would contribute to their con- tentment.
 It has occurred to me at times that mistakes have been made in some do- ing the thinking for others that the others were perhaps better able to do for themselves.
 Therefore, I sought to learn the wishes of my employees by the simple process of asking them to meet me in friendly council. In that simple act l employers have also learned.
 I learned that I was not free agent to talk to my own operatives.
 | learned that in seeking close com munion with our own employees I was trespassing upon the pre-empted pre- serves of our superintendents, who felt it a prerogative of their position to speak for those under them. They desired that they alone should be the means of communication between the employe body and the management.
 They desired to be the interpreter to each of the thought of the other.
 Thus, everything communicated by this means became colored by the views of the Superintendent involved, and his views were often reactionary.
 Superintendent Czar
 The communities in our mills were little kingdoms wherein the Superin- tendent was a czar, maintaining a strict censorship, suppressing all self expression on the part of the workers, gressive thought to them, save such as the Superintendent personally ap- proved of.
 And this is characteristic of most employe bodies, l believe, and this, in the leading democratic nation of the world.
 That we permit this seems proof to me that industrially we are despotic, | though politically we aim to be demo- cratic.
 Inconsiderate Employers.
 Is it not true that we employers have given scant thought to the well fare of our workers? Have we con- cerned ourselves overmuch about their working conditions Have we not as a rule resisted every effort they have
  not failed to adopt safety appliances and then resisted employers liability | acts?
 Do many of us not still endeavor to defeat the workers organization into | unions for their own protection? And can they successfully meet organized capital without organized labor? 1
 Do we not strive to pay labor as little as possible, and then discharge them en masse in times of slack de- | mand, regardless of the dire conse- | quences to the working body? |
 A good, intelligent worker told me of enforced idleness of six weeks which involved him in debt requiring | six years to pay off!
 Labor Treated as a Commodity
 Do employers not do all these things | and many more? And do they not fail to do many other things which they might do in behalf of their employe p1oyers in the light of a commodity like sugar or salt, regardless of hun gry mouths to feed, or rent, or other claims at home? A commodity can be aid away on shelf, or in cold stor- age. to await a time of better demand.
 In what sense then can labor be re- garded as a commodity. Can labor hi oernate in times of light demand and come forth out of cold storage when 1eeded?G
 Maybe so on Judgment Day, but not otherwise.
 Example Lacking
 To be honest with ourselves, what light have we to expect workers to lave much consideration for their en- ,loyers?
 Have we set our employees an in- ;piring example?
 Had we given serious thought to he subject we would have easily dis covered that the average unemploy- nent of Great Britain and the United States is only per cent. of the whole. The best authority vouches for these igures, namely Secretary of Labor Wilson, in The New York World of June 3, and B. Seebohm Rowntree for Great Britain, covering the ten years preceding the late war.
 In our own plants we have adjusted